Could my low HR keep me from losing weight?
Options
LadyLilion
Posts: 276 Member
Took my usual walk today and ended up with 1.42 miles. I am annoyed by the fact that for my 28.59 minute walk I got 15 minutes of fat burn and NO cardio or peak calorie burn. Total of 236 calories burned per my Fitbit. I know, most people don't think that's much of a workout - but I weigh over 290 lbs and am not in great shape. I sweat my butt off and work HARD to get that pace. My heart rate simply does NOT go up. This is not the first time I noticed this. Seriously, this is annoying and I wonder if it's part of the problem with my weight loss. In 3 months, I've lost just over 11 lbs. I'm really trying here too. But, I'm on 3 blood pressure meds and maybe they keep my heart rate depressed? My resting heart rate is like 53 BPM. It's not that I don't work hard. But I don't get the burn I should. My heart rate seldom hits cardio or peak levels even on the elliptical.
Could my inability to get my HR up cause my slow weight loss?
Could my inability to get my HR up cause my slow weight loss?
0
Replies
-
LadyLilion wrote: »Took my usual walk today and ended up with 1.42 miles. I am annoyed by the fact that for my 28.59 minute walk I got 15 minutes of fat burn and NO cardio or peak calorie burn. Total of 236 calories burned per my Fitbit. I know, most people don't think that's much of a workout - but I weigh over 290 lbs and am not in great shape. I sweat my butt off and work HARD to get that pace. My heart rate simply does NOT go up. This is not the first time I noticed this. Seriously, this is annoying and I wonder if it's part of the problem with my weight loss. In 3 months, I've lost just over 11 lbs. I'm really trying here too. But, I'm on 3 blood pressure meds and maybe they keep my heart rate depressed? My resting heart rate is like 53 BPM. It's not that I don't work hard. But I don't get the burn I should. My heart rate seldom hits cardio or peak levels even on the elliptical.
Could my inability to get my HR up cause my slow weight loss?
short answer no. You just have a lower peak/max HR
If you're medically cleared for moderate-high intensity cardio, your doctor should be able to assist you in calculating what a good working HR is... also... talk test3 -
No.
You probably burned about 150 kCal during that walk.
Calories per mile = your body weight in pounds / 3
Walking faster means you're done sooner and you've burned more calories per minute, but not significantly more per mile.
Weight loss comes from having a calorie deficit. For most people that's a lot easier to achieve by watching what they eat than through exercise, although a combination works best. But you can lose weight with no exercise at all, which means exercising with a low HR won't prevent anybody from losing weight.
Also, I wouldn't trust your Fitbit as an HRM, they're notoriously inaccurate for measuring HR during exercise.3 -
Well the reason I ask is the Fitbit shows substantially higher calorie burn at cardio/peak levels. For instance 8 calories / min at fat burn, 12 calories / minute at cardio, etc.
I thought maybe I'm not burning as many calories as I'm getting credit for? But I suppose, since I only get the calorie adjustment from the Fitbit, and I don't enter any on MFP myself, that wouldn't happen.
It's just really annoying to not see any substantial gains here when I'm working SO HARD. This isn't just a fat lady whining. I'm logging every bite. I'm working out nearly every day. I have the world's most sedentary job, so it's not easy to do, but I change my clothes and get that walk in almost every day, unless I have a lunch meeting or something. I just want to lose so BAD. I thought maybe there was some other reason, because according to my calories I should be losing! I feel like maybe my calories are set too high...but that's where my dietician set them and verified she wanted them there a month or two ago. I see her next week. I guess I'll talk about lowering them again.0 -
Unless your goal is to train for the purpose of getting faster, ignore heart rate. It has no real meaning for overall fat loss. The 'fat burning' zone is great for long distance runners. It doesn't mean much for anything else (unless you are in the marketing department at FitBit
). 0 -
LadyLilion wrote: »Well the reason I ask is the Fitbit shows substantially higher calorie burn at cardio/peak levels. For instance 8 calories / min at fat burn, 12 calories / minute at cardio, etc.
I thought maybe I'm not burning as many calories as I'm getting credit for? But I suppose, since I only get the calorie adjustment from the Fitbit, and I don't enter any on MFP myself, that wouldn't happen.
It's just really annoying to not see any substantial gains here when I'm working SO HARD. This isn't just a fat lady whining. I'm logging every bite. I'm working out nearly every day. I have the world's most sedentary job, so it's not easy to do, but I change my clothes and get that walk in almost every day, unless I have a lunch meeting or something. I just want to lose so BAD. I thought maybe there was some other reason, because according to my calories I should be losing! I feel like maybe my calories are set too high...but that's where my dietician set them and verified she wanted them there a month or two ago. I see her next week. I guess I'll talk about lowering them again.
Good for you for making such a focused effort. You ARE making progress doing all that you're doing. "Substantial gains" do not come quickly. It is a very slow step by step progress, in my experience, and I started about where you are. Can you walk a little further or a little faster today than you did last week? Then you are making progress. Keep doing it and you will make more progress. Fitness is extremely important, regardless of the calori burn it contributes to weight loss.
Are you weighing all your food on a food scale? If not, read the threads that explain how to do that, as it is a key difference for many people compared to measuring cups.
For comparison to what your dietician advised, you can enter your stats into MFP and see what calorie level it recommends. I'm not saying you should go against your dietician's advice, but it will give you a point of comparison.
In the meantime, just don't worry about your minutes of fat burn, etc. I never even tried to track that stuff because I'm not sure how reliable it is, and I lost 150 lbs no problem. I hope something here helps.2 -
How have you calculated your zones? The 220-age is not appropriate for everyone, or even most people. My max HR for running is about 200 even though I am 36 (the calculations would put it at 184. For some people, their max HR will be on the other end of the spectrum and lower than the "general population" calculation. Another thing that can factor in is your body composition. As the other user mentioned, I would not rely on Fitbit for accurate heart rate readings or calorie estimates for exercise, even just walking. I used to use a Fitbit for everyday activity and a Garmin for my exercise and my Garmin and Fitbit never matched as far as exercise calories.0
-
LadyLilion wrote: »Took my usual walk today and ended up with 1.42 miles. I am annoyed by the fact that for my 28.59 minute walk I got 15 minutes of fat burn and NO cardio or peak calorie burn. Total of 236 calories burned per my Fitbit. I know, most people don't think that's much of a workout - but I weigh over 290 lbs and am not in great shape. I sweat my butt off and work HARD to get that pace. My heart rate simply does NOT go up. This is not the first time I noticed this. Seriously, this is annoying and I wonder if it's part of the problem with my weight loss. In 3 months, I've lost just over 11 lbs. I'm really trying here too. But, I'm on 3 blood pressure meds and maybe they keep my heart rate depressed? My resting heart rate is like 53 BPM. It's not that I don't work hard. But I don't get the burn I should. My heart rate seldom hits cardio or peak levels even on the elliptical.
Could my inability to get my HR up cause my slow weight loss?
Is your Fitbit set up with your correct height/weight/etc? 236 cals burned for 29 minutes is probably not unrealistic for you. Personally I get about 8-9 cals per minute burned when I'm running, 4-5 when walking briskly. This seems reasonable to me just from comparing me/you which is not really worth anything I know! But check that Fitbit has your correct data.
As to weight loss, how many calories a day are you eating? Any thyroid issue which might impact your metabolism? Are you using a food scale for every solid that you consume? Accounting for beverages/condiments/cooking oils/etc.?
You ARE losing weight, and you are improving your fitness level but putting in the time & effort. Baby Steps.1 -
I have a ridiculous low heart rate ( resting 54 ) even while doing HIIT when I feel like I am dying it might get to 135 max . I have lost 62 pounds , it will not effect your weight loss.1
-
ps-I like my Fitbit/Charge 2 HR but its not always good at picking up the HR. Typically my HR is in the 95-120 range when I'm walking. I often notice the HR readout is in the 60's 70's for no apparent reason, when I'm walking briskly up a hill. Wrist based HR is simply not as reliable as a chest strap.2
-
The calorie burn your Fitbit gave you sounds about right for your weight and distance walked. Most people honestly do not need to worry about their HR during a workout unless they have a medical reason to stay within a particular range, so just check with your doctor to make sure there are restrictions on your activity. As you get used to exercising and as you lose weight, you'll be able to walk farther with less difficulty.0
-
Thanks everyone. My Fitbit does have my correct height and weight. I have never calculated my HR zones, I just went by what Fitbit said. My resting HR right now is showing as 49. It is quite low. I also have an arrhythmia (pvc) that sometimes makes it read even lower than normal. It's not a danger - it goes away with exertion and a cardiologist told me not to worry about that, but sometimes my BP will read high or low because the first or last beat will "skip". I've been told I have a rhythm all my own.
I do weigh food. I'm not going to pretend I'm perfect. I mean, a large egg hard-boiled egg is a large hard boiled egg and I'm not going to bother weighing it after I peel it and finding the exact calories per gram. Packaged things like protein bars, not weighed. But most things do get the scale, my meat and cheese and yogurt and cereals, etc., are all weighed.
0 -
LadyLilion wrote: »Well the reason I ask is the Fitbit shows substantially higher calorie burn at cardio/peak levels. For instance 8 calories / min at fat burn, 12 calories / minute at cardio, etc.
Fitbit is incorrectly ( a common problem with many heart rate monitors / fitness trackers) correlating heart rate to caloric expenditure. It's physics.....it take a certain amount of energy to move a certain amount of mass over a given distance. Running burns more than walking over the same distance as you're also getting both feet off the ground but, interestingly, race walking at 5mph or more burns as much or more than running due to the mechanical inefficiency.
You've lost 11 lbs in 3 months? That's actually losing almost 1lb week which is a very sensible rate.
4 -
-
If your low heart rate were affecting the calorie burn Fitbit gives you, it would be underestimating, rather than overestimating. If anything, you should be losing faster than expected.
That said - My own personal level of adherence to my calorie budget kept me pretty much at maintenance while following Fitbit's recommendations. It's a pretty good tool, but if it isn't calibrated properly (ie: you're not getting the results you want) you might have to make adjustments (leave a few calories "in-the-bank") to lose at the rate you're aiming for.1 -
Hi Lady Lilion. I hate to say this but everyone's body is different. What makes our bodies burn fat and transform is different for everyone. I was taking all the advice of My Fitness Pal and of other devices, i was tracking calories and weighing everything, and measuring heart rate and calorie burn, but I wasn't losing a lot. It was super slow to come off. What I found for me, in order to see more progress, is that I had to increase my workout intensity + keep to my calories, creating a higher calorie deficit for myself per day vs. what MyFitness Pal calculated for me. I came to that deficit through trial and error. You might need to do the same. What works for one, doesn't always work for another. It would be good for you to talk to your doctor about how to figure your max heart rate for exercise and what calories you might expect to burn for that. Then you can tweak your workout. If you are truly keeping to your calories in MyFitness Pal, you may just need to tweak the work out to burn more calories. Its really an individual thing. So try some different stuff. Give yourself credit for tracking everything, but tweak your workout. Sometimes your body gets used to routines and in order to move forward you have to introduce something new. Good luck!!1
-
Thank you everyone. I know that on March 5 I was at 305 and now I'm 293.5. So...10 1/2 weeks...which I suppose is really just over 1 lb a week. I KNOW I should be happy about it, but it just seems SO SLOW. This is my second go-around. About 10 years ago, I lost 100 lbs. I gained back about 85 - yes, idiot - so I'm doing it again. It was so much faster last time and I didn't exercise at all for like the first 4 months. I guess 10 years and hormones have done their evil work. I keep comparing myself to my other MFP friends, who seem to lose much faster...and worse of all to my husband who has lost 29.5 in the same amount of time.
I KNOW I shouldn't compare...but I keep doing it anyway.
So...yeah. Perspective. It's a pound a week average. I'll shut up and be grateful.
Thanks everyone...my one concern at least has been put to rest. I'd wondered about the heart rate thing and now I know.0 -
So slow is good, it means you're probably not losing excess muscle and shouldn't expect hair loss etc from this. It may also be good for your skin. It's also much more maintainable, slow and steady wins the race.
How long did it take you to put the weight on? Probably not overnight, because these things take time.2 -
One thing you might do is to increase the time that you spend walking. 30 minutes is a good start, but you've been doing this a while, so it may be time to bump it up to 45 minutes.0
-
You mention you are on blood pressure medications and that you have an arrhythmia. If one of those medications is a beta blocker, that would explain your blunted HR response to exertion. It's something that not a lot of doctors bother to mention to their patients.
A low heart rate, per se, will have no effect on your calorie burn. Calorie burn is based on the actual workload, not the heart beat. The heart beat is just a gauge and there can be different "ranges" or "scales" for different people.
Sometimes, a beta blocker, or a combination of drugs can have a small (like 5% max) effect on lowering your normal calorie burn, so it might slow you down a little at first, but it does not prevent weight loss.
At your speed and weight, 236 calories for a 30 min walk at 3 mph is in the right range.
You could assist your weight loss by either longer walks, or two walks a day if you don't have the stamina to walk longer. Otherwise, stay with your program, and try to stay as active as possible.
10+ lbs is an important accomplishment--you'd be surprised how many people can't even lose that much.1 -
Nope. My resting hr is 48 bpm and I often have 2400 cal burn days. Walking is great, but if that's all you're doing and you're looking for bigger burns, reexamine your exercise routine.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 390 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 921 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions