Fat 2 Fit Show # 14 - Running for Fat Loss
How do you effectively use running for weight loss? How do you even get started if you haven’t run farther than the distance from your couch to your fridge in years? How do you make sure that you will progress but not get injured along the way? We cover all of the basics and give suggestions and links for running podcasts and training programs.
In our Listener E-mail section we answered questions that dealt with monitoring your heart rate while exercising, counting calories if you already eat natural whole foods, and why all popcorn is not the same for health and calories.
In our news section, Russ found several studies that pointed to evidence that moderate drinking and exercise were they key to a long life. What was really surprising, was that people who drank moderately lived longer than people who didn’t.
Jeff referred to an article out of Oprah Magazine that dealt with the latest craze of “medically supervised” weight loss clinics. Jeff surmised that these clinics are no better than any other diet center who is desperately trying to get its piece of the almighty weight loss dollar. He looked at a specific clinic that puts people on a starvation diet of 400-500 calories, does not want people to exercise, provides expensive vitamin injections, and prescribes other medications and supplements to basically keep you from dying while in your starvation diet. Jeff’s guess at how many people will keep the weight off for long term after going on a “medically supervised” weight loss diet would be less than 1% - much less than 1%…
Links Mentioned in the show:
Fat2Fit Radio Article on Heart Rate and Fat Loss
Nutrition of 100 calorie microwave popcorn
Do Vitamin B injections help with weight loss?
An example of a “medically supervised” weight loss clinic (Dr. Berstein Diet)
An investigative report on the Dr. Bernstein Diet
Drinking alcohol is good for you - within reason
Some basic info and programs for Running
The Lore of Running Book
Couch to 5K Podcast
Phedippidations Running Podcast
Recipe of the Week:
Listen here, or subscribe to automatically receive future shows.
Exercising Heart Rate Speed vs. Fat Loss
If you see an older heart rate chart in your local gym, you will see that most will have a “fat burning” and a “cardio” range.
The “fat burning” range was based upon studies that looked at the first few minutes of exercise at different intensity levels. It is now accepted that the total amount of calories expended is more important than the intensity for overall fat loss.
We live in a world where fat loss occurs over a 24 hour period, not just when we exercise. At the end of the day, it is still the old saying “calories in vs calories out”. Exercise helps you to increase your negative caloric intake and helps to speed up your metabolism.
When you are exercising for cardiovascular and muscle endurance results, you do need to push yourself to a reasonable level. There is a difference between activity and exercise if you want significant results, but for fat loss, your body really cares about negative calories at the end of the day.
Here is an example: Lets say that you burn 500 calories on an elliptical trainer or stair climber. If it took you 30 or 40 minutes to accomplish this, you still have the same negative calories at the end of the day. Your overall “fitness” workout is better with a higher intensity, but weight loss would be similar.
Think of it this way. If you are a new runner and you go out and try to run as fast as you can for as long as you can, you may only last 3 minutes and burn 25 calories. It is intuitive that if you walked/jogged for half an hour you may burn 250 calories. It’s clear that in this instance, the slower runner has the superior workout if the goal is fat loss.
You do need to be aware of the extremes with regard to heart rate and exercise. The rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 220 to get your maximum heart rate. Think of this as the “extreme danger level”. Once you have this level, don’t exceed 85% of this number while exercising. If you are close to this number, you are close to your maximum safe level of exertion.
For Example: 35 years old
Maximum Heart Rate: 220-30 = 185 beats per minute
Max Safe Exercise Rate: 185 X .85 = 157 bpm
If you are exercising at a lower intensity and your heart rate is very fast, don’t be too concerned. As your cardiovascular fitness increases, your heart rate will lower. If you are on a fitness machine that keeps your heart at a constant rate during exercise, you will find that over time, you will be working out harder and harder at the same heart rate.
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