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There Is No 'Fat Burning Zone' - Lifehacker
All of the cardio machines are lying to you. There’s probably some workout on the elliptical that promises to keep you in the “fat burning zone,” and a chart on the treadmill informing you that the zone exists when your heart is beating at a certain rate. Forget it. The fat burning zone is a myth.
Those machines will tell you the zone exists somewhere in the range of 50 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate (which it is probably miscalculating anyway). There is nothing special about exercising in this zone, and it certainly won’t make your body burn more fat than exercising any other way.
Fat loss doesn’t depend on your heart rate during exercise
If you’re trying to lose weight, the first factor to look at is how much you’re eating. It should be less than the total calories you end up burning in a day.
But can’t you burn more calories by exercising? Sure. The longer you exercise, the more you burn; the harder you exercise, the more you burn. It’s up to you how you’d like to plan your workouts. An hour’s walk burns about the same calories as a half-hour run.
All of the cardio machines are lying to you. There’s probably some workout on the elliptical that promises to keep you in the “fat burning zone,” and a chart on the treadmill informing you that the zone exists when your heart is beating at a certain rate. Forget it. The fat burning zone is a myth.
Those machines will tell you the zone exists somewhere in the range of 50 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate (which it is probably miscalculating anyway). There is nothing special about exercising in this zone, and it certainly won’t make your body burn more fat than exercising any other way.
Fat loss doesn’t depend on your heart rate during exercise
If you’re trying to lose weight, the first factor to look at is how much you’re eating. It should be less than the total calories you end up burning in a day.
But can’t you burn more calories by exercising? Sure. The longer you exercise, the more you burn; the harder you exercise, the more you burn. It’s up to you how you’d like to plan your workouts. An hour’s walk burns about the same calories as a half-hour run.