"Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right."
~Oprah Winfrey
~Oprah Winfrey
The Secret to Losing Holiday Fat Fast
By Dr. Al Sears, MD
All the candy the kids brought home from school and all the office parties you attended. Even just what was sitting around the office for the last two weeks - the temptation was everywhere.
And before you knew it you added a few extra inches to your waistline.
But it doesn't have to be that way. There's a way to enjoy your favorite dishes and still help keep from packing on the pounds.
You just need to follow an effective exercise program
And the secret to really kicking up fat loss is to exert yourself at the "supra-aerobic" level.
But how do you get to where your exertion is at the supra-aerobic level? That's the key. And that's why I developed PACE.
It stands for Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion. The concept of PACE is simple: short periods of exertion followed by short periods of rest.
By increasing the intensity and varying the duration of each interval, your heart and lungs get the right challenge they need to transform and stay fit and strong!
When I first tell people about PACE, they almost always go away thinking it's about high-intensity exercise. It's not. It's about incrementally increasing the exertion level while keeping the duration brief.
This doesn't have to be high-intensity. In fact, some people simply start with walking.
The point is to work out at a level that is challenging your current metabolic capacity. This has nothing to do with the so-called "fat-burning zone."
Let me explain ...
Most fitness gurus will tell you to do long periods of "cardio" training, so you can melt fat while you work out. And they'll have you stay in that fat-burning zone for as long as possible.
But there are several problems with working out this way.
First, you don't want to melt fat during exercise. This tells your body it needs fat. It trains your body to make more fat and store it for your next exercise session.
Next, when you work out at an aerobic level for long periods, your heart gets smaller and your lung capacity decreases. This type of exercise never triggers "after burn." That's when your body continues to melt fat long after you have stopped exercising.
In a recent study, researchers compared long-duration and repeated short-duration exercisers.(1) The long-duration group cycled 45 minutes without interruption. The short-term interval group cycled in numerous short bursts. They went for 15 to 90 seconds, while resting in between.
The long-duration group burned twice as many calories. So you would also assume they burned more fat. But when the researchers recorded their body composition measurements, the interval group showed the most amount of fat loss. They melted 9 times more fat than the endurance group for every calorie burned.(2)
Turns out those short bursts of exercise stimulated a greater after burn, which is exactly what you want if your goal is to drop weight.
How to Hit Your Supra-Aerobic Zone Every Time
When you exercise at an aerobic intensity - or in your fat-burning zone - your body uses oxygen to burn calories. It trains your heart, lungs and muscles to work at a certain level. But it does nothing to improve their conditioning or help you melt off that excess fat.
The key to getting the most out of your PACE workout, is to create an oxygen deficit. That's when you know you've reached your supra-aerobic zone.
There are two key indicators to let you know when you've done this. The first is your breathing.
When you create an oxygen deficit, you will begin panting and feel winded. This means you've entered the supra-aerobic zone.
Finding Your Maximum Heart Rate
The most popular equation for figuring out maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. But I find this formula tends to overestimate the maximum heart rate for younger people, and underestimate for older individuals.
As a result, I like to use a different formula: Your age multiplied by .7; then 208 minus the result = maximum heart rate.
That means if you are 40 years old, it would look like this:
40 x .7 = 28
208 - 28 = 180
So 180 would be your maximum heart rate if you are 40 years old.
The second indicator is your heart rate. During your exercise, you'll want to get your heart beat up to somewhere around 60-80 percent of your maximum, depending on your current conditioning. (To calculate your heartbeat, just count the number of beats in 6 seconds and multiply it by 10. You can feel it by pressing your fingertip against the pulse in your wrist or neck.)
When you finish an exertion period and go into recovery, your heart rate should go up a few ticks. This usually takes place in about 10-15 seconds. This slight increase tells you that you've created an oxygen debt.
If you find it hard to gauge your heart rate, I suggest investing in a good quality heart rate monitor. This will help you determine easily when you've entered the supra-aerobic zone and give you a sure-fire way to know that you're doing PACE correctly.
Plus, it will help you ...
- Track recovery time. Your recovery time is a marker for your heart health. If your heart rate doesn't slow down at least 30 beats in the first minute, you're in poor shape. If your recovery heart rate slows down more than 50 beats in the first minute, you're in excellent shape.
- Gauge the intensity of your exertion. Measuring intensity is an important aspect of PACE. Under-perform and you won't get the benefits. Over-perform and you'll put yourself at risk. If your heart rate is less than your target range during exercise, you can speed up or work harder. But if your heart rate is higher than your target zone, you'll need to slow it down.
- Monitor your progress. When you start PACE, it may take several minutes to get your heart rate and breathing up. This is perfectly okay when you are out of shape or de-conditioned. But as you progress, you'll reach your target heart rate more quickly.
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