Effect of intensity of exercise (walking) on weight loss goals.

[Dulce9]

I'm very happy with my Fitbit Alta HR and feel I'm gaining a lot of insights from it.  I wanted one because I was trying to figure out what my heart rate was while walking and was having trouble doing it with a stop watch.  When I got the Fitbit, I discovered that walking does not have much of an effect on my heart rate, perhaps due to the fact that I've been in the habit of walking daily for decades.  I had increased from one mile per day to two miles a day in an effort to lose weight.  When I got the Fitbit and learned that my heart rate wasn't increasing very much, I tried doing little bits of jogging as I walked, and found this worked like a charm.  As few as 16 jogging steps would raise my heart rate, which I found rather surprising.  I thought one needed to jog for much longer to see an effect.  Now when I go for walks, they consistently chart in the fat-burning or cardio zones (though I had to make a custom zone for cardio, as I have a low RHR).  Here's my question:  I'm still doing two miles a day.  The difference is that I'm doing the miles at a greater intensity.  How will this help my efforts to lose weight?  I'm interested in learning about your personal experiences with this or research that you've read that you could share.

[GershonSurge]

This article may clear things up for you. 

To prevent injury, the general rule is anytime you increase intensity, you should reduce the duration and/or the number of times a week you run.

No matter which method you choose, I suggest you limit your exercise to a combination of speed and distance that doesn't produce pain, especially in joints as pain there can result in chronic injury.

To answer your question on calories, the difference between running and walking two miles will likely be about 60-70 calories. Just a cookie or two.

I recommend reading Jeff Galloway's Run Walk Run Method. He has been coaching beginning runners since the 70's. 

[bikerhiker]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

I'm very happy with my Fitbit Alta HR and feel I'm gaining a lot of insights from it.  I wanted one because I was trying to figure out what my heart rate was while walking and was having trouble doing it with a stop watch.  When I got the Fitbit, I discovered that walking does not have much of an effect on my heart rate, perhaps due to the fact that I've been in the habit of walking daily for decades.  I had increased from one mile per day to two miles a day in an effort to lose weight.  When I got the Fitbit and learned that my heart rate wasn't increasing very much, I tried doing little bits of jogging as I walked, and found this worked like a charm.  As few as 16 jogging steps would raise my heart rate, which I found rather surprising.  I thought one needed to jog for much longer to see an effect.  Now when I go for walks, they consistently chart in the fat-burning or cardio zones (though I had to make a custom zone for cardio, as I have a low RHR).  Here's my question:  I'm still doing two miles a day.  The difference is that I'm doing the miles at a greater intensity.  How will this help my efforts to lose weight?  I'm interested in learning about your personal experiences with this or research that you've read that you could share.

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First of all, congratulations in getting yourself a Fitbit Alta HR and I hope it will help you with your weight loss.

To answer your question.  Working out at greater intensity will simply burn more calories and yet, this does not necessarily translate to weight loss.  And that is because, while the "Fat Burn Zone" helps you burn a higher proportion of fat, your body's main source of energy is still carbohydrates.  So the more you work out and burn calories in higher intensity, the more calories you need to replace.

Most of the weight loss effort can be achieved by adopting a healthy lifestyle and a good healthy diet.  The problem is not that we don't have enough exercise or the higher intensity of the exercise.  The problem is with refined carbohydrates, the main source of food macronutrients which promote chronic high insulin levels and cause insulin resistance.  This makes the body retain body fat.  The body can not burn fat when insulin level is high.  Even if you exercise very hard, you loose calories just as fast as you replace them and you will.  If you look at most of the runners who run half to full marathons with run and walk, the majority of them still have too high of a body fat%.  And that's because, what's the point of running a marathon and then afterwards or even during the course of the event gulping those highly refined sugar water, sugar refined power bars, sugar power gels and so forth?  Even if you're running at a Fat Burn Zone for 4 hrs (a typical run and walk pace) to finish a marathon, you'll still burn more proportion of carbs.

So how do you burn more of your body fat %?

1, Lower your insulin level by cutting completely all refined carbs!  (You can have treats, but you need to completely give up the finest Starbucks goodies.  Even Diet drinks should be cut out.

2, Eat a healthy diet of non-processed foods

3, Eat a balanced diet suitable for your lifestyle

4, Exercise to focus on building and maintaining lean muscle mass

As an ex-ultramarathon runner, ex-certified running coach and fitness trainer and ex 35min 10km runner, the best I could do body weight wise without changing my diet was 142 lbs.

Today, my weight hovers around 140lbs - 142lbs and I didn't need to run a marathon or do a 35min 10km to achieve that.  Diet is 90% weight loss and exercise is 10%.  Exercising to build more lean mass would be a stronger focus when you want to go down to the 5-9% or even the 10-14% body fat range.  But for most people, a moderate exercise routine should get you around 20-24% body fat, which is a good range for most men.  For women, add about 8-10% more in body fat to that figure.  

[Dominique]

The Compendium of Physical Activities is a good source of information on the amount of energy expended while performing various activities (including the same activities at different intensity levels). Here are various forms of walking:

and here are various forms of running:

The number in the first column is the MET for the activity. You expend twice as much energy (per unit of time) running at 4 mph compared to walking at 2.5 mph on flat ground. You’re probably capable to walking at 2.5 mph for one hour, but can you do the same run at 4.0 mph for one hour? When evaluating the energy expended while performing various activities, you need to take into account their total duration and how often you can perform them.

Fat loss is determined primarily by energy balance, so what matters is not just the amount of energy you expend through your activity, but also the energy in the food you’re eating (and possibly the beverages you’re drinking). If you are in a caloric deficit, you will lose fat, even if you hardly exercise at all. If you are in a caloric surplus, you will not lose fat, no matter how much you exercise and how many hours you spend in the "fat loss" zone. If your primary goal is to lose fat, focus on creating a sustainable caloric deficit with the right combination of eating and exercising.

[Dominique]

@bikerhiker wrote:

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Exercising to build more lean mass would be a stronger focus when you want to go down to the 5-9% or even the 10-14% body fat range.  But for most people, a moderate exercise routine should get you around 20-24% body fat, which is a good range for most men. 

Here is a visual representation of the body fat ranges you mentioned (source😞

Of course, it’s up to anyone to decide where they want to be for health and/or appearance reasons, but 5-9% is probably unattainable for 99% of the general population, and even if you can attain it, staying there will require a tremendous amount of work and self-discipline. OTOH, I would consider 25% too high for me (but that’s just me). FWIW, I recently posted upperbody pics of myself at 18% vs. 14%. 

[Dulce9]

I'd like to thank those who have replied and the links you've provided.  I know that increasing my heart rate while walking (by adding short spurts of jogging) has had a minuscule effect on my caloric expenditure, as you all have pointed out.  I do often see articles that state the importance of exercising with an elevated heart rate as being quite important to weight loss, and I wonder if there are reasons beyond caloric output to support the practice .  Last night I looked for research and found that moderate to intense exercise is supposed to make it easier to burn off certain types of fat. This is the kind of research that intrigues me.  Certainly exercise has other benefits beyond weight loss, but weight loss is my main goal at this time.   

[emili]

@Dulce9 hey there... so... if weight loss is your focus then food is your focus. Weight loss starts in the kitchen and is supplemented with activity. you need to figure out your caloric deficit.. the food you want to eat to fit into the allowance and then weigh, measure and keep track of your calories. that is how weight loss happens.

[GershonSurge]

@Dulce9

In my opinion, you may be trying to hack the weight loss system. You aren't alone as many are doing this.

Based on the number of topics, here is the breakdown of Fitbitter's interests.

Notice only 8% of the topics concern eating. I've noticed people are willing to exercise to lose weight, but not too much.

"You can't outrun a bad diet" used to be a popular saying. This concerned heart attacks and not weight.

If you like to walk or run, by all means, do so.  Pick an amount of time you can devote to it, say an hour a day, and do that almost every day at a pace you can manage. Try to find the sweet spot that reduces the appetite. Then forget about making changes. It takes about three to five months of doing this every day to get a positive addiction.

Instead of exercise, I suggest focusing on eating. Make a list of everything you eat and one by one, try to replace the things you know are fattening and bad for you with things that aren't. This doesn't mean becoming a rabbit. Most likely, it will mean learning to cook at home. I'd give you a more precise direction to head, but I'm tired of the diet wars. 

[Dominique]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

I do often see articles that state the importance of exercising with an elevated heart rate as being quite important to weight loss, and I wonder if there are reasons beyond caloric output to support the practice.   

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Not really, IMO. It’s perfectly possible to lose weight without elevating your heart rate, as long as you are in a caloric deficit. The main benefits of elevating your heart rate have to do with health and fitness, not weight loss.

Last night I looked for research and found that moderate to intense exercise is supposed to make it easier to burn off certain types of fat.   

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Again, if you make sure you are in a caloric deficit, body fat will be used for fuel. I agree with @GershonSurge there’s no point in trying to "hack" fat loss, whether it is by eating certain foods or supplements, avoiding other foods, performing certain types of exercise, training in given HR zones etc.

[Dulce9]

Thanks again for the replies so far, especially Gershon and Dominique.  Regarding exercise vs. diet, I've always read that diet is 75% to 90% of the weight loss battle.  I've always been a calorie-counter when it comes to dieting and plan to stick with it, as when I can sustain the will-power to persist with it, calorie-counting has worked successfully.  I didn't do any exercise the last time I successfully lost a significant amount of weight (and kept it off for ten years).  When I diet, I focus on calories.  Now this is the first time in my life I've really taken an interest in exercise or fitness so I was wondering if it would be beneficial in helping me lose weight.  I've been in the habit of walking for some 25 years, and find that when I walk 3 MPH my heart rate averages 80 BPM, which doesn't even count as exercise from what I've read.  Since I've figured out how to elevate my heart rate, I was hoping that it might help me out on the weight loss front.  However, it sounds like the consensus would be a "No." 

[GershonSurge]

@Dulce9,

I'll give you a specific example to try. Breakfast is likely the easiest meal to change. It's also the rushed part of the day for those who need to go to work.

I have oatmeal and a banana every morning. Start with a half cup of oats (Quaker's original, for example) and a cup and a quarter of water. Put in a covered pot and cook for 14 minutes at medium-low. For sweetness, put a layer of banana slices on the bottom and top. Mix some frozen blueberries in the oatmeal. Microwaving in the bowl for 30 seconds will bring out the sweetness. If you take a quick shower while it's cooking, it takes almost no time. 

If you insist on milk, I suggest some Almond milk. 

Oatmeal is generally cheaper at health food stores. Steel cut oats should cost the same there, and it's tastier.

Maybe your weakness is between meal snacks of chips or a candy bar. I have two recommendations.

First is a mandarin orange and about 15 grapes. 

The second is a little feast of a couple greens and tomato sandwiches on a high-quality bread like Ezekial or other whole-grain bread. These are expensive but usually cheaper than the vending machine. I prefer mustard on my sandwiches. If you insist, add a single slice of Swiss cheese. 

It's difficult to makeover a diet. I suggest only one change a week and not moving to the next one until you have mastered the first.

[bikerhiker]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

Thanks again for the replies so far, especially Gershon and Dominique.  Regarding exercise vs. diet, I've always read that diet is 75% to 90% of the weight loss battle.  I've always been a calorie-counter when it comes to dieting and plan to stick with it, as when I can sustain the will-power to persist with it, calorie-counting has worked successfully.  I didn't do any exercise the last time I successfully lost a significant amount of weight (and kept it off for ten years).  When I diet, I focus on calories.  Now this is the first time in my life I've really taken an interest in exercise or fitness so I was wondering if it would be beneficial in helping me lose weight.  I've been in the habit of walking for some 25 years, and find that when I walk 3 MPH my heart rate averages 80 BPM, which doesn't even count as exercise from what I've read.  Since I've figured out how to elevate my heart rate, I was hoping that it might help me out on the weight loss front.  However, it sounds like the consensus would be a "No." 

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As with anything you read, you need to take those research about elevating heart rates with a certain context.

I think I am starting to understand the research you are being influenced in regards to fat burning with an elevated heart rate.

A lot of these research that you are reading about fat burning with an elevated heart rate actually came from the Tabata training methodology, developed by the human performance researcher Izumi Tabata.  Basically, it is the basic form of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) with 3 sets of 20secs high intensity workout, be it walking, running, cycling, swimming and even weight training until complete muscle failure.  Basically, it is an extreme form of training which helps improve the aerobic capacity (strength of your heart and lungs) and the metabolic fitness (fat burning) level of any athlete.  Originally, it was meant to find a way to improve the performance of professional athletes to make them go faster, stronger etc...  Then the research got to the hands of other researchers and you know what happens next.  They strip the main ingredients and then only sell you the goodies -- that is you can get fit with an elevated heart rate by just 3 mins a day.  This is basically the basis for all the infomercials you see today -- get fit within minutes.

Here is the problem.  The research was meant to improve professional athletes; athletes who are already FIT and eating a healthy diet to begin with.  What they are doing is simply to increase the Mitochondria in their muscles.  As I had mentioned earlier, this process of multiplication (Mitochondrial Biogenesis) can only occur through complete muscle failure; your heart and organs are muscles too and they become stronger!  Which means that with HIIT, you have to only do like 2 days / week of 5 mins of intense workout and you're done and then the Mitochondria will do the rest in your sleep by burning fat.  I'll link the BBC documentary video showing you the test lab results of the person who did HIIT and shown the difference between pre-HIIT and post-HIIT that body fat did indeed decrease!  Which is a good thing.

The main problem is that, it is NOT a means to replace a good diet and moderate exercise.  It never was because you need to reach a point of getting fit and healthy before you could do HIIT effectively.  When I was coaching runners, way too many people were doing HIIT but they are simply not fit enough to maximize complete muscle failure because their aerobic capacity is simply underdeveloped to really go full out.  Even if they go full out, you burn a lot of carbs and that usually ends up getting people to eat/drink more (Starbucks or Gatorade) and that's usually refined sugar carbs.  The proper HIIT training actually promotes people eating less after an intense workout. 

HIIT can have its place, but unfortunately there is no easy fast way to loose weight.  Diet and moderate exercise can reduce body fat to healthy levels.  And if you want to go down below 20% body fat, then you would do HIIT ONLY when you have the a-okay from your doctor as HIIT can cause cardiovascular failure if your heart isn't up to the challenge.  As you said earlier; raising your HR to 80bpm isn't going to do much other than, well make you walk or run a little faster.

I do HIIT at least 2 times a week with swimming and after 3 months of training, I am now swimming in the fast lane.  Initially, I was swimming only in the medium lane.  I found that I can swim faster with less effort and my waist line keeps shrinking.  That's the effect of HIIT, but it's not going to be at 80bpm.  Mine is like 175bpm.  When I do HIIT in the pool, I made sure I was swimming in the shallow end of the pool where I can stand as I don't want to drown while doing HIIT until failure.

Here's the link to HIIT from the BBC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEc7QFc5vIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7-h_w7bJrU

[lavabelle]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

The difference is that I'm doing the miles at a greater intensity.  How will this help my efforts to lose weight?  I'm interested in learning about your personal experiences with this or research that you've read that you could share.

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My personal experience is that intensity does not necessarily help me lose weight, but length of workout does. If I walk at a lower intensity and walk for longer, I seem to drop weight quicker than If I up the intensity and shorten my workouts. This is not necessary a bad thing though...I believe the higher intensity workouts are good for me as well, and that weight loss is not the ultimate indication of health, but fat loss is a greater indication of health.

For example, I have put on 1.5 lbs in the last week, but I have lost inches around my waist and hips (which means I have lost body fat)...weight loss does not always mean losing weight on the scale...

With higher intensity workout, I find I am more hungry, and it is more difficult to lose weight on the scale, but I can still lose body fat with high intensity workouts, which is my ultimate goal, not necessarily weight loss.

[Dulce9]

Ah, I had heard of HIIT and the need to persist to the point of muscle failure.  Definitely didn't sound like my cup of tea!  But there is an intervals aspect to what I've been doing, adding the short bursts of jogging to my walks.  With that I can get my heart rate into a cardio bracket quite painlessly.  Afterwards there is no sense of having worked too hard, no muscle soreness, or anything like that.  Now I have no intension of turning into a jogger..  That being said, the jogging parts feel easier and easier, and seem to be longer, too, even though I don't use a timer.  I just look at my Fitbit and when the heart rate drops, I do another bit of jogging.  

[bikerhiker]

The most important aspect of exercise is to promote good bowel movement and enhance your circulatory system (blood circulation) and that's always a good thing.  You can always do intervals within your walk and jog.  That still will improve your cardiovascular fitness, if not enhancing your fat burning abilities.  Keep in mind that the most important thing to loosing weight is to achieve a healthy level of body fat.  Once you do that, then HIIT becomes more doable.  Otherwise, HIIT is just going to make you hungrier not make you feel satiety longer (not hungry).  And that's the scam you see out there with people selling these power drinks and gels because they knew what's going to happen after these people did HIIT.  It's big business.  I even felt ashamed to be part of the industry that promoted it.

[Dulce9]

My breakfast is usually oatmeal with protein powder and a little peanut butter mixed in.  At one point I did try to replace my unhealthy meals with healthier choices.  And you know how that goes, motivation to do so waxes and wanes.  Ultimately my biggest problem with sticking to a diet is hunger.  I've found that I just can't have any empty calories or I wind up famished.  And if I'm hungry I can't sleep, which is a no-go when it comes to my somewhat stressful job.  I know that the solution is to completely eliminate all empty calories--or perhaps content myself with a higher calorie count and therefore slower weight loss.  It does take a lot of discipline and motivation.

[Dulce9]

I'd heard about intense workouts causing a lot of hunger as a response.  I bet there's a sweet spot when it comes to intensity.  My increase in intensity has been quite gradual--afterwards I don't feel hungry.  Perhaps a little less hungry.

[lavabelle]

@Dulce9 I completely agree with eliminating empty calories foods and to make sure you do not get too hungry by eating nutritious foods. Cutting calories is difficult enough on our bodies and minds too that the only way I have found to be successful is to eat nutritious foods within my caloric allowance for the day. Some days I will need to go over because of hunger, but it usually works itself out over the next few days, I find my hunger declines sometimes and I will follow my hunger cues. If I ignore hunger for too long I don't have enough energy for my daily tasks...so I have to eat, but try to choose nutritious foods 80-90% of the time.

[bikerhiker]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

I'd heard about intense workouts causing a lot of hunger as a response.  I bet there's a sweet spot when it comes to intensity.  My increase in intensity has been quite gradual--afterwards I don't feel hungry.  Perhaps a little less hungry.

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The reason they are causing a lot of hunger as a response is that, these people aren't actually doing it right.  They spent too much time on HIIT.  HIIT was never to be a super long workout of more than 3-5 mins at the most.  But because most people who are doing HIIT don't really realize what it takes to achieve complete muscle failure (like literally die), they really need a coach or a spotter to be there to push you so you don't cheat.  My ex-running coach, who was a former Canadian national team runner, told me that only about 5-10% of the population can do HIIT properly by themselves.  That means, they can push themselves to the brink of death; people like Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt.  You have to push yourself to that extreme to be effective.  Then you get this sense of Euphoria, like your whole body is not there for a few seconds and then that's when you're done.  That's how I feel it.  When people keep trying to get to that stage of extreme muscle failure and can't get it, you burn calories and a lot of it.  Hence you get hungry due to trying to get full muscle failure.

It's NOT easy to go into full muscle failure.  This is something HIIT people does not tell you.  So that's why you do get hungry after HIIT.  If HIIT is done properly within 5 mins, you don't feel like you're hungry.  I did HIIT 2x 15min during a conference last week and I actually lost weight and felt energized but not hungry at all.

[bikerhiker]

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@Dulce9 wrote:

My breakfast is usually oatmeal with protein powder and a little peanut butter mixed in.  At one point I did try to replace my unhealthy meals with healthier choices.  And you know how that goes, motivation to do so waxes and wanes.  Ultimately my biggest problem with sticking to a diet is hunger.  I've found that I just can't have any empty calories or I wind up famished.  And if I'm hungry I can't sleep, which is a no-go when it comes to my somewhat stressful job.  I know that the solution is to completely eliminate all empty calories--or perhaps content myself with a higher calorie count and therefore slower weight loss.  It does take a lot of discipline and motivation.

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Have you thought about learning mindful meditation to reduce stress levels?  Stress is one of the contributor of weight gain, because stress releases a hormone Cortisol to control your stress level, but can make you feel you have low blood sugar and that can cause you to be thirsty, have a minor migraine headache and weak.  Then you would reach for those quick fixes, like sugar drinks or power bars ladened with sugars.  But this would only last you for an hour or two before you crave for more of those things.  Mindful meditation can help reduce your stress level, and yet what you need to do is address the cause of your fight or flight response.  Basically, the release of cortisol is due to this fight or flight response; like you want to do something about the condition but are helpless in doing anything about it to exact change.  If you are in this situation, you need to address it rather than addressing it with your diet, because situations like fight or flight can cause you to continue to be in this stressful situation and cause you to be unnecessarily hungry.  Fight or flight response is our old ancestral behaviour when we meet a sabre tooth tiger during the stone age.  In the modern world, our jobs are the sabre tooth tiger.

Ever since I quit my stressful high paying high tech job and now working in completely different field and while it doesn't pay as much as my former job did, I enjoy and love it and I have little stress and which makes loosing weight much easier.  I didn't need to run marathons to combat my addiction to sugar which were caused by stress in my workplace!