Let’s talk about fat burn.

For us at Velocity, working out is about health and feeling your best, both mentally and physically. But no one denies that losing some extra weight in the process can feel amazing for some people! The benefits of healthy weight loss on your overall wellbeing can also be tremendous, so we want to look into the topic of fat burn a little deeper. 

Here a few very reasons why losing weight can be a good idea other than “looking good”: 

1. Ease up on your joints. Excess weight puts additional stress on your joints, especially your knees causing pain, inflammation, and eventually, arthritis damage. Just 10 extra pounds add 40 pounds of pressure on your lower body joints! Losing even a little weight can ease these effects.
2. Prevent Type 2 Diabetes. Individuals affected by excess weight, particularly obesity and severe obesity, are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes as a related condition of their excess weight.
3. Lowering the risk of heart diseases. Excessive weight can cause a spike in bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglyceride levels. It also lowers good high-density lipoproteins (HDL) which are important for removing bad cholesterol and working to reduce the risk for heart disease.
4. Lowering blood pressure. Body fat can cause your blood pressure to rise. With every additional pound, you require more blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to your body which causes an increase in blood pressure. Your body will also require more pressure to move this blood around.
5. Better sleep. Increased fat levels in the body result in sleeping problems, namely sleep apnoea (a condition where breathing is interrupted during sleep causing blood oxygen levels to fall to critically low levels). The pauses in breathing during sleep may well damage the body and brain by restricting oxygen flow resulting in increased risks of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and diabetes.

What’s the most important thing for maintaining a healthy weight?

The four most important things for maintaining a healthy weight according to experts are diet, exercise, sleep,  and reduced stress! Most people are at least somewhat aware of the first two factors. However, many people don’t pay as much attention to the less commonly known factors of stress and sleep.

In order to maintain a healthy weight, you need to stick to a healthy eating routine, stay physically active, and acquire an overall healthy lifestyle – including getting enough sleep and lowering your stress levels. Some studies say that overall lifestyle can make up to 70% of the difference in your weight loss efforts.

How diet impacts weight loss

If you are trying to lose weight getting the right “energy balance” is an essential key factor. The amount of energy (calories) you consume needs to be balanced with the amount you use up through daily activities and exercise. 

• If you’re trying to lose weight, your energy balance should be in ‘deficit’: the calories you take in should be less than calories you burn.
• If you take in more energy than your body needs (calorie surplus), those extra calories are stored as fat, which leads to weight gain over time.

So on a basic level, we only need to remember one thing: calories in should be less than calories out. Keep in mind this is a highly simplified way of looking at things, but overall, minding this principle will be useful for gaining a better understanding. 

Many of us have probably caught ourselves thinking: “I exercised today so I can eat anything I want”. That’s just not true if you are trying to lose weight. Many experts even say that diet is even more important than exercise when it comes to weight loss. This is because no matter how much you exercise you can still end up in a calorie surplus if you fill up on junk food. 

How to create a calorie deficit in a healthy way

There are very different ways to achieve this deficit. Some diets are healthy, others can be extremely dangerous for your health. Here just a few things to consider when choosing a diet:

1. It’s not about starving yourself – not eating enough can bring your metabolism to a halt. It’s important to eat regularly and often to keep your metabolism fired up. Just make sure that the stuff you are eating is of a higher caliber i.e. more nutrients despite having fewer calories. 
2. Jumping from fad diet to fad diet can be counter-productive for your weight loss. Look for a diet that you can maintain over a longer period of time and stick to it. 
3. Avoid diets that encourage meal replacements like smoothies and shakes. Often, these won’t keep you full because your brain actually associates “fullness” with chewing. Instead, look for diets that encourage eating real foods that will keep you full for longer – high protein, high fiber.
4. Things are often marketed to look healthier than they are. Even if something is labeled as low fat, vegan, or organic, it’s still helpful to check the label for things like sugar content.
5. Not all calories are created equal. Your body will do very different things with 100 calories of sugar and 100 calories of protein, for example. Make sure that while trying to eat fewer calories, you choose foods with a high nutrient density.

What kind of exercise is the best for increasing calorie expenditure?

One of the most effective types of exercise for weight loss is aerobic exercise (cardio). Examples include swimming, walking, running, or cycling. Aerobic exercises like these will help you increase your heart rate and burn fat. 

Both Velobeat and Veloburn are great ways to fit 50 minutes of fat-melting cardio into your day. Veloburn also falls under the category of HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training. This is a type of cardio that has been shown to be even more effective than other forms of exercise for reaching weight loss goals. Read more about HIIT in this blog post to learn why it’s so effective. Another benefit of our Veloburn classes is that you’ll have the opportunity to keep track of your statistics (calories burnt, power output). This allows you to track your progress over the course of your weight loss journey. 

While cardio classes like Velobeat and Veloburn help you burn calories in the moment, strength training, increases the strength, tone, and the amount of muscle you have. Having a higher muscle mass increases your metabolism, helping you burn more calories around the clock- even at rest. Joining one of our Power classes can help you supplement your cardio workouts by building up your strength and muscle mass.

The goal should be to feel strong, fit & healthy

Long story short – to burn fat and maintain a healthy weight you need to stick to a healthy diet, exercise regularly by joining our Power and Cycling classes, and make healthy life choices. Things like getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, not smoking and avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol, paired with a healthy diet and regular exercise are guaranteed to help you maintain a healthy weight. More importantly, you’ll feel great…and that’s the real goal.