Lose Weight Reduce Heart Rate

If you’ve ever hopped on a treadmill, elliptical or stationary bike at the gym, you may have noticed an interesting heart rate range chart with ages on one axis and “zones” on another. If you use these machines often, it’s likely you even memorized the heart rate ranges for your age group too, because let’s be honest, there’s little else to look at while pedaling for 30 minutes on that stationary bike.

Before we talk specifically about the fat-burning zone and whether it’s even accurate or useful, let’s discuss how the different heart rate zones on the chart are calculated. First off you take the maximum heart rate for your age and multiply it by a certain percentage. So, yes, math is involved.

Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. This is the maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise. Of course, this number could vary slightly based on the level of your athleticism, but in most cases, it’s pretty accurate. In the next part of the equation, you multiply your maximum heart rate by a percentage to find how quickly your heart should beat when exerting exercise effort. For example, if you’re participating in moderate or very light intensity exercise on recovery day, take your maximum heart rate and multiply it by 0.5 and 0.6 to find your heart rate range.

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The above illustrates that when exercising for recovery at a very light effort, this woman’s heart rate should be between 92.5 and 111 beats per minute.

Of course, we aren’t always training at a very light effort. If you’re trying to increase your working on your endurance, odds are you’re exercising at a light effort. If you’re an athlete working on explosiveness, hard or maximum effort is where you focus.

Like the chart above illustrates, exercising at 60-70% of your total effort is one of the most effective ways to burn fat. To reap the most physical benefits it’s best to exercise within this heart rate range for 40-80 minutes.

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This person should do light exercise for 40 or more minutes, keeping their heart rate between 111 and 129.5 beats per minute.

Curious what your fat-burning zone is? Use the equation above to calculate the exact metric or use our handy guidelines below for a rough estimate. When entering fat-burning mode, your heart should be between 60 and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. That means a 20-year old should have a heart rate between 120 and 140 beats per minute during light exercise. Someone older, for example, aged 60 should have a heart rate between 96 and 112 beats per

It’s true that the body burns a greater percentage of fat at lower than higher intensities, but that doesn’t mean that slow, steady-state workouts are the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off. Here’s why: The general recommendation is to exercise in your fat-burning heart rate zone for 40+ minutes — that’s a long time. Not everyone has the luxury of fitting in that long a workout.

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So, yes. The fat-burning zone is legit. At 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate, the calories that your body burns are mostly calories from fat. If you go on a brisk walk for one hour, you’ll likely burn between 225 and 300 calories depending on your biometrics and fitness level. That said, you could burn the same amount of calories in half, maybe a quarter, of the time by doing a HIIT workout.

Studies show that HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts burn more overall calories in a shorter amount of time. Here at , we recommend that you do HIIT workouts 3-5 times per week, mixing in other forms of exercise like that steady-state cardio (light jog, brisk walk, bike ride, or elliptical machine) two or more times per week.

If you want to put this into practice, there are a few different ways to measure your heart rate — some more accurate than others.

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Now that you know how to measure your heart rate put it into practice and find your fat-burning zone. It’s valuable to understand what exercising at this level feels like so you can be sure you’re exerting the right amount of effort to reach your unique goals.. Your target heart rate is expressed as a percentage (usually between 60 percent and 70 percent) of your maximum safe heart rate. The target heart rate formula is used to find the number of beats per minute your workout has to be in to put your body in your heart rate zone.

To be in your target heart rate zone for weight loss your exercise intensity has to be between 60% and 70% of your intensity. So, a 30 year old person training at 70% intensity will have a heart rate of (220 – 30) x .70 or 133 beats per minute (bpm). The sixty five percent intensity is within the range that is optimal for allowing your body to break down fat and use it as a source of energy.

Why do you burn less fat the harder you work out? “Once your heart rate increases, you’re not taking in as much oxygen. You can’t oxidize fat fast enough. Your body turns to another, more readily available energy source to provide fuel for you — glycogen, also known as carbohydrates.”

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Now that you have the target heart rate formula, you can monitor your heart rate to make sure you’re in your target hear rate zone. As you exercise, periodically check your heart rate. A wearable activity tracker makes it super easy, but if you don’t use one you can also find it manually:

When you work out, are you doing too much or not enough? There’s a simple way to know: Your target heart rate helps you hit the bullseye so you can get max benefit from every step, swing and squat. Even if you’re not a gym rat or elite athlete, knowing your heart rate (or pulse) can help you track your health and fitness level.

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you’re at rest. A good time to check it is in the morning after you’ve had a good night’s sleep, before you get out of bed or grab that first cup of java!

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For most of us (adults), between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm) is normal. Your target heart rate and heart rate in general can be affected by factors like stress, anxiety, hormones, medication, and how physically active you are. An athlete or more active person may have a resting heart rate as low as 40 beats per minute. Now that’s chill!

When it comes to resting heart rate, lower is better. It usually means your heart muscle is in better condition and doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a steady beat. Studies have found that a higher resting heart rate is linked with lower physical fitness and higher blood pressure and body weight.

Important Note: Some drugs and medications affect heart rate, meaning you may have a lower maximum heart rate and target zone. If you have a heart condition or take medication, ask your healthcare provider what your heart rate should be.

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As you exercise, your heart rate will also differ based on age. See the graph below for how your heart rate changes based on age and exercise intensity:

If your heart rate is too high, you’re straining. Slow your roll! If your heart rate is too low, and the intensity feels “light” to “moderate, ” you may want to push yourself to exercise a little harder, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.

If you’re just starting out, aim for the lower range of intensity (50 percent) and gradually build up. The ideal target heart rate for weight loss is achieved when you exercise 60% to 75% of your max heart rate. A treadmill at the gym will display the number of calories burnt while you exercise. Keeping in mind that 3500 calories are the equivalent of 1lb of bodyweight you can do a calorie calculation for weight loss to learn how much you have to exercise and at what intensity to lose weight.

Fat Burning Zone Calculator

With a personal mission to change the narrative of how we view food, farming, and health in the US. Andy is deeply rooted in wholesome, natural foods as the foundation to great nutrition.Since the early seventies,  heart rate monitors have been used to monitor our exercise levels and give us an accurate measurement of our body workout intensity. Over this time many people have used heart rate exercise charts for guidance on fat calorie burning. These are simple graphs that show the output of our heart rate levels. The graph gives you an easy guide to show what you increase when conducting cardio exercises as you can see the different heart rates for aerobic vs fat burning heart rate intensity levels.

On a brief view. The chart quickly shows us the best heart rate we need to exercise in order to burn more fat. Since using the exercise zone chart for guidance, we've learned that