Obesity Panacea: Myth of the Fat Burning Zone - The UltimateFatBurner Blog

Obesity Panacea: Myth of the Fat Burning Zone

This is something I’ve written about myself, elsewhere, but researcher/blogger Travis Saunders sums it up pretty well – with a graph from a  recent lecture, no less, which helps drives the point home.

It is absolutely true that in a relative sense, the lower the exercise intensity the greater the reliance on fat as a substrate for energy. As the exercise intensity increases, the relative proportion of fat oxidation decreases while that of carbohydrate increases. However, the value of interest to anyone attempting to maximize fat loss is not what percentage of energy comes from fat during the exercise (relative), but how much fat is oxidized (absolute). This is where the fat burning zone breaks down.

The explanation is pretty simple: at higher intensities (70%-80% maximum heart rate), a lower percentage of your total cals may come from fat, but you’re burning more cals overall, so the total amount of fat burned during cardio can be just as great – if not greater.  So if you’ve been holding yourself back to a snail’s pace at the gym, in order to optimize fat burning, feel free to pick up the pace.

Author: elissa

Elissa is a former research associate with the University of California at Davis, and the author/co-author of over a dozen articles published in scientific journals. Currently a freelance writer and researcher, Elissa brings her multidisciplinary education and training to her writing on nutrition and supplements.

3 Comments

  1. The explanation is pretty simple: at higher intensities (70%-80% maximum heart rate), a lower percentage of your total cals may come from fat, but you’re burning more cals overall, so the total amount of fat burned during cardio can be just as great – if not greater. –I agree! Great post, thanks a lot for sharing 🙂

    Post a Reply
  2. Not to forget the calories burned post exercise! It´s another 50% of the calories burned through activity, that are burned post exercise!

    Post a Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *