Hello!
New here, came across the forum and think it's great!!!

I'm wondering if anyone here could explain this to me.

I was chatting with my friend's Personal Trainer and he was telling me about the program he offers (for weight loss)


He was telling me how you uses the HIT method. He basically makes his clients do some hard cardio so they'll run out of glycogen and then do low intensity to get into the "burning zone" to burn fat.

As I was reading, I've read more and more about it not mattering where your calories are coming from (fat or carbs) as long as youre BURNING CALORIES, when your goal is just weight loss.

Where I'm also confused is the ORDER you burn WHAT.
From my understanding you first burn fat (for example as you're starting your easy run or low intensity), the longer you go you start to dip into your carbs and when your carbs start to run low is when you start to slow down basically you're running out of fuel.

I don't know if I'm making sense! :confused:

I'm a runner and never really gotten technical about "nutrition" I know what I need to eat so I do...but now I'm wanting to learn more about it.

Any explanation regarding this topic would be appreciated!!
TIA!!
KZ

KZ

Check out BBB's thread on fat burning vs. carb burning:
http://www.trifuel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4436

As you can see, so long as you're exercising at a moderate pace (80% HRmax or less), you're burning lots of fat. Forget about what that trainer said. No endurance athlete in his or her right mind trains while in a glycogen depleted state. You're going to burn somewhere between 500 and 1,000 calories an hour while training. That means you can actually increase your calories, and still lose a pound or more per week. 65/20/15% carb/protein/fat, or thereabouts, is about the right ratio, according to many.

I might mention that when I was young and stupid, I perpetually trained while in a glycogen depleted state --- as a wrestler losing weight for weigh-ins. Always sapped of energy; I couldn't train as hard or as long as I should have. Do it the right way; with plenty of energy. Eat your carbs. :)

I've been reading about "burning more fat at low intensities" (is this what you're referring to?) and read that you actually burn more TOTAL fat when you increase your intensity.

but I can't seem to find the answer to this...

It seems that "burning fat" is what's important....but when I started reading that TOTAL calories burned is what matters(doesn't matter if they come from fat or carbs) then it got me thinking.

so you start off burning FAT and as you increase you start burning carbs? Is that correct?

Did you check out the post link hitman suggested?
http://www.trifuel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4436

I think it should give you the answer you're looking for. Basically as an endurance athlete you train your body to burn more fat stores because it can store more of it and burns slower than carbs, but the closer you get to your threshold the higher the percentage of carbs get burned. Basically sugars. This is why you see athletes htting the GU at races or Coke.