Low intensity versus high intensity

A number of years ago, you may remember many fitness professionals prescribing lower intensity activity to maximize fat loss.  Many fit people lowered the intensity of their workouts fearful that they were not burning fat.  Unfortunately, they were misled and many people still believe that low intensity activity is the best way to maximize fat loss.  The reality is that the activity that expends the most amount of calories will lead to the most amount of fat burned.

Yes, during lower intensity activity you will burn a higher percentage of fat and during higher intensity activity you will burn a higher percentage of carbohydrates or sugars.  But the important point to note is that during low intensity activity you are burning fat at a higher percentage of a lower amount of calories.  When you exercise at a lower intensity you are definitely expending less calories.  The selective use of fat as a fuel, specifically at lower intensities, does not translate into greater fat loss, regardless of how tempting it is to draw this conclusion.  The more important focus with regard to calories expended, is not the percentage of energy coming from fat, but rather the total volume of fat used and the total number of calories expended.  Let’s look at the math.