Healthy Living

CARDIOVASCULAR – FAT ZONE

I have been asked hundreds of times what is the best way to burn fat without sacrificing muscle. There is only one answer to this question. In order to burn fat you must pay close attention to the beats per minute your heart makes. When your heart beats at a low to moderate rate, the body will tend to only use fat cells for fuel and not protein cells.

There is a formula to determine the proper heart rate for burning fat. Simply subtract your age from 220, and multiply your planned energy. For example if a 27 year old woman plans to work out at 80% of her energy you would use the following formula: 220-27 = 193×80%=154.

This means a woman wanting to work out at 80% of her energy should try to strive to reach a heart rate zone of 154 beats per minute. Once you know how many beats per minute you need to burn fat, choose a piece of cardio equipment like a treadmill (if you suffer from joint pain you may want to use an elliptical trainer or a stationary bike). Start off easy and slow for the first five minutes and then begin to increase the intensity so that by the 15 minute mark you’re at or close to your fat burning zone. This should be continuous for the next 15 minutes. Then use an additional 5 minutes to slow your heart rate down which will total 35 minutes of cardio. For people wanting to lose as much fat as possible within a short period of time, 4-5 days a week of using this method would be the best and safest approach.

It is unhealthy to lose more than 3 pounds of body fat per week. Losing 2-2 1/2 pounds of body fat a week would be healthier and would also give you more of an athletic look. By using at least 50-80% of all your energy on each cardio workout along with a little patience and basic science, you should begin to see noticeable differences in your appearance within 3-5 weeks.