Low Intensity Burns More Fat

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

21 Apr 2006 12:00 PM

Ultimately, when it comes to weight loss - no matter what the various program offerings out there suggest - it all boils down to burning more calories than you consume. While weight loss requires some lifestyle changes including better eating habits, better use of physical activity and better sleeping habits - the simple fact is that if you put out more than you take in - you're going to lose weight.

If you were wondering why low intensity would melt more pounds than high intensity - because that doesn't seem to make much logical sense. Understand that high intensity workouts may make you work harder, but they also build more muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. Thus you may be burning the same amount of fat, but you are not going to be shedding pounds as easily.

For example, one handful of muscle likely equals about five handfuls of fat. So for every handful of muscle you build, you need to burn off more than five handfuls of fat. Low intensity workouts tend to burn fat, but they do not build muscle as quickly.

If you were to perform a low intensity workout for three months, you would likely shed more physical pounds than you would if you were doing powerhouse, high intensity workouts for the same three months.

Now, don't get discouraged. In both cases, you're going to be building better body tone and shape. The muscle builders will also be burning more fat because muscle requires more calories than fat does. All this does is provide you with more options. For someone who is extremely overweight and wants to lose 20 or more pounds, low intensity workouts may be a better way to go.

The reason why is you can sustain a low intensity workout longer and far more productively. You will build up your cardiovascular strength and you will continue to burn excess calories daily.

You need to burn 500 calories more per day than you consume to lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week. The best mix for you to do in a weight loss program is to mix moderate with high intensity. For example, in the Spring Forward to Action 30 Day Challenge, we are mixing cardiovascular workouts with more intense strength building and flexibility exercises.

The cardio is designed to help you increase blood flow, burn calories and increase your output. The strength building and flexibility exercises improve your muscles and their calorie burning. To discover the best mix, try to monitor your calorie input for a week, if you consume 2500 calories a day, try to reduce that intake to 2200 calories and increase your exercise to output 300 to 500 calories burned per day. Keep checking in on the Fitness Blog as well as here at Weight Loss Blog for more ideas to improve your fitness and weight loss.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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ajarvis (35) 14 Mar 2007 07:42 AM

Interesting article, but I would think that if you are overweight working at a higher intensity would be better because you are building muscle. Muscle uses more energy than fat so the more muscle the more you'll end up losing in the long run.