Longer or shorter ?

[Dpilkington]

I keep going on different websites and everyone says something different, basically i wanna know what the best way to burn body fat is.

Loads of people are saying longer excercise at moderate level but other people say it's best at high intense.

Also i just ordered a Cross trainer / eliptical because loads of people say its the best for burning body fat but on other sites people say its one of the worst for burning body fat.

Ive lost the weight, it's just the body fat....

Thanks in advance !

 

[Melancholy]

Dude.... look. If you want to get some REAL advice, just spend the money and go talk to a nutritionist. You just said you go on tons of websites... these are opinions... what I am writing right now, an opinion, plain and simple. There is no "magic" answer, there is no "perfect" system. Some scientists that have been studying weight loss their whole life say long-duration, low intensity. Others, that have also been studying weight loss their whole life say something different. You need to figure out what works for you. so... I propose this: Do 1 month (yes month) of long duration (1.5 hours or so), then do 1 month of high-intensity... at the end of each month, get your body fat % measured professionally, and see what works better for you, then have at it. Get er' done man...

 

[Jeanette401]

The differences between long duration low intensity and low duration, high intensity aren't that big in terms of actual fat loss. In terms of athletic goals there's some context, and in terms of the time you are willing to spend and potential injuries etc.

So, here are some things to consider in checking which works best [for you

You only have a limited amount of time to work out, or you can't bring yourself to work out for long periods of time because slow cardio is just so damn boring - this leads toward high intensity, low duration.

You have had knee issues, other injuries in the past and are worried that the high intensity will injure you - suggests low intensity, long duration.

You just can't work out that hard, physically your body does not cooperate and you find it nearly impossible to maintain a high intensity/fast pace - again, low intensity, long duration.

Some other things to consider - why not high intensity, long duration? There's an extra chance of injury, plus your body needs more recovery from high intensity. So you could go say... 30 miles at low/moderate intensity, but maybe only 5 miles at high in the same time period. (I'm just picking arbitrary numbers for comparison). Walking 30 miles burns a lot more calories than running 5. On the other hand, running 5 miles burns somewhat more calories than walking 5 miles.

If you have all the time in the world you can always do a hybrid approach, i.e. run for 2 miles, walk for 10 with all the extra time.

Really though, it still doesn't matter that much. Being consistent with your exercise is FAR more important for weight loss than whether you're doing high intensity, low intensity, intervals or whatever.