There is a big debate in the fitness industry about the best calorie burning approach for achieving fast weight loss results. This is what is known as the "burning fat vs. burning carbohydrates for weight loss" debate. Some people even claim the existence of a magical fat burning zone that can put your weight loss efforts on the fast track. Of course, this zone does exist, but it has been blown out of proportions. And here is why:
Regardless of the source of energy, weight loss happens when a calorie deficit is created. Nonetheless, the human body does tend to prefer one source over the other; this usually depends on body type, training length and intensity, and other factors.
However, being aware of the way your body uses energy when exercising can give you an extra edge which will allow you getting to your weight loss goals much faster and smoother. Therefore, here is a short description of the way the human body uses the two different sources energy.
The Early Stage of the Workout
During the first fifteen minutes of the training session, your body relies heavily on carbohydrates as the main source of energy. When consuming carbohydrates, they get metabolized and stored on your body as glycogen. Usually this type of energy is stored for quick and immediate use. Many exercisers who follow a low-carb diet find it hard to keep up during the first 15 minutes of the exercise. The reason behind this discomfort can be traced to a lack of glycogen storage for immediate access.
If you tend to prefer short workouts, then you certainly be burning carbohydrates instead of fats. However, as long as you're abiding to the calorie deficit law, this doesn't necessarily mean that you won't lose weight.
From Twenty to Forty Minutes
As the training session progresses further, your body starts to switch from using carbohydrates to fats as the main source of energy. This process usually takes up to 30 minutes. After 40 minutes of exercising, the body gets a proportionally higher percentage of its energy needs from fat storage.
Training Intensity and Energy Needs
Training duration in not the only factor that affects how the human body deals with its energy needs, training intensity also matters. Recent research suggest that weight loss program is most effective at moderate intensity aerobic workout as compared to high intensity workout.
During high-intense training sessions such as interval running, the human body tends to prefer carbohydrates as the main source of energy as carbohydrate can be easily accessed and used to fulfill the energy needs during the exercise. On the other hand, when doing low to moderate intensity exercises, the human body burns more fat calories as these exercises comparatively last for longer duration.
The Conclusion
What you should keep in mind whenever you hear of the fat vs. carbohydrate for weight loss debate is this: regardless of the source of energy, you'll lose weight as long as an energy deficit is created.
However, the best way to lose weight is to force your body to use both energy sources. You can do this by increasing training duration and intensity. Alternating between a hard interval workout and a low cardio session is a good example of this type of training for optimal weight loss results. Furthermore, you should develop good eating habits as well if you want to keep the weight off for life. No matter how much you push yourself on the treadmill, you can never compensate for bad eating habits.
