Understanding Calorie Afterburn

For years, people were taught that the more sweat, the more calories you will lose. This is not exactly true, especially if the exercises you are doing are not effective at raising your basal metabolism. Your basal metabolism is a measure of how many calories you are burning when your body is at rest or just doing ordinary things such as sitting at a computer or watching television.

The truth is that when it comes to overall calorie burning, aerobic exercise is a little bit overrated. This is because aerobic exercise builds very little muscle.  Muscle is a key component of burning calories. That is because muscle burns up to an additional fifty calories a day just to keep that muscle in operation. Even if you can manage to add six pounds of muscles, you will find yourself burning an additional 300 calories a day even when your body is at rest.

Low Intensity Aerobics Can Rob The Body of Protein

Most people prefer to do low intensity aerobics rather than anaerobic exercises such as Pilates or weight –lifting. However, it is not that great of an ideal to do a long stint of low intensity aerobic exercise simply because aerobic exercises like biking, running and jogging require a great deal breath and cell respiration. As you continue to do the low-intensity exercise, your body calls upon glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrate in your muscles and the liver) to operate.  It only takes about twenty minutes of low intensity exercise to deplete your glycogen store. To keep going your body turns to the next readily available source of energy in your body, which is the protein in your muscles.  Your body will then burn about 5 to 6 grams of protein for every half hour of ongoing aerobic exercise.

The problem with this approach to exercise is that you are losing protein, rather than fat as you exercise and also diminishing your muscle mass.  This will ultimately slow you down, make you hungry and make it harder for you to lose weight.

The Principle of  Calorie Afterburn

Although it is true that you lose more calories while doing aerobic exercise then you do lifting weights but only during the exercise period, you need to take the calorie afterburn that is possible after each.  The metabolic effect of aerobics only lasts about thirty to sixty minutes whereas the effects of weight training lasts as long as 48 hours. That is two days more of an opportunity for your body to burn off additional fat.

The message here is that aerobic exercise essentially only really burns calories at the time of the workout while strength training is the “gift that keeps on giving”. You will continue to burn calories after you leave the gym, while you eat dinner, while you watch television, while you are in bed and all the next day.  This is why it is recommended that you do circuit training that involves a bit of both styles of exercise in order to lose as much weight as possible.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.