So when I'm working out on the elliptical, a lot of the time my heart rate goes above the range of 60-85% max heart rate.....is that really bad?

I've heard that above that range your body starts burning muscle? And I've also heard that's not true....there's too many articles and stuff out there I don't know what's true or not!

Also, is there an optimal heart rate (i.e. fat burning zone or whatever??)?

Any information you could give me would be soooo helpful!

Thanks

This probably wont help but I though i'd jump in.

I also use a HRM when I run.

I never calculated my max heart rate. I just go by how I feel. I soon realized that I like to stay in the 160-180 range when I run. At this HR I sweat and get a work out but can keep it up for the duration of my run. Once it starts creeping up into the 180s I feel really winded.

I would just go by how you feel. At the higher HR do you feel ok? if so do it.

Max heart rate = 220-your age. So mine is 201!

I often stay in th 170-185 range. At 185/186 I feel absolutely winded and can only keep it up for a short time, but at 172 - 174 or so I feel good.

However, 85% of my max rate is 170.85....Oh well, I guess I am not actually too far over then!!!

Thanks for your insight

We talked about this in medical school last year, so I think I can explain it.

As you increase intensity (higher percent max) you burn less fat (plasma free fatty acids and muscle triglycerides) and more carbohydrates (plasma glucose and muscle glycogen). However, at that higher intensity you burn more total calories. For example:

30 minutes at low intensity (25% max) you could burn 100 calories with 75% from fat = 75 calories from fat
vs
30 minutes at medium intensity (60% max) you could burn 200 calories with 50 % from fat = 100 calories from fat
vs.
30 minutes at high intensity (80% max) you could burn 350 calories with 30% from fat = 105 calories from fat

Thus, even if at higher intensities you burn a lower percentage of fat, your overall calorie burn is significantly higher. Personally, I work out as hard as I can and don't let concerns about fat percentage burn limit how hard I push myself.

Hope this helps!

@tigger175 thanks! That was helpful I vaguely recall some of that from bio haha.

tigger - that was very interesting!!

I don't pay attention to HR % because... when I first started exercising, my HR would jump up to 200+. It took a while for me to build up. If I didn't push, then I would never get anywhere... Now I am finding when I workout, my HR hangs out at 160. I can't get over the improvement. (of course it's been like 10 years since those 200+ HR days)

that formula is just a place to start, really.... i would NOT go by it to determine my max HR... that is something that has to be tested individually..... it can vary so so widely...... if you dont feel overly "winded at 170+ than i imagine your max is prob higher than that... dont worry about it it doesnt really matter unless you are doing somesort of advances LActic Acid Threshold training, or VO2Max training, or intervals where you fully recover between (or DONT fully recover), etc etc....

BTW, Tigger is spot on
HOWEVER if you arent eating enough to support your activity, you just MAY find you have better results keeping it low intensity... food for thought

I'm 35 and the formula doesn't seem to work for me any more. 85% is 157, which is only slightly higher than where I am when I do steady-state cardio--it's definitely NOT my max. When I do intervals, I routinely get to about 90-95% and I feel fine. I find this confusing.

I'm eating 1200-1300 calories a day, and burning about 600 in working out...is this sufficient?

My BMR is a little over 1700 (idk how much stock to put in bmr calculators) so i though 1200-1300 a day would be a 400-500 cal deficit on diet alone.

Am I eating the right amount?

Celly, how do you feel? I know I would have a hard time doing that much exercise on so few calories. I bet you could lose steadily on 1500-1600 calories with all that exercise.

I feel a little hungry....but like bascially ok. I am trying to get ready for back to school - when I won't have time for as much exercise. Like right now, I am dedicating like 2 horus of gym time every day and I'm not drinking.

But come september I'll be drinking again, and working out less so if I can get used to eatin 1200 cals, then I'm hoping i won't gain anything back...

Does this sound ok?

I've always had a problem keeping my heart rate down. When I first started doing the elliptical, I was hitting over 200 BPM. I started working out 3x a week, and it's now maxing out at 180. It just takes some time to drop down!

I also find my heart rate skyrockets if I don't drink enough water or if I don't get a good night's rest. Many things play into heart rate!

How many days a week do you work out and for how long each time?
I don't think 1200-1300 calories is sustainable.
I eat 2200 calories a day to maintain my current weight of 134. I ate 1700-1750 to lose weight. This was figured out by BMR and multiplying my BMR by 1.55 for moderate exercise. Now, I'm sure I could eat more as I am running 6 days a week for at least an hour at a time.

Celly, my sense is that you're going to have to settle for a slower rate of weight loss once the semester starts. 1200 is very low for someone of your height and it seems a bit unnecessary. If you ate 1500, committed to exercising for an hour 5 or 6 days a week and restricted your drinking to only a couple of nights per week you'd probably still lose and find it all less difficult.

ughhhhhhh i hate this guesswork i wish someone could just say this is exactly what to eat.

Ugh 1500 just seems like so much - barely a departure from what I have always eaten. It's just too weird to think that I could experience any results from cutting back so little. And I'm just worried that if I don't get intense enough I won't see results and then its just so much wasted time, you know?