A Simple Guide to Burning Fat

Exercise science and technology has progressed so quickly over the last decade that it may be tough to decipher all of the most recent findings. So, my goal with this article is to boil down the latest n' greatest information regarding burning fat, such that you have some simple points to remember during your health improvement journey.

First, I need to establish the informational baseline by making a couple of key assumptions:

1. You already have a good diet, based on an ancestral template. If you're not familiar with this dietary lifestyle, it centers on increasing saturated and monounsaturated fat intake while decreasing (notice how I'm NOT saying eliminating) carbohydrates. This gears your body more towards utilizing fat as your primary energy source. For more information, tips, and advice on becoming a fat-burning beast, please join my new Facebook group and post your questions.

2. You've made a commitment to exercise regularly. We all know that a good exercise regimen is absolutely essential to optimal health, so I don't need to stress the importance of this. A specific, individualized exercise routine can be established for every single person on the face of this planet, no matter their age, physical limitations, or current health status. There is simply no excuse for not being at least nominally active. Again, if you need some advice on developing your own exercise routine, join my Facebook group and I'll be happy to make some specific recommendations for you.

So let's get to it. Here are some good, general recommendations for optimal fat burning:

1. Move slowly, frequently. It's important to decrease the amount of time that you spend sitting in one position. A lot of people, including me, spend an inordinant amount of time per day in front of their computer. With a few simple tricks, you can establish your general movement baseline and attain the recommended 2 to 5 hours per week of general movement at a slow pace:​

• ​Take frequent micro-breaks. Stand up, stretch, and spend a couple of minutes walking around the office, or, better yet, take your phone calls while strolling outside (that's what I do). Standing desks are becoming very popular (and less expensive) these days, and I highly recommend getting one. I probably spend a third of my office days working on my computer while standing.

• Forget about the 10,000 step per day goal. Hardly anyone can achieve that goal daily. Set your target at an infinitely more attainable 6,000 steps. Personally, I've found that about three or four 10-minute phone calls taken while perambulating outside will get you most of the way there.

1. Create your exercise regimen, and commit to it. I've already touched on this with a prior blog post written primarily to explain how time is no longer an issue with respect to working out. You want to incorporate push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and planks into your routine for good general fitness. Personally, I recommend 2 to 3 intense workouts per week, with enough time between sessions to fully recuperate. (I'll outline my typical workout session in a later blog post.) Also, if you really want to optimize your metabolism, increase energy efficiency, and REALLY transform into a fat-burner, you need to "sprint" 2 or 3 times per month. (I used sprint in quotations to represent ANY exercise requiring 100% max effort, not just running. Check out the benefits of sprinting on a prior blog post here.)

2. PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP is to track your heart rate (HR) regularly, both during the general movement phase (Tip #1 above) and during your more intense exercises in Tip #2. Tracking your HR is important because your body naturally prefers to burn fat over glucose for low to moderate intensity movements and exercises. Therefore, if you've moved away from the Standard American Diet, your body wants to burn fat as energy most of the time. I'll discuss this concept in more detail below, but the bottom line for this section is: Get a heart rate monitor.

Fat has about 9 calories per gram, as opposed to carbohydrate, which burns at a rate of about 4 calories per gram. Fat is therefore a much more efficient source for your normal, daily energy needs than carbohydrate. However, oxygen is required in order to burn fat as energy (thus why low intensity exercises are known as "aerobic" exercises.) In performing your daily activities and light exercises while monitoring your heart rate, you'll know that you're tapping those fat stores when your HR is LESS THAN 75% of your max HR, measured in beats per minute (bpm). This is called your aerobic threshold. If you don't know your max HR, a scientifically accurate estimate for determining your aerobic threshold is 180 minus your age. For example, since I'm 48 years old, my aerobic threshold is 180 - 48 = 132 bpm. So, if I want to burn fat, I'll keep my HR at or under 132 bpm during low intensity activities.

For high intensity exercises, glucose is required because it does NOT need oxygen to be burned as fuel. Think of it as an emergency situation where your body needs a quick source of energy in order to accomplish something requiring a lot of effort. Your body says Hey! We're under some serious stress here, and need to bypass the time needed for fat metabolization, so gimme some glucose! This is why you see a lot of endurance athletes sucking down glucose packets for an extra kick during competitions like cycling. The point is that your body will tap glucose stores for energy at heart rates above your aerobic threshold (again, about 75% of your max HR).

You can see now why you need to measure your HR during exercise if you want to burn more fat. Keep your HR below your aerobic threshold (180 minus your age) for low to moderate movement/exercise (daily activities), but for your 2 or 3 workout sessions per week, try to bump it up into the glucose burning (anaerobic) range. This regimen will help you burn more fat during a normal day, while periodically utilizing and refreshing muscle and liver glucose stores. For all-out sprinting efforts every week or two, your glucose tank should be nearly tapped out. Over a short time, you'll notice that your new fat-burning metabolism results in a clearer mind (since your brain loves to burn ketones - byproducts of fat metabolism), and more consistent energy throughout the day (since you're not depending on carbohydrates for daily energy needs.) In other words: Preferentially burning fat provides more brain power and less energy crashes!

Heart Rate Monitoring Recommendations

HR monitors come in many shapes, sizes and prices. Many people are under the false impression that you need to get a Fitbit, Garmin or some other $150+ gadget that monitors HR conveniently from your wrist. I was one such person, buying the Fitbit Charge HR about a year ago. While these gadgets do come in handy and seem to be fairly accurate for checking your HR during low activity, I noticed that my Fitbit did not seem to be accurate for moderate or high intensity exercising - which is crucial for knowing when you're OUT of the fat-burning zone.

I ran a personal experiment during two different multiple sprint session days. It consisted of monitoring my HR with both my Fitbit and Polar chest strap monitors. (Chest strap monitors are widely known to be the most accurate monitors outside of medical technology, which is why you see professional athletes wearing them.) The results were entirely unacceptable with respect to the mid- to high-end accuracy of my Fitbit. I've tested my max HR before with my Polar (it's around 178 bpm), and knew that I approached that level frequently during sprint sessions. While also wearing the Fitbit, immediately after a 10 to 15-second sprint, my Polar readout was consistently in the upper 150s while the Fitbit had problems topping 120 bpm. These results were repeated at least 5 times during each sprint day. Since I want to know when I'm approaching my 132 bpm aerobic threshold, you can see why I would not recommend an HR monitor that has problems with accuracy over 120 bpm.

This is not meant to be an indictment of Fitbit products. I believe they have their place in the wearable technology arena. That place, however, is most certainly NOT in the area of self-quantification with respect to fat metabolism.

So, my recommendation to you is to get a chest strap monitor rather than a wrist-based device. (It also helps that the chest strap monitors are roughly half the price, by comparison...) For gauging daily activity, most smart phones these days either come equipped with, or have an app for, counting steps and tracking dietary stats - free. My Android app even has an HR monitoring function that works through the camera's flash mode (accuracy unverified).

Bottom line: Don't spend the money on wrist-based HR monitors if your goal is to burn fat. At this point, they're just not accurate enough to give you any decent measurable results. There are better, more accurate, and less expensive options for you in this regard.

Best of luck and best of health, naturally!

Bret McClellan

Certified Primal Health Coach #239

McClellan Natural Health, Wellness & Nutrition

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