HRM and fitness vs fat burn

Dad_of_3 · March 2013

I got on the treadmill last night. This was my first walk with the HRM on. I typically walk 3.5 mph, but I quickly learned this walking speed puts my heart rate in the fitness range. I had to slow the pace down to 1.1 mph to get my heart rate in the fat burning range.

I walked 30 minutes in fat burning mode (for 320 calories). I bumped it up to 3.5 for 10 more minutes so I could feel like I actually did a little something worthwhile.

At my weight (more than 300), although my normal pace is hitting the fitness range, does it really matter if I go slower for a fat burn vs faster for a fitness burn?

ApexLeader · March 2013

you burn fat faster in the fitness range than in the fat burn range, you just happen to also burn more glycogen in the fitness range. stick with moving at 3.5 mph.

bradwwood · March 2013

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

quoted from: http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html

DavPul · March 2013

Sigh.....

I'm not sighing at you OP, but at the fitness industry that puts this confusing and worthless information out there. Ignore all zones. You're going to burn fat no matter what you do. You're going to burn more fat that harder you train. You're not going to care what percentage of fat you burned during a workout because once you're in a calorie deficit, you're going to be losing fat all day long. The reason to do cardio is to get into a calorie deficit.

Oh, and if you don't want to burn off muscle you're gonna want to do some resistance training along with the cardio.

bradwwood · March 2013

I essentially agree with everything else you said, but in the quoted section above, how about proving it? There seems to be endless information counter to what you are saying here. Why or how is it that you know better?

DavPul · March 2013

If you're asking for links, I don't do links. Links aren't brosciencey enough and I'm all about the broscience. However, I do like math. Would you like to do some math with me?

In the so called fat burning zone, most of your cals burned come from stored bodyfat. Sounds good, right? Who doesn't want to burn fat? The only problem is you have to move at such a low intensity, you barely burn any cals at all. The OP stats that at a fast walk his HRM is telling him to slow it down. This true of most people. So lets say for 30 mins of this slow pace, the OP burns 200 cals, 85% of which comes from stored fat (it's always a mix of fuel sources). So the OP burned (200 x .8) 170 fat cals and got 200 cals closer to a calorie deficit.

Now at the higher zone, lets use your aerobic zone, only 50% of the cals burned come from fat. But we burn a lot more cals with the higher intensity. So now the 30 mins of exercise burn 350 cals total. So (350 x .5) now 175 fat cals were burned directly by the workout, and our subject is now 350 cals closer to a meaningful deficit.

Recap: Fat burning zone burned 170 fat cals. Aerobic zone burned 175. 170-175 = 5 additional fat cals burned. So I'm already ahead IF I actually cared about how much fat I burned during my workouts. (hint: I don't). But beyond that, our aerobic zone guy burned (200-350 = 150) more cals than your slow walking fat burning zone guy. With more total cals burned, my guy is going to have a greater deficit and will burn even more fat during the day as his body has to use fat to make up for the energy deficit.

This was the easy stuff. We'll save the higher intensity stuff for another day. Stuff where you work out in the anaerobic zone for a 15 mins but raise your calorie burn for the entire day so that it becomes the equivalent of 30 mins or aerobic work or 45 mins of "fitness zone" work.

If you can find some information that you believes counters my math post it here and we'll go over this again.

rapat · March 2013

my advice:
you want to gradually & safely build your endurance levels so that you can burn more calories during exercise.
I personally don't get too concerned with where those calories are being burned from (ie which fitness zone) -- I think it really only matters once you're at a amateur/professional athlete level and need to really fine tune stuff.

Mix in increased walk speeds or inclines. So if you can walk for 30 min at 3.5, try 30 min at 3.6 next time. If you can do that, try 3.7, etc. Or try increasing the incline by 1%

Or if you want to make it a bit mindless -- try the couch to 5k program / app.

bradwwood · March 2013

A reasonable argument.

Dad_of_3 · March 2013

I was doing C25K, but due to my weight and my knees I had to stop. My doctor told me to try again once I am below 300. Can't wait.

jacksonpt · March 2013

Training zones are only useful for the really lean and/or the highly trained athlete. Everyone else should be more worried about working out hard, eating right, and sustaining a healthy calorie deficit.

Dad_of_3 · March 2013

This and other statements like it make me feel better. I can't stand walking 1.1 mph- ridiculous.

felicityrhode · April 2013

Great information... bump

amann1976 · April 2013

take that crap back to the story and get your money back. total waste of money those monitors are for a certain type of athlete

Dad_of_3 · April 2013

I'm taking this crap comment to the toilet as my HRM tells me calories burned so I can track them.
Crap comments like yours are for a certain type of idiot.

Msdirection · April 2013

Gloriously well said

lina1131 · April 2013

Whaaat? I love my HRM. I know that perhaps they are not 100% accurate, but they give me an idea of how many calories I have burned during a workout. Mine also pushes me to work harder during a workout.

amann1976 · April 2013

knowing how many calories you burn isnt going to make you progress any faster. the only way you are going to get where you want to be is by eating right and working out hard. and no monitor is going to delivery those things to you.

but whatever makes you feel good about yourself i guess...

jacksonpt · April 2013

Nice...

kels1152 · April 2013

There is absolutely zero harm in knowing how many calories you are burning during a workout...it is a great tool to help any individual.
Yes, it's about eating right and working out hard but the HR monitor lets you know if your working out as hard as you could and keeping track of calories lets you know if your eating the proper foods. Using a HR monitor is no different than tracking those calories that have been consumed since they both are great tools to help someone reach all their fitness and health goals.
I personally love using my HR monitor. Before I was using one I was relying on the cardio machines which overestimated greatly and then I never knew how much i was burning during my strength exercise.

It's not harming you at all when someone else wears a heart rate monitor : )

Dad_of_3 · April 2013

It's called tracking.
I want to track to make sure I do not go over my calories for the day.
I want to track my heart rate to make sure I do not over or underwork.
I want to track my calories burned see how many additional calories I can make a deficit of and burn off my weight faster.
Tracking does not replace eating right. I never said it it did.

I am now done with trying to teach a pig to sing.

jacksonpt · April 2013

Seems like you're on the right track... you've got your head around the bigger picture.

Hating on HRMs is the cool thing to do these days.

HRM and fitness vs fat burn

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