How to Boost your Fat-Burn

Learn why working out in the “fat-burning zone” is a myth and what exercises to include in your wedding workout plan to really boost your fat-burning furnace.

In the 1990’s, exercise for women was all about the “fat-burning zone”.   Aerobics instructors from all over the country encouraged women to keep their workouts at a steady, non-strenuous pace.  If you didn’t have enough oxygen to hold a conversation, then you weren’t working in your “fat-burning zone” and you were encouraged to take the intensity down a notch. It was assumed that the only way you could effectively burn body fat is by performing steady-state cardio exercises like walking or hi-lo aerobics classes.

We now know that the “fat-burning zone” isn’t the most effective way to lose weight. It’s actually a fitness myth.

So how did it come about?

The Fat-Burning Fitness Myth

Your body has several different fuel sources: carbohydrates, fat and protein.  You get all of this fuel from the foods that you eat.  Once consumed, the body breaks down (or metabolizes) the food into slightly different types of that fuel source so that your cells can utilize it for energy.

When your cells have more oxygen it uses more fat for fuel.  When your cells have less oxygen your cells will use more glucose (carbohydrates) for fuel.   When you’re absolutely maxxed out, your cells will reach for protein to keep functioning.  So it makes perfectly good sense to workout at a lower intensity so that your cells could have oxygen to burn more fat, right? Wrong.

Photo: Photoroller@Istockphoto

While it’s true that more fat is burned when more oxygen is available, this happens most efficiently when you are at rest doing absolutely nothing.  You’re maximum “fat-burning zone” is actually when you’re lying on the couch moving as little as possible!   Let me tell you, you’re not earn your wedding dress dream body by sitting on your bum all day!  You might be using more fat fuel for energy, but your energy expenditure (calories burned) is extremely low.

[Find out The Best Wedding Dress for your Body Type]

Burn more Calories, Decrease Body Fat

In order to lower your body fat percentage, you need to maximize the number of calories burned in your workouts. One way to do this is by including exercises in your wedding fitness plan that increase the total amount of fuel used by your cells.  Activities that push your limits and make you breathe heavy, like jogging instead of walking,  jumping in between squats or hitting a punching bag really fast, will increase the intensity AND fuel burned in your workouts.

Even if you can push your limits for only 15 seconds to 2 minutes, these short bursts really make your cells…

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