The Myth of Fat Burning Exercise

It’s time to stop looking for instant results and focus on what really matters for long-term success.

If you want to lose fat, conventional wisdom has it that you should go through an intense, fat blasting workout, running frantically from one heart-pounding exercise to the next until you’re left crawling, exhausted, and lying in a puddle of your own sweat.

Not so fast… Sure, these workouts might burn tons of calories. Done consistently, they’ll also offer long-term benefits, like increasing aerobic fitness and work capacity. But they’re not necessarily going to make you any leaner.

Let me explain why.

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The first thing you want to consider is exercise’s effect on hunger. Intense exercise might stimulate your appetite so that you end up eating all the calories you worked so hard to burn, some times even more. We call these types of people, “compensators” while others are “non-compensators” because they tend to eat the same or less following exercise. ​

This is just one way that exercise is linked to food consumption. The second, is what we like to call “moral licensing”. This is when you decide that you worked so hard during your work out that you “deserve” to eat that chocolate cake, and pasta, and cookies, etc. Don’t tell me you haven’t done this!! I certainly have. Sabotagery! 

Another way your body likes to mess with you is by down-regulating your activity throughout the day following intense exercise. You might workout so hard that you are physically exhausted and/or sore for the rest of the day and you lounge on the couch, which is going to effect your NEAT. NEAT is non-exercise activity thermogenesis - it refers to the calories we burn throughout the day doing physical activities other than sleeping, eating or structured exercise. NEAT can include things like fidgeting, shivering (it’s cold outside!), typing, cooking, housework, etc. You would be surprised how much this can contribute to your total calories burned for the day.  

This means there can be negative effects from that all-out HIIT workout you did today. You might move much less than you otherwise would have because you just don’t have the energy. Itʼs just another form of compensation, only instead of eating more between workouts, you burn fewer calories throughout the day. Either way, your energy balance stays about the same despite your workouts.

Your body is a tricky little machine that likes to be “efficient” and when you are trying to lose weight, you don’t want it to be efficient! Bottom line is that those “fat blasting” workouts don’t work as advertised. You might burn a ton of calories, but your body fights back by adjusting your appetite, activity levels and metabolism making it difficult to lose fat.

The best course of action is to commit to slow and steady lifestyle changes. It’s not going to happen overnight no matter what you hear on TV or see on Instagram. Be very cautious of claims for a quick fix or an intense fat burning workout. Shift your focus to increasing strength, endurance, energy levels, lean mass, and over time you will see long-term, sustainable results.

Author

Candice Canace has been a NASM certified personal trainer since 2014.  She specializes in women's fitness, weight loss, functional anatomy and overall health and wellness. Candice offers one-on-one personal training and small group training to women in Charlotte, NC. She also provides home and gym workouts through her online training app and is a certified online trainer.

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