Burn as much fat as possible, but how? We show you the facts
Everyone wants to burn fat. But the best way to do it is the decisive question here.
You can only start burning fat after half an hour of moderate endurance training. You have probably heard this sentence many times. However, a brief look at the performance-physiological intermediate metabolism gives us a deeper insight into the body's energy supply. It is true that after about half an hour of "light endurance training" the percentage of lipids (fats) rises higher than the proportion of carbohydrates needed.
But be careful: this refers only to the percentage share and not to the effective share!
As performance increases, proportionally more glucose or glycogen is burned. In absolute terms, fat burning also increases until a maximum is reached, before it decreases again. This maximum lies at approximately 65% VO2max. At this intensity, trained people can burn on average 0.6g of fat per minute. At 65% VO2max, the relative share of fat burning is approx. 50%; at 20% VO2max it would be almost 100% (see graph).
In other words: the relative share of fat burning is indeed much higher at low intensity, but what counts for burning as much fat as possible is not the relative but the absolute share.
If the overall load is higher, the absolute fat consumption is therefore higher, and ultimately it is mainly about the total amount of energy (kcal) used.
Endurance athletes aim for a balanced energy balance and try to burn as much fat as possible to save valuable glycogen. Without glucose or glycogen, your running pace has to be halved! When weight loss is the goal, the situation looks completely different. Here a negative energy balance must be aimed for, i.e. energy expenditure should be higher than energy intake. Logically, this can be achieved both through reduced energy intake and through increased energy expenditure.
