[Bejemoelemymn]

Spurred on by my son's lovely comments about my man-boobs I'm going to the gym regularly again. I'm trying to lose some fat and also improve my cardiovascular fitness. On most of the machines (treadmill, cross-trainer, bikes) at the gym you can choose cardio or fat burn, the difference being how high the machine tries to hold your heart rate. Today I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and started on fat burn, because I know I can't do 20 minutes of cardio. But fat burn felt ridiculously easy, so after 10 minutes I changed to cardio.

So my question is, should I split my session like this and, if so, which should I do first? And if not should I spend a session on cardio and then a session on fat burn or just focus completely on cardio and let the weight loss come with that?

[Blahhhshsh]

Losing weight is just a case of burning more energy than you consume.
The weight loss setting would just raise your heart rate to help use up energy, but wouldn't do much for your general level of fitness. The cardio setting would help improve your fitness, and help lose weight at the same time.

When i used to exercise regularly, i would generally work at the level where i was breathing heavily through my mouth, but wasn't short of breath. If i could hold a conversation, and still not be short of breath, i wasn't working hard enough. If i would get short of breath if tried talking, then i knew i was at the right level.
Whatever programme you do, it's good to vary it every 6-8 weeks. After doing a routine for 6-8 weeks i'd work at a higher level, or put bursts of higher level work in your usual routine, or more bursts of longer duration than you would normally do. Then after a couple of weeks of that revert back to the usual routine.

[dietpillxanaxaxx]

Thanks Grant, I suspected that it was probably better to just do as much cardio as I could, with my heart rate and breathing rate up. And yeah, burning more energy than I consume is the issue, given my diet which would make nutritionists burst into tears.

[erepsysoulptnw]

Thanks Grant, I suspected that it was probably better to just do as much cardio as I could, with my heart rate and breathing rate up. And yeah, burning more energy than I consume is the issue, given my diet which would make nutritionists burst into tears.

You need to work on the diet too, your body will adjust to the exercise, mix it up.

http://brainposts.blogspot.com.au/20...intenance.html

http://www.drsharma.ca/obesity-why-d...r-obesity.html

[Scukonah]

Ask at the holiday forum so you can get some input from Rule303.

[nuabuncarnigo]

You need to work on the diet too,

True, but no need to get carried away with whatever happens to be the current trend.
A lot of diets say fat is bad- the problem is there are many vitamins which are fat soluble- you can take all the supplements you like, but if there's no fat in your diet then you won't be able to make use of them.

Generally it's just a case of making grains, veggies & some fruit the main part of your diet. If you're not a vegitarian then some meat now & then, and even the odd bit of cake (or similar) as a treat. It's better (although difficult) to have several smaller meals througout the day, instead of a couple of big ones. If you do have to have only a few meals during the day, make breakfast & lunch the big ones, tea/dinner should only be a light meal. During the day you need the energy, at night you don't. So having a huge meal before you wind down for the night & then go to bed, is only going to result in that energy being coverted to fat instead of being used.
The other mistake people make is drastically cutting back on the amount they eat. The body is pretty god at regulating itself, and if you seriously limit your energy intake, the body will drop it's metabolism in response- no matter how much exercise you might do. Of course if you eat almost continually through the day, or frequently having huge meals, then cutting back the amount you eat will be necessary.

[orison]

Oh- and keep in mind BMI (Body Mass Index) os a load of rubbish.
People with a huge arse & thighs generally don't have heart problems (although they can cause other health issues). But someone with an otherwise slim body but with a gut/belly is at a much higher risk of heart problems.
Be more concerned with your waistline than your weight, especially if you do a bit of weight work as well. You could easily lose 10cm around the waist, and put on 10kg in weight.

[Heliosprime]

More muscle also means higher fat burn... So just doing cardio isn't going to cut it either... Think of your body as the most energy efficient machine there is... Bigger engines need more fuel to run, so it stand to reason that bigger muscles require more energy and therefore burn more...

[Ztcgtqvb]

Just wear less in winter.

[Hammaduersnes]

Just wear less in winter.

Problem is the body is quite prepared to sacrifice the extremeites to keep the rest of it going.

[Toossehew]

Nevertheless, for the otherwise healthy, exposing the body to cool conditions is a far better way of reducing adiposity than of losing limb extremities, so I suppose the body is better prepared to sacrifice adipose tissue to keep the extremities going, than to sacrifice the sic extremeties to keep the rest of the body going, under such conditions.

[Aqgkvwzm]

My understanding that 'fat-burning' burns more fat by proportion but 'cardio' actually burns more fat in absolute terms. So really you go as fast as you can comfortably.

[Gofthooxdix]

Problem is the body is quite prepared to sacrifice the extremeites to keep the rest of it going.

Which would help me lose weight, right...?

Thanks for the advice all, but seriously, my diet is unlikely to change a lot, although I will have to consider smaller meals at night when I'm at work (I'm FIFO). I don't have the willpower to stop snacking and I just like my food to much to make massive changes to my meals. I'm not fat, but I have slowly been putting on weight (at times losing it, but a general upward trend) for a few years now and it's all gone on the waistline and man-boobs. So I'm hoping regular gym activity and stop smashing down biscuits at work can help alleviate the problem.

[q9h9pPne]

My understanding that 'fat-burning' burns more fat by proportion but 'cardio' actually burns more fat in absolute terms. So really you go as fast as you can comfortably.

Define comfortably. I could comfortably stay inside and play Diablo 3 while destroying half of a family sized Cadburys block...