A common strategy for people trying to lose weight is to
focus on calories, so they make calorie burning the biggest
aim of all their workouts, with the added goal of being in
the "fat burning zone". See our new page on The 7 Steps to
New Year's Weight Loss. People often do very long and
repetitive cardio sessions — walking or jogging for
an hour or more at a relatively low, even level of
intensity. But this isn't necessarily the most efficient
way to burn off unwanted fat, and it's certainly not the
most effective way to achieve and maintain a strong, lean
body over time.
To do that, you need to boost your metabolism, which
regulates your body's ability to become (and stay) lean.
And shifting your metabolism depends on improving your
fitness and supporting your goal with good nutrition, which
is 70% of your ability to get the results you want.
When your body turns food and oxygen into energy —
something it does throughout the day, virtually all day
— it burns calories. That process takes place in
your cells' mitochondria, which need oxygen to burn those
calories efficiently. So the more oxygen your body is
capable of processing per minute (a function of your VO2
max — more on that in a moment), the more calories it
can grind through on a given day.
In other words, being fit helps your body run more like a
finely tuned machine — one that's naturally inclined
to eliminate excess weight.
"People who have a higher level of fitness burn more
calories even while at rest and asleep," Hyman says. Exact
numbers are difficult to nail down because each person's
resting metabolic rate is unique (based on muscle mass,
age, genetics and even climate). Still, some experts
estimate that fit, muscular adults can burn an extra
hundred calories or more per day — while at rest.
It's important to note that in the course of their daily
activities and workouts, fit adults can and do burn a
couple thousand more calories daily than unfit, more
sedentary ones.
And here's the beauty of it: Fit people are naturally more
inclined toward activity and tend to exert themselves at
higher levels. That's because exercise and activities of
all kinds become easier as your fitness improves, and even
intense levels of exertion become more comfortable. All of
which makes calorie-burning activities a much more
appealing proposition, thus further increasing active
inclinations.
This is what's known as a "benevolent circle" (as opposed
to a vicious one) — and the more fit you become, the
more you can take advantage of its fat-burning effects.
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About The Author: Charles Carter, BS in Exercise Science is
President of LIVE, llc of http://www.liveleantoday.com -
visit the website for more information on weight loss, core
fitness programs, optimal diets, and online personal
trainer and dietician services. For more information on
products go to http://shop.liveleantoday.com .
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