Everyone wants to know how they can burn more fat during exercise. After all, weight loss is the very reason millions of us work out to begin with.
Understanding how the body burns fat will ultimately help you get the most out of your weight loss efforts.
Where exactly does the fat go when we burn it? Does it just vaporize? Does it turn into heat, sweat, anger, tears? What?
Science has shown that we can optimize the amount of fat we burn during exercise with one simple breathing technique.
Your Scale Is A Terrible Tool For Weight Loss
Question: Would you be happy if you lost 10 pounds but your jeans got tighter? What if you gained 5 pounds but lost 2 inches around your waist?
Both scenarios are entirely possible. There are endless before and after pics online of people who started pumping iron and gained weight while slimming down.
Is weight loss all that matters? Are you losing fat? Are you losing muscle? Are you losing water? Does it matter what you lose as long as the number on the scale keeps going down?
Your scale is the absolute worst tool for evaluating your lifestyle habits, nutrition intake, and exercise regimen, yet for many it serves as the ultimate gauge of success.
If you really want to lose something, lose your scale because it’s only getting in your way. Your weight will fluctuate from day-to-day anyway and also throughout the day.
Become A Natural Fat Burner With Diet
Your goal should be to lose fat, not weight.
Fat loss makes your pants fit better. It makes your muscles look toned. And it makes you look stronger and more fit.
So how do you lose fat?
Depending on your diet, you’ve either trained your body to burn sugar or fat for energy. If you’re a sugar burner, then your body prefers to burn glucose and you most likely crave sugar, refined carbs, and other carb-filled foods when hungry.
If you’re a fat burner, however, then your body prefers to burn fat for energy, and it will burn fat first rather than sugar. This is what we want.
The body actually prefers energy from fat because it’s a slow-burning and long-lasting energy source.
Read More: Burn fat and lose weight effortlessly by eating these 11 foods.
What Happens to Fat When You Burn It?
When the body burns fat, the fat is released from fat cells into the bloodstream where other cells that need energy can grab it and use it. About 16% of the byproduct is water.
The remaining 84% is converted to carbon dioxide and is expelled via the lungs.
In other words, you breathe it out.
This is one reason why you start huffing and puffing during exercise. As body-fat is burned, carbon dioxide builds up in the blood and must be eliminated.
With this process in mind, we can burn more fat during exercise by improving our breathing efficiency and maintaining an ideal breathing rate.
The Simple Breathing Technique That Will Let You Burn More Fat During Exercise
The efficiency at which you burn fat can either be turned up or turned down during a workout.
Read More: 8 weight loss methods that actually work according to science.
The more optimally you breathe, the faster you can expel the byproducts of making energy, and the faster the body can burn fat.
This does not mean you can burn fat by sitting on your couch and breathing really fast. Your muscles have to be working to make this happen.
Given this information, you can burn more fat during exercise by following a few simple rules:
1. Begin your workouts breathing deeply and rhythmically, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Expel all the air in your lungs. Continue breathing this way until the pace of your workout naturally makes it necessary for you to breathe through your mouth constantly.
2. Don’t hold your breath at any time, especially when lifting anything heavy.
3. Remain conscious of your breath at all times to ensure your breathing is never shallow or unsteady.
Breathing correctly will also increase your power and help you avoid injury while weight lifting.
*None of what you read on this website should be considered medical advice. If you make any changes to your life or health regimen because of something you read here, please do so under the guidance of a licensed health professional.
