Why 'Fat-Burning Exercises' Don't Exist, Plus the Real Secret to Fat Loss
I think it’s pretty well established at this point that when it comes to losing weight, most of our focus should be on nutrition. Although there’s a lot of nuance concerning how we should approach losing a few pounds, in principle, calories in versus calories out – and bringing awareness to what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat – are all generally accepted.
It does occasionally feel to me, though, that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of 'exercise is useless for fat loss'. However you slice it, all activity requires energy, and exercise tends to require a fair bit of it. If we’re going with the black-and-white calories in/calories out equation, we can’t ignore the 'out' part of that formula, and exercise can play an important role.
Now, should exercise ever be a means of punishing your body for overeating? Absolutely not. Should you use exercise as a tool for burning calories you wish you hadn’t eaten? Not if you want a healthy relationship with food. But does finding ways to increase your calorie consumption while still maintaining that all-important deficit – thereby alleviating feelings of dietary restriction – make sense? I’d argue there’s a place for it.
So, Do 'Fat-Burning Exercises' Exist?
I don't want to bury the lead, so I'll just answer the original question at face value: no, there isn’t such a thing as a strictly 'fat-burning exercise'. We have very little control over the type of calories we burn while working out. The fuel substrates we use while exercising (ie, 'are these calories coming from body fat, dietary fat, dietary carbohydrates, or stored carbs?') will be influenced by a whole host of factors, including the intensity of the workout, what we’ve eaten recently, our hormones, and our genetics. What we will always be burning, however, is calories. And when it comes to weight loss, that’s what matters – right?
I understand it’s tempting to think that if you want to burn more calories, you should be performing your workouts at a higher intensity. But, in reality, fat loss isn’t achieved through some secret air bike protocol that leaves you in a sweaty puddle on the ground. In fact, it happens most effortlessly when you manage to figure out how you can incorporate as much low-intensity exercise, or movement, into your day as possible.
Why More Movement is the Most Important Factor
Hardcore workouts can cause our bodies to compensate by slowing down for the rest of the day, which can actually have a net detrimental effect on the number of calories we burn. Conversely, lower-intensity activities, such as cycling to and from the train station, taking lunchtime walks, or the oft-touted option of using the stairs rather than the lift, can all contribute significantly to your daily metabolic burn – without leaving you feeling exhausted and burned out.
It's not to say there's anything wrong with exercising at a high intensity – I personally love it – just that it's no silver bullet when it comes to fat loss. Your attention is certainly better served elsewhere, namely on building habits that encourage regular, consistent, lower-intensity movement throughout the day.
One of the most effective and structured ways you can build this type of low-intensity exercise into your life is with simple, brisk walks after each meal. 'Post-prandial activity', as it’s scientifically known, has been linked in studies to increased weight loss, with some research suggesting this could be down to walking’s ability to regulate blood sugar, helping to control appetite.
Walking also has a litany of other incredible benefits for both your body and mind. If getting out for a power stroll after two or three meals a day also counts as a fat-burning exercise or workout, and helps you to shift a few pounds, well, that’s just the calorie-reduced icing on the cake, isn’t it?
The Bottom Line
To reiterate, it's never healthy to undertake activities like this solely with the aim of 'out exercising your diet', but in terms of lifestyle changes you can implement to make fat loss a little easier, this is a good one.
So all in, is there such thing as a fat-burning exercise? No. But that doesn't mean exercise can't help to burn fat, and even if it couldn't, all movement is good movement, regardless.
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