BBC Fat Nation - fat burning zone!

[flying scotsman]

I posted a few weeks ago that here in the UK the BBC were broadcasting a hour long weekly TV program about getting fitter and losing weight.

I've just watched a recording of last Thursday's program and a couple of, shall I say, interesting points came up.

They took a male participant to see a Physiology Scientist (PS). The PS had the male walking on a treadmill initially and over time increased this to a jog. They had an airflow tube inserted into the male's mouth to monitor, er, whatever it was they were montoring.

It was clearly stated that the purpose of the test was to find the point at which (to quote the scientist) "the male begins to burn fat". It was also clwarly stated that when you exercise you either burn fat or carbohydrate, and that the results of the test will reveal at which heart rate the male will begin to burn fat; un this case the male had to reach 126bpm BEFORE he would begin to burn fat.

They even mentione the mythical "FAT BURNING ZONE".

This advice flies in the face of what I understood to be correct science. My understanding is we burn fat all the time and that the during exercise we burn a mix of fat, carbs and protein.

The main thrust of the BBC TV program is basically to get people off their backside and get moving - do anything to burn calories to lose weight. It could be from walking, body weight exercises at home, dancing, doing the garden etc etc - I have no problem with that. But I feel the public have been grossly misinformed on how the body utilises their fat stores for fuel.

I don't think a program of this kind will ever be able to get over to people the concept of better body composition, ie. steady state cardio depleting muscle versus interval training to lose fat and retain muscle, but I think that encouraging people to get moving is a step in the right direction.

[londoner]

I didn't get to watch the show. Didn't even know it would be on.

I reckon that if we were told on TV that something like interval training is what is required to improve our body composition most people would decide not to work out at all. Interval training always feels more physically demanding than steady state. I doubt most people would be motivated by interval training if they saw a guy on TV running and looking like he was about to puke afterwards.

But definitely better than watching Eastenders or the rest of the rubbish we have to put up with here.

[Alwyn]

Originally posted by londoner:
But definitely better than watching Eastenders or the rest of the rubbish we have to put up with here.

But not better than the "Dream Team" which I am totally addicted to. It just started being shown over here about a year ago. We're way behind but I'm hooked !

AC