Am I burning muscle or fat?

Question

have to do a 10 second heart rate check every 10 minutes.
The first workout was about 23 & 24 throughout the workout. The second workout about 23 - 25 ...

Today, it was 26-28 and the heart rate police lady there said it was too high and asked me if I felt ok - she said It was too high, and I was burning muscle at that rate, not fat (and wouldnt slim down as good - i really want to slimdown) why is this, and is it true? And how can I stop it...?

Answer 1

Instead of doing a ten second, go for a whole minute, and I guarantee you'll get more accurate results. Furthermore, the whole "fat burning zone" thing has pretty much proven to be junk science. Staying in that zone does burn more calories, but whether they are "fat calories" isn't really effected that much.

Furthermore, if you don't do some weight training, I guarantee you will lose muscle before fat.

Answer 2

training in the "fat-burning" zone is an outdated and antiquated training philosophy that has been proven not to be optimum for fat loss.

if you are heart healthy you should be training at a high level of intensity for 60-80 mintues. this would be about 70% of the VO2max. training at a high level of intensity will cause the greatest increase in the resting metabolic rate, attempting to target fat loss during exercise is basically a waste of time.