Recovery/ Nutrition

[FairfaxPat]

Losing weight is simple, really, just burn more calories than you eat and you will lose weight. Eating a good balance of carbs, protein and fat is essential to good health.

 

[shutterman]

Think this thread proves there is no ONE magic way to leaness(back to many paths up a mountain) apart from DNP of course but then it's worth mentioning at least 90% of users do not have clue how to use it at all

Very gentle ride today to serve as a pre-warm up for oly lifting. Clean and Snatch were the order of the day (20kg on the bar) I gassed big time that's no big surprise,viewing play back on the camera form is good(room for improvement) which is what the next few weeks are about

Currently floating on endorphin enduced clouds

 

[Neil]

So, if fat burning is one of the things you want from your biking exercise, what is the optimal heart rate for that ?

I know that higher heart rates are good(ish) for cardio workouts, but what sort of rate is best for burning FAT ?

To burn fat specifically it is really low speeds and only gentle exercise, under 70% of Max HR. The body then has time to metabolise fat into energy and release it. Long rides at low speed are the order of the day.

Which in the big scheme of things doesn't matter.

Because whether you use fat as fuel for exercise, or not, if you're still in calorific surplus, they will be stored right back as bodyfat.

And the other thing to consider is, assuming you manage to exercise so that fat (either dietary or bodyfat) is used to fuel exercise, what do you suppose happens to the blood sugar that hasn't been used? Surplus ingested calories and surplus blood sugar get stored as long-term "Storage" as bodyfat.

Of course, tearing around can burn fat (if you don't eat afterwards) as the energy expended has to be made up. But it's not efficient and you tend to feel naturally hungry afterwards... Wink

The "fat-burning zone" is just a pointless thing, really, what matters more, is balance of expenditure of calories, compared with those metabolised. Any expenditure of energy, regardless of timeframe, heart-rate zone, or energy source used can end up reducing bodyfat, if there's a deficit of calories, and you've encouraged the body to take them from bodyfat, rather than anything else (sufficient protein helps, there, as it is protein sparing, and addresses the possibility of energy demands beyond calorie intake not being taken from muscle tissue).

The best form of exercise for fat loss, is the one each person finds most tolerable, that burns the most calories (rather than done at a particular heart-rate range) in a timeframe that each individual finds tolerable. That's why intervals and high-intensity cardio are as valid as SS.

Aiming for use of fat as fuel whilst exercising, like trying to force the body to use fat on an ongoing basis (ketogenic diets) is of trivial significance, because ultimately it's CICO that will have the most significant impact on bodyfat storage or depletion.

Don't be fooled into thinking that there's any metabolic advantage to either the mythical "fat-burning-zone" or diets that force the body to use fat for fuel (rather than dietary carbs), because there isn't - it's fool's gold, dragons be there - they (as techniques) might be useful for other reasons, but not because they're intrinsically advantageous.

 

[Neil]

Losing weight is simple, really, just burn more calories than you eat and you will lose weight. Eating a good balance of carbs, protein and fat is essential to good health.

You're absolutely correct in that there's nothing magic about losing weight - it's just eating less and doing more.

Sustaining that, and maintaining your dieted-to weight is more of a challenge, long-term.

Plus, most people who strive to lose weight, generally want to lose fat and preserve lbm - that (over time) takes more than just being simple.

 

[Neil]

Think this thread proves there is no ONE magic way to leaness(back to many paths up a mountain) apart from DNP of course but then it's worth mentioning at least 90% of users do not have clue how to use it at all

Here's the thing with most pharmaceuticals used for weight loss - be they thermogenic or metabolic "enhancers" or both - most tend to be fairly risky, on the whole, and have a good few side-effects.

Getting lean is more challenging for natural athletes, and more complex than simply losing weight. Natural athletes have the issue with hormonal "crashing" (which causes all sorts of issues eg depressed metabolic rate, preservation of bodyfat) after sustained negative calorie equity. Athletes using drugs don't have that issue, since they're directly controlling hormones.

The longer dieting goes on for, makes those factors worse - which is why IF / cyclic diets are becoming widespread, in an attempt to deal with the depression of the endocrine system after prolonged dieting.