Weight loss is all about eating right and burning fat or calories to get in shape. Fitness experts suggest that eating less and moving more is said to be the ultimate hack for losing weight quickly. But there is a huge difference between burning calories and burning fat.
Both have different effects on the body, and the results of burning them are also different. The main question remains: which comes first, burning fat or calories? Let us explore the answer to this perplexing question.
Burning Fat vs Burning Calories: Which Approach is Better?
Calories from food and beverages are either used right away or stored as energy reserves. Unwanted calories are converted by our bodies into triglycerides, which are then stored in fat cells. When you exercise, your body uses both recently consumed calories and energy stored for fuel. According to Midss.org, a website for better health, if you decrease your calorie intake and boost your physical activity, the portion of the energy you expend comes from the fat stored in the body.
As you know that you need to consume fewer calories and burn more in order to burn 1 kilo of excess fat. So, when you follow this tactic of consuming fewer energy calories and engaging yourself in physical activity, you technically end up burning both. Burning fat calories forces your body to use energy stored as fat. Similarly, burning fat while maintaining a low daily calorie intake causes your body to use more of the calories you just consumed and store less of them.
Unlike burning calories, burning fat necessitates the fulfillment of certain criteria.
- Calories. These are energy units derived from the food we consume. All food groups including protein, carbs, grains, and fats contain more calories in varying amounts.
- Fats. These are a group of insoluble compounds found in fatty foods. To provide us with energy, our bodies naturally extract calories from the food we eat. Even so, when too much food is eaten, this calorie surplus gets stored in our fat cells and leads to weight gain.
Even when we are at rest, our bodies burn more calories to provide enough energy for bodily functions, which means you can burn calories simply by lying on the couch. Fats are another story. As they are stored in the body, the fat-burning process is much more complex and challenging.
To burn fat, your body requires a sustained increase in heart rate, which causes you to take in more oxygen. That provides your body with greater oxygen for the procedure known as fat oxidation, which is the process of burning fat.
In comparison, losing calories only reduces water weight and has no effect on body fat.
3 Tips to Get In Shape Quickly and Safely
We’ve all declared that we’re going to get in shape at some point, whether it’s a New Year’s resolution, because your clothes are a little tighter than you’d like, or simply because we want to feel better and be healthier.
The difficult part is actually following through. Starting a healthy lifestyle journey isn’t always easy, but these fitness tips can help you establish a sustainable routine to achieve your fitness goals.
1. Be Truthful to Yourself
Some people prefer to have low-intensity exercise first thing in the morning, while others prefer to exercise after work. One is not superior to the other; it all depends on what works best for you. You are the best judge of yourself, so be honest with yourself when making workout plans. If you’re not a natural morning person, you’re unlikely to get up early to lose fat, especially if you dislike working out.
The same is true for changing your eating habits. If you have a major sweet tooth, cutting out sweets completely will make you miserable. A strict “no sweets” rule is also unlikely to succeed.
You’re attempting to create new, wholesome routines, but routine creation isn’t always simple. Don’t make it more difficult on yourself by establishing exercise programs or healthy eating goals that aren’t compatible with your personality.
2. Consider Your Workout to Be a Meeting
You wouldn’t miss a work meeting or a doctor’s appointment, so make the same commitment to your strength training. It’s very easy to find reasons to avoid working out when it’s not your favourite activity. There are a million reasons not to work out: your friends want to meet up, you didn’t sleep well and could really use that extra 30 minutes.
Make a workout plan and stick to it. If something comes up that causes you to miss one of your scheduled workouts, reschedule it.
3. Don’t Overlook Your Eating Habits
If you have unhealthy eating habits, getting in shape will be significantly harder – no matter how much you work out. While fad diets and quick-fix cleanses are appealing, they do not lay the foundation for a long-term healthy lifestyle.
Instead, resolve to eat healthier and limit your vices. Begin with small changes. If you’re a big soda consumer, cut it out completely or limit yourself to one can each day. If you frequently use the fast food drive-through, limit yourself to once per week or commit to cooking at home at least five nights per week. Push yourself to make significant changes, but don’t go so far that you won’t consistently follow through.
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Conclusion
If you consume more calories than you burn, you will not lose weight or fat from your body. Even if you work out for a good amount of time in the health club and consume the same number of calories as soon as it is drained, it will be stored as triglycerides in the body. So, burning fat only offers a quick solution to your weight loss problem. If you want to lose body fat, you must create a calorie deficit.