One other thing I thought was interesting is that it tells you how much of the calories you burned was fat. For example, 40% fat burned. I'm still not quite sure how that works, so if someone could enlighten me I'd appreciate it.
I am not an expert by any means but as no one else answered I will try to give this a shot. The body has a bunch of different energy pathways it uses for exercise. The length of time you exercise and your heart rate determine what energy pathways are used. Endurance training with a heart rate of around 60% of max is supposed to burn a higher % of fat then more intense exercise.
This doesn't necessarily mean that long distance training is the best for fat loss however. Endurance training may burn more fat while you are actually exercising but as it doesn't often put as much stress on your muscles causing your metabolism will quickly return to normal. Doing sprints puts a lot of stress on your muscles which can increase your metabolism for 1-2 days while your body repairs. This is why you may find that you can sit around all day eating at a swim meet and only spend a few minutes racing but still manage to lose a pound. Weight lifting is also great for putting lots of stress on your muscles and increasing your metabolism.
As others have said eating healthy fats is also really important. Your body needs to get at least 20% of it's energy from fats. I try to eat raw almonds and walnuts every day. I did a wellness program with work that promoted drinking lots of water, getting at least 7 hours of sleep, reducing stress, eating healthy fats, reducing saturated and trans-fats, increasing the number of meals but reducing meal size, reducing processed foods and refined sugars, reducing red meat intake etc. I lost about 15 lbs and am now at my target body weight.
One other thing I thought was interesting is that it tells you how much of the calories you burned was fat. For example, 40% fat burned. I'm still not quite sure how that works, so if someone could enlighten me I'd appreciate it.
I am not an expert by any means but as no one else answered I will try to give this a shot. The body has a bunch of different energy pathways it uses for exercise. The length of time you exercise and your heart rate determine what energy pathways are used. Endurance training with a heart rate of around 60% of max is supposed to burn a higher % of fat then more intense exercise.
This doesn't necessarily mean that long distance training is the best for fat loss however. Endurance training may burn more fat while you are actually exercising but as it doesn't often put as much stress on your muscles causing your metabolism will quickly return to normal. Doing sprints puts a lot of stress on your muscles which can increase your metabolism for 1-2 days while your body repairs. This is why you may find that you can sit around all day eating at a swim meet and only spend a few minutes racing but still manage to lose a pound. Weight lifting is also great for putting lots of stress on your muscles and increasing your metabolism.
As others have said eating healthy fats is also really important. Your body needs to get at least 20% of it's energy from fats. I try to eat raw almonds and walnuts every day. I did a wellness program with work that promoted drinking lots of water, getting at least 7 hours of sleep, reducing stress, eating healthy fats, reducing saturated and trans-fats, increasing the number of meals but reducing meal size, reducing processed foods and refined sugars, reducing red meat intake etc. I lost about 15 lbs and am now at my target body weight.
