Calories burned in the heat vs room temprature

I had a client ask me last the night if she had burned more calories on her HOT summer hike versus a hike on a regular temperature day, so here you go love.


Short answer is YES!!!! 


Long answer.....



You burn fewer calories when you exercise in cold weather than you do when it's hot. The hotter it is, the more extra work your heart has to do to prevent you from overheating. More than 70 percent of the energy produced by your muscles during exercise is lost as heat. So the harder you exercise, the hotter your muscles become. In hot weather, not only must your heart pump extra blood to bring oxygen to your muscles, it must also pump hot blood from your heated muscles to your skin where heat can be dissipated. 

On the other hand, in cold weather, your heart only has to pump blood to your muscles and very little extra blood to your skin to dissipate heat. Your muscles produce so much heat during exercise that your body does not need to produce more heat to keep you warm. So your heart works harder and you burn more calories in hot weather. This information should not discourage you from exercising when it’s cold, because staying in shape is a year-round proposition. However, it may help to explain why so many people find the pounds creeping on in the wintertime, even when they stay active. 




Now because the temperature was so hot for the hike it took them slightly longer than normal, and so the second part of the question was, Do we burn more calories doing a quicker higher intensity workout or a slower longer workout?


This is an ongoing discussion and I HAVE written about it in past blogs, but here's a bit of info on it.


Yes the known "fat burning" zone is working with a low heart rate of aprox 50% of your max for a prolonged period of time.... we're talking anything over 60 minutes.


So yes you will be burning primarily FAT calories at this point, and readily available and stored carbohydrates prior to.


I share the same belief as thousands if not millions of other fitness professionals in that the harder you work the less time you NEED to spend doing it!!!
HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, is proven to burn more calories LONGER than regular training or long distance training.
It is true that DURING the shorter workout you may burn fewer calories than a longer workout, HOWEVER the difference in calories that are continued to be burned AFTER the fact is substantial, in the positives for HIIT.

Here are 5 reasons you should use HIIT's in your weight loss program:

1. Longer Fat Burning Effect (After burn)

There have been many scientific case studies that show that using high intensity short intervals for training results in EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) levels remaining at a high level for several hours longer than regular low intensity aerobic activity. A higher EPOC level means you keep burning calories at an increased rate after a workout.

Regular low intensity cardio sessions only burn fat while you are doing the exercise. After you stop calorie burning stops. Steady state cardio just allows you to become more and more efficient at burning calories so you burn less and less each time for the same effort.

This is not going to be very effective in the long run because your body will adapt to this amount of physical activity very quickly. You will end up needing to increase the amount of time you are doing these sessions to continue to see results. This is not a very efficient means of weight loss.

2. No Loss of Hard Earned Muscle

Low intensity intervals for weight loss is synonymous with muscle loss. During high intensity exercise muscle is spared at the expense of other tissues if there is a need for it because it offers the stimulus necessary to tell the body it requires muscle. This is the bodies way to protect itself against stress, and exercise is a stressor.

When a muscle is taken to failure, an alarm goes off, telling the body it's in danger and it must do something to protect itself. Therefore, muscle will be protected at the expense of fat.

Low intensity intervals may cause weight loss. However, in addition to fat, muscle can be lost. The alarm system that signals the body to spare muscle is not present. Your resistance is often not intense enough to trigger the body's protective alarm. Look at the bodies of marathon runners versus sprinters. Marathoners look almost emaciated while sprinters are lean and muscular. Which would you prefer to
look like?

Losing muscle is the complete opposite of what you want to do to lose weight. Your focus should be on gaining more muscle because muscle will burn fat during our resting periods.

3. Less Chance of Injury

Doing long continuous cardio sessions day after day puts a lot of stress on our joints. Over time, you will find many people have problems with overuse injuries in their knees, ankles and backs. Continuous loss of muscle will also cause an increase in the risk of osteoporosis.

4. Takes Less Time - More Bang For Your Buck.

HIIT sessions take only 20 minutes. This is great for the time crunched person who needs to get in and out of the gym quickly. With all the benefits of high interval training, why would you waste your most valuable commodity - your precious time?

5. Can Be Done With a Variety of Equipment

High intensity intervals can be done on elliptical trainers, recumbent bikes, treadmills, stair climbers or even outside jogging and walking (for the very beginner). You can also use kettle bells, body weight squats, body weight lunges or jump ropes. You are limited only by your imagination.

The real bottom line here is GET MOVING!!! CHALLENGE YOURSELVES!!SWEAT A LOT!!! FEEL THE BURN!! WORK THROUGH THE BURN!! SEE RESULTS!!!


xo Ky