A Few Basics

Before you can understand the fat burning zone, you have to understand where fat comes from in the first place. The easy answer to this is that it comes from eating too much, but really, it’s far more complex than that.

First, you need to know that a calorie is actually a form of energy. Your body basically converts all of the food you take in into energy that is needed to power your body, and your body does require quite a bit of energy to keep it operating smoothly. When you don’t have enough energy, you body can’t function properly.

The flip side of that problem is that many of us today take in more calories than our body needs. When this happens, our body must do something with all of that excess energy. Remember that your body is created for preservation and is prepared to help you survive during difficult times. This is why your body converts leftover calories – 3,500 of them is equivalent to a pound of fat – into stored fat. Ideally, the fat is supposed to be used later, in case your body becomes low on energy stores, but that does not happen for most of us. Instead, the fat just continues to build up over time.

Understanding the Fat Burning Zone

The fat burning zone is how you can get rid of that excessive fat. The key here is to force your body to start depleting those stored sources of fat. There is no other way to remove them from your body; however, you have to be careful because stored fat is not going to be accessed first in most cases. Your body will first slow down your body’s processes, including your metabolism, so fewer calories are needed.

The best way to increase your body’s ability to burn that extra fat is to do extended periods of activity. When you use up all of the calories you’ve taken in over the course of the day, then your body will use that additional energy (stored fat) to perform the extra activity. That’s when those fat stores will start to be burned.

The Role of Metabolism

The entire process is complicated, however, by your metabolism. Metabolism is how fast your body burns calories. You want a higher metabolism so that calories don’t have a chance to hang around and be converted into fat. One associated problem here is that metabolism begins to slow as you age. After you turn 20, your metabolism is going to slow by 2 percent each additional decade. That means you have to be more careful about how much you eat and how much you exercise as you get older if you want to prevent the buildup of fat in your body.