I got myself a Polar FT40. And it calculates the amount of time I spent in fat burning and what % I spent in Fitness. Now, it also says to lose weight I should spend more time in Fat Burning. My last two days, have been 3:05 minutes and 8:55 minutes where my whole excersize time was over and hour. So, my question is how can I burn more fat?
Ignore it. Google "myth of the fat burning zone" and you'll find out why the ideas of "fitness", "cardio" and "fat burning zones" are bogus.
What counts is total calories burned. The more calories you burn, the larger the calorie deficit you'll create. The larger the calorie deficit you create, the more stored fat your body will burn. It's that simple.
Monday it said 500 calories burned, Tues it said 576 calories burned. I'm certain I read in the book for polar that for weight loss you should have more fat burning than fitness.
I have the Polar F60, which is almost the same as yours. You did read in the Polar users manual that you should have more time in the fat burning zone for weight loss than for fitness. Because that is how their product is designed and they want you to use it more, hoping that will lead to buying more of their products and accessories.
I'll reiterate what Meg said above about googling the myth of the fat burning zone. It boils down to calories burned. If you exercise at a higher heart rate you burn more calories, which makes the percentage of fat calories burned get smaller compared to the total. You are still burning more calories, though, and that is the point of the exercise.
Hehe, well... I have the F7 (just recently upgraded from the F4) and never spend much time in the "fat burning zone." And let me tell ya... it's worked out for me so far.
Calories in vs calories out. Aim for the total calories number.
I should also say mine always tells me I'm spending too much time in the high zone, gives me the message "Workout Results: Maximum Fitness Improvement". I tend to see "Fat Burning Fitness Improvement" after lower key things like yoga. And, I haven't had anything trouble with burning fat, either!
Shannon, that's why I custom set my HR parameters. The only time I spend in the so-called fat burning zone is the first minute of my warmup. Total calories burned are indeed the name of the game.
Did you know that when we're asleep, almost 100% of the calories we burn are from fat? It's the best workout in the "fat burning zone" that there is. But it's probably not so good for weight loss.
Did you know that when we're asleep, almost 100% of the calories we burn are from fat? It's the best workout in the "fat burning zone" that there is. But it's probably not so good for weight loss.
Man, for a minute there I thought I could take more naps and lose weight, like the headline I saw on a glossy magazine at the grocery store a few months ago. Woo hoo! Uh, no.
I do need to go back in and custom set my heart rate on my HRM - I did it at first, then had to reset it and didn't go back in to set the heart rate. Right now I spend a few minutes in zone 1, then jump to zone 3 and hang out there for the rest of the workout, according to the HRM. I don't pay any attention to the whole 'fat burning zone', 'maximum fitness zone' messages on mine. Heck, if I did they would scare me to death! It always tells me I'm overexercising and need a recovery week, like it thinks I'm going to have a heart attack if I do one more workout! I just look at the total burned and go from there.
Did you know that when we're asleep, almost 100% of the calories we burn are from fat? It's the best workout in the "fat burning zone" that there is. But it's probably not so good for weight loss.
Darn it! I almost lept for joy when I thought "I can sleep and lose weight!"
I discovered quickly when I first got my F4 that I would have to ignore the zones. I was so out of shape that just walking up a flight of stairs put me out of the zones.
Polar Users! I need to burn more FAT!!
