For years you have heard trainers, doctors and athletes talking about the elusive “fat-burning” zone.  It is always referred to as the ideal place you want to be when you are doing your aerobic workout.  Unfortunately you may only spend 20-60 minutes in this ‘zone’ depending on how long your aerobic workout is.

The ‘fat-burning’ zone is literally the time your body is burning calories from the breakdown of stored body fat. You have to remember your metabolism burns calories from the breakdown of either fats, carbohydrates or proteins.  The key to successfully losing weight and keeping it off is to stay in your ‘fat-burning’ zone as much as possible throughout the day.

Those who struggle with fatigue, weight gain, cravings, mood swings or hormonal issues are usually burning more of their calories from the break down of carbs and lean muscle (protein), instead of stored body fats.  To overcome those problems you need to make sure you are staying in your fat-burning zone for more than an hour a day.

You may think as you are reading this article that you are in your fat burning zone, but as I discussed in “To Burn or Not to Burn – Fat is the Question,” how long ago did you last eat?  What did you eat AND drink? Was it processed, refined, fast food? Did you skip your last meal?  These are the typically questions that let us know if you are keeping your blood sugar stable.  The reason this is important is because if your blood sugar is constantly going up and down all day it takes you out of your fat burning zone and hinders weight loss.

How about the ‘stress’ in your life?  Are you over-working your adrenal glands, which are responsible for making cortisol and adrenaline, your primary stress hormones?  This is important because cortisol and adrenaline trigger your metabolism to burn carbs and protein, more so than fats!

Think about it – are you constantly pumping out more cortisol and adrenaline because of all the stress in your life, which is signaling your metabolism to burn up all the carbs and lean muscle you have?  If so that is why the theory of calories in versus out does not always solve the weight loss dilemma.

Worse yet you could have already exhausted and depleted your adrenal glands, which is referred as “adrenal fatigue and exhaustion.”  This only makes things worse on your metabolism, but it also throws off your hormones and neurotransmitter (chemical brain messengers).

Let’s not forget exercise and the fact that the biggest workout mistake I always see is people doing an aerobic workout at too high of an intensity.  This completely takes them out of their ‘fat-burning’ zone for that magical 20-60 minutes.  But it also throws more ‘physical’ stress into the equation and causes your adrenal glands to pump out more cortisol and adrenaline. Can you see how that cycle can continue?

The assumption that the all mighty ‘fat-burning’ zone is only relevant while you workout is only partially true.  It’s so much more important to stay in your ‘fat-burning’ zone for most of the day if you are struggling with fatigue, weight gain, cravings, mood swings or hormonal issues.  To check and see if you are staying in your fat burning zone, use the “online health quizzes” to Test our Metabolism and Take the Stress Test.  You may be surprised, but it could also open up your eyes as to why you have hit a plateau and haven’t succeeding in your dieting and weight loss efforts.