What Does “Working Out Too Hard” Mean?

Carbohydrate calories are the first fuel source our bodies use. They give us energy. Fat calories are also a fuel source, but they are not the source that our bodies burn first. Both of these are burned during aerobic activity. Protein calories feed our muscles which make us look lean.

Our bodies burn calories effective for weight loss in the following order: first, carbohydrates, then fats, and last, proteins. When we exercise, we risk altering this sequence and when we alter this sequence we may not see results. Simply put, when we can breathe enough to talk during our workout, we are burning carbohydrates and fats because we're using oxygen to breathe. However, if we begin to work too hard, our heart rates exceed the levels needed for burning fats and carbs (powered by oxygen) and instead they begin to use protein calories for fuel. Ideally, we want to hang on to our protein calories because they make us look lean and define our muscles. The clearest indicator that we're working too hard is shortness of breath. Anaerobic activity and aerobic activity are the terms used to distinguish whether we used oxygen to burn calories or not during a workout. Anaerobic means that while exercising, we exceeded our bodies target heart rate, also known as its fat burning zone. Aerobic means that we stayed in our fat burning zone and used oxygen to burn calories.

Next time, we'll take a look at a true story of someone who "worked too hard" to lose weight and actually ended up gaining weight instead!