Losing Fat

Myths:

There are secret shortcuts; 5 minute per day, three time per week exercises and magic pills that can burn fat. Fact: there is no medicaly evidence that any of them work, and there is clear medical evidence that some of the drugs are VERY dangerous. Unfortunately, you put the fat on one gram at a time and you will have to burn it off the same way. . .

Walking is enough. Here is the great deception. If you are sedentary, walking has many immediate health benefits. But is does not burn fat. It simply does not get your heart rate fast enough. Running is still the best exercise for most people to get their heart rates in the right zone to burn fat.

Faster and farther is better. Nope. The goal is to stay in the right heart rate zone for a longer time. Actually, running too fast is counter-productive. You can do Run/Walk of various paces and intervals, as long as you keep your heart in the target range of 65% to 75% of your max heart rate.

What works to burn fat:

Running for at least 45 minutes. when you start running, you body is burning 80% carbs and only about 20% fat. At fifteen minutes, you start increasing the amount of fat you are burning. At 30 minutes, the ratio is 50/50. By 45 minutes, you are burning mostly fat. (See David L. Costill "A Scientific Approach to Distance Running") (see also Jeff Galloway, Galloway's Book on Running, 2nd Edition Shelter Publications, 2002, pp.237-8 & p29)

Aerobic exercise is key. "Fast anaerobic exercise burns sugar; slow aerobic exercise burns fat. Fat in the muscle cells can be burned only when there's an adequate supply of oxygen. This is aerobic exercise; exertion that is done at an easy-enough pace so that the blood can provide all of the oxygen needed by the muscles. As soon as you increase the pace beyond your current capacity . . . the muscles can't get enough oxygen to burn fat and so they shift back to the readily available by inefficient energy source, glycogen." (Galloway p. 238) Stated another way: "at 40percent VO2max (an easy job), fats supply about 50percent of muscle energy in a typical trained runner. At 80 percent VO2max (a comfortably brisk run), fats supply only 5 percent of muscle energy." (Matt Fitzgerald, Performance Nutrition for Runners, Rodale press, 2006, p. 12)

Keep it going; it is a lifestyle change. By regular exercise over 45 minutes. . ."you show your body that you're serious about endurance. It responds by converting the formerly sugar-burning cells into fat burners. The minimum necessary is one session longer than 45 minutes per week, but the process is accelerated by exercising for more than 90 minutes once every two weeks. . . ."To maintain the capacity of your expanding fat furnace, you'll need at least two other 30-minute sessions a week. If each of these can be increased to at least 45 minutes, you'll improve the adaptation. As always, it's better to slow down from the beginni9ng of exercise so that you'll fell better, be more motivated to continue, and go further." (Galloway, p.239) 2x per week for 45 minutes or more, and one long run every two weeks of at least 90 minutes. Most half-marathon programs will provide this benefit.

If that wasn't good enough: "Running regularly for more than 45 minutes at a time(even with walk breaks) trains our exercising muscle cells to be fat burners at all times of the night and day. After months of regular distance running, you will have transformed a cast number of running muscle cells into fat burners that prefer fat as a fuel, even when you are sitting around all day or asleep at night.: (Galloway p. 237)

Finally, eating every 2-3 hours maintains a higher rate of metabolism and burns fat. (see Galloway p. 236)