Hi, new here

fit40orbust

After Christmas last year, I found myself weighing in at 220 lbs, and for the first time in my life, 36" jeans were getting too tight to wear. I'm a software engineer, and spend most of my weekdays desk bound I'm soon to be 40 years old, so I'm trying hard to stop myself degrading into crap as I age.

Since Christmas, I've changed my diet drastically, and I've been doing 3 days of cardio and 2 days of weight lifting each week.

I now fit comfortably in size 32" waste jeans, and I currently weigh 195lbs at 6'2" tall. My resting heart rate has gone from the 70's to the 40's, and I feel pretty good.

One thing that bugs me about my exercise routine is my inability to "take it easy". I read all this stuff online about heart rate zones, and when I do cardio, I can't help but give it 100% effort regardless of what my hr monitor is telling me...

I'm 39, almost 40.. so 220 - 40 = 180.. my theoretical max HR. However, I know my max is a bit higher, cause I've pushed it as far as 190 this year. Anyway... 90% of 190 is 171.. so according to what I've read, I shouldn't be able to hold my heart rate at 171 or higher for more than a few minutes.. this doesn't work for me.

I do 50 minutes of cardio 3 times a week, and I wear a watch. It takes about 5 minutes of hard work to get my heart rate up past 170, but once I'm there, I easily maintain it for the rest of the workout. I usually try to back off just a tad at around 177.. and I've noticed that at 180, I start to feel like it's not something I can maintain. Once I start working out, it's almost impossible for me not to give it 110% effort. Is this really a bad thing?