Confused and need help!

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phillip9209

New member
Hey, I'm new to the forum and just registered yesterday, my name is phil I'm male, 16 and weigh about 217 pounds at 6'0. A couple months ago I weighed 235 and lost weight by doing the following.
Everyday either sometime after dinner or after school I would run at 7 mph for as long as I can (used to only be able to run for a minute and 30 seconds, now I can run for just over 3 mins) after running for as long as I could I would take about a 1-2 min break and start lifting weights. I use 20 pound dumbbells (all the weight I currently have, I can lift more probably 30) doing curls, alternate dumbell rowing, two hand dumbell presses, hammer curls, and alternate presses. After running for as long as I could and lifting weights I hop back on to the treadmill and do this built in program called "weight loss" where for 3 and a half minutes you walk at 3 mph and then for another 3 and a half minutes walk at 3 mph on a 10% incline. This cycle continues for a total of 28 minutes.
So basically 6-7 days a week I'm on the treadmill running at 7mph for as long as I can, use the built in weight loss program and every other day (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun, Tues, Thurs, Sat, Mon etc) I lift weights.
This is where I'm getting confused. I've read that to burn stored body fat you should never do intense aerobics like jogging and stuff like that because they burn carbohydrates for energy not fat tissue (the calories you burn while doing intense exercises are carbohydrate calories not stored body fat). I've read that in order to burn stored body fat you must do low intensity workouts for at least 30 minutes (things like walking at a fast pace). Now I have some questions about this,
#1 is this true?
#2 when I'm doing intense aerobics (jogging at 7mph for as long as I can, lifting heavy weights) is it not burning stored body fat? and
#3 by going on the treadmill and doing the built in "wieght loss" program (a low intensity workout where you walk for 3 and a half minutes at 3mph and then walk for 3 and a half minutes at 3mph on a 10% incline alternating between them for a total of 28 minutes) am I burning stored body fat even though I'm doing this right after an intense workout (jogging for as long as I can, where if what I read is true, then I was only burning carbs for energy).
Any help is appreciated thanks in advance!
 
It sounds like you have some very bad information. I have never heard of such a thing. It is almost certainly not true.

#2 You will burn stored body fat no matter if you are laying on the couch or running at 7mph, but if and only if your body needs to use more energy (calories) than you are eating. Running is good for many reasons, but its not like your body says "oh he is running, lets use this fat as energy because he is running."
#3 See #2

I would like to see where you read that nonsense about "burning" carbs instead of fat. Carbs, protein, and fat are different complexes of energy with different micro nutrients but in the end when it comes to "energy" a calorie is a calorie.
 
This is a popular theory and honestly the jury is still out about which method burns the most fat in the end. Yes, when your heartrate stays low you are burning the fat right then and there, rather than burning the glucose in your muscles. However, if you go high-intensity and burn the fuel right away, then later when you're not working out and your body needs calories, it will likely feed off of the fat since all the fuel got burned off in your work-out. So that's why you may get the same effect whether or not you go low or high intensity. Personally I have tried both ways and neither gave me any different benefits, so my advice is to just keep doing what has worked for you and not question it too much. Or switch it up, some days do a longer less challenging workout, and other times do a high-intensity work-out. You certainly need the latter to condition your cardiovascular system. Just keep up the exercise! That's really all that matters at your stage in the game.
 
Thanks for the responses guys, to 7th I got the info from an e book called the Diet Handbook and what it states is that there are 3 types of calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat. The book says that
intense aerobics burn mainly carbohydrates for energy, not fat tissue.if you over-exert yourself and your breathing (and heart rate) become too elevated then your body will burn mainly carbohydrates. If you slightly elevate your breathing (and heart rate) and maintain this level for at least 30 minutes then your body will burn mainly stored body fat for energy (walking is a good example of how to slightly elevate your heart rate)
Click to expand...
later it says
Of course jogging will burn more CALORIES than walking since it takes much more energy to jog for 30 minutes than to walk for 30 minutes. However, that is beside the point because your goal is not to burn CARBOHYDRATE CALORIES, your goal is to burn stored BODYFAT. You can burn all the carbohydrate calories in the world and you'll still be overweight, you won't slim down until you begin burning BODYFAT.
Click to expand...
I guess what the book is trying to say that when exercising intensely you use the energy that you acquired that day through food but when you do low intensity exercise you used stored energy. So I'm still a bit confused :jump:
 
I think you are reading too much into it. Don't worry about things like that, stay active, and eat right. The weight will fall off.
 
Again, this is a very familiar and much debated theory. However, if you look at athletes you'll notice they are very fit because they burn so many calories, even those who do extremely high intensity activities. So obviously dont believe this nonsense that you're not burning fat when you do high intensity exercise. Usually a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit and it will cause you to lose fat.
 
This article written by one of my favorite researchers, Alan Aragon, would do you a lot of good:



And while we're at it, you might as well check out some of Lyle's stuff here:
 
The argument about the body burning fat at certain times and carbs at others assumes a system where the body is a kind of storehouse with two big sacks, labelled 'fat' and 'carbs', which are accessed exclusively from each other and have no connection to each other, when perhaps a better way to view the problem is to think of the sacks as being connected to each other with units of energy constantly moving back and forth between them. So the body turns carbs into fat for storage, but also fat into carbs, assuming there are enough nutrients for the chemical reactions (vit.C, iron etc).
 
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