What Is More Important for Weight Loss, Heart Rate or Calories Burned?

Working out is an essential component of a long-term, successful weight-loss program. Exercising is effective at supporting weight loss because it allows you to burn a high number of calories in a short amount of time. Ultimately, it’s the calories burned that allows you to lose weight, but your heart rate when exercising influences how many calories you’ll burn.

  1. Losing Weight

    • To lose weight, your efforts should be focused on burning a greater number of calories than you consume. Doing so creates a caloric deficit in your body. When you’re eating fewer calories than you burn, because your body still needs fuel to maintain function, it breaks down the fat that you have stored on your body. A 3,500-calorie deficit equates to a pound of fat loss.

    Calories Burned

    • Because weight loss is dependent on creating a caloric deficit, the most important component of your workout is how many calories are burned. The more calories that your workout session burns, the greater the impact it will make on creating a caloric deficit. The American Council on Exercise recommends a realistic and safe weight-loss goal of one to two pounds per week. This would require a 3,500- to 7,000-calorie deficit every week, which in turn means a daily deficit of 500 to 1,000. How many calories you’ll burn during your workout depends on the activity you’re participating in, your body weight and the intensity of your workout.

    Significance of Heart Rate

    • Although the overall important element for weight loss is calories burned, your workout heart rate is directly linked to how many calories you will burn. Exercise heart rate is an indication of how hard you’re working, and the higher the intensity of your workout session, the more calories you’re going to burn. According to ACE, higher-intensity workouts are better for weight loss because they burn more calories than lower-intensity sessions, and they’ll also keep your metabolic rate elevated for hours after you’re done working out. Moderate-intensity exercise involves working out at 50 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate, while a vigorous-intensity session involves getting your heart rate up to 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Find your estimated maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.

    Other Considerations

    • Also important for creating a caloric deficit and thus losing weight is the frequency of your workout sessions. To lose one pound per week, you’ve got to create a deficit of 500 calories every day. Therefore, working out a couple of times per week would not be adequate for losing weight at the suggested rate of one pound weekly. In addition, to create a caloric deficit, not only do you need to increase calories burned with your workouts, but you’ve got to decrease the calories you consume by making responsible and healthy eating and drinking decisions.