Fat burning

[CharliesMum11]

Good morning fellow runners. I have read that slower running is better for burning fat. Does anybody know what sort of pace and distance is needed?

[damienair Graduate]

Eating smaller portions of the right food and being mindful of what you eat is the only way to lose weight and burn fat. Running slow is the same as walking fast. You would have to be running 10K regularly for it to make a difference.

Weight loss is 90% food related and 10% exercise related.

But exercise becomes so much easier and more enjoyable when you do lose weight. I’d hate to try and run 5K now with the 14Kg I used to carry on me.

When your running run at a pace which is comfortable for you, a pace for which you could hold a conversation with someone whilst running.

Damien

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to damienair]

Thank you Damien, I'm going to start logging my food on My Fitness Pal, I'm sure I must be eating more than I think I do! 10K is a bit too much for me at the moment, but I'm getting there.

[damienair Graduate in reply to CharliesMum11]

Forget about 10K, I usually just do 5K 3-4 times per week. When I run 5K I am only really burning between 350-400 calories. I used to think I was eating healthy until I really made an effort to cut down this year. As a result I lost 2.5 stone over 6 months. It takes time and hard work but it’s worth it.

Damien

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to damienair]

Sounds good to me. I shall continue to run 4/5k 3 times a week and keep a close eye on my calorie intake. Thank you for your advice. Congratulations on your weight loss, that's amazing. Happy running

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

It’s more to do with effort level, so paces would be different for everyone. If you have a heart rate monitor then it’s possible to train by heart rate and help the process.

The following article is all about how slow running in training makes faster runners... it covers fat burning and some other benefits.

mensrunninguk.co.uk/top-fea...

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Thank you for that UnfitNoMore, it was a very interesting read. Complicated this running stuff! I'm going to look more into a HRM.

[Coddfish Graduate]

It sounds like pseudoscience bollox to me. You burn fat and build cardiovascular fitness at both low and high exercise intensities. At lower heart rates you burn mostly fat. At higher heart rates your body uses a mix of fat and glycogen. At a higher intensity you therefore still burn fat and also of course get a better cardio workout. The most useful thing of course is to run at an intensity that you can sustain for the time or distance you want to run. That mostly means running at an intensity where you can hold a conversation. None of this is likely to mean you will lose a lot of weight. To do that, you need to create and sustain a calorie deficit.

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to Coddfish]

Thank you for your advice. I am now running and reducing my calorie intake so time will tell!

[AmyKart]

Your diet is the most important part of losing weight/burning fat, exercise is just supplemental to that. You could workout as hard as you want, but if your diet isn't good then you won't be making any progress. The most effective/efficient way to diet is by following a CICO, or calories in calories out, diet which basically means that you eat less calories than you burn in a day. You can find out this number by using a TDEE calculator and eating 70-80% of that number. Along with this diet, it's good to stay away from certain foods that are filled with calories while lacking nutrients: openfit.com/5-foods-to-avoi...

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to AmyKart]

Thank you very much AmyKart, that has made very interesting reading. I must admit I've always been pretty addicted to bread, but since reducing the amount I eat the weight has shifted a little, so I'll stick to that. I don't think I could completely cut it out though! I've never heard of the TDEE calculator before but it a very useful tool.

[Kevtrev]

Diet is the the only thing that burns fat but you also need to be doing exercise to get fit and with me doing the both I’ve lost 2.6stone I’m doing the Akins and it’s working also known as keto 😉

[CharliesMum11 Graduate in reply to Kevtrev]

Thank you Kevtrev. I'm trying the calorie counting diet. Wow! You've done really well losing that much weight, I've not tried that diet before.

[Kevtrev in reply to CharliesMum11]

Thank you it’s strict but it’s working and good luck with yours hope you get to what you want it’s also worth it when you notice your body changing I’m down to 11st 8lbs and according to the nhs chart I’m overweight my ideal weight is 8st 3lbs-11st 2lbs as I’m a man at 5’6 so it is a bit harder as one of my friends eats what he wants and never puts weight on I could kick him 😂😉👍

[iain-strachan Graduate]

I read an article recently titled something like "The myth of the Fat Burning Zone".

The just of it is that there IS a heart rate zone where you burn more fat than glycogen. BUT, if you run at a higher heart rate zone, you will burn more glycogen than fat, for sure, but you'll still burn more fat than if you were in the so-called fat-burning zone.

I suppose the only thing is that if you exert yourself too much, you won't be able to sustain it for as long as if you stayed running at the lower heart rate - and so a longer, slower run will burn more calories overall.

[Hidden]

If you run at 70% to 80% of your maximum heart rate your body should burn more fat.. Check this link

healthline.com/health/fitne...

You should also be able to burn carbs if you have your heart rate at a certain speed, look it up.