WHEN YOUR HEART RATE GOES UP,

THE SCALE GOES DOWN – RIGHT?

Originally published Jan 23, 2018 5:55:18 PM, updated April 1, 2019

FITNESS HEART RATE TRAINING

If your goal is to lose weight, there are a handful of ways to make that happen. And while
adjusting your diet is key, adding exercise will help make your goals a reality. But there’s
a huge difference between a 20-minute walk-and-talk with your friends and a two-hour
brick workout. Both can be effective – but how do you know what’s really getting you
where you want to go?

If you’re wearing a heart rate monitor, it’ll be much easier to tell if you’re working out
in the target heart rate for weight loss. Data doesn’t lie, so consider your monitor your
best workout buddy (along with a great pair of sneakers). Here are three things to
keep in mind when you’re exercising to lose weight.

1. DON’T OBSESS OVER THE “FAT-BURNING

ZONE.”
People and gym equipment alike love the term “fat-burning zone” because it makes
everything seem so easy. Work out in that desired zone for a while and bam, you’re
back in your high school era jeans! The reality, of course, isn’t quite so simple.

Heart rate can can guide your workouts to be more efficient, ultimately helping you
burn more calories and lose weight.

“Heart rate can be a valuable indicator of how hard you’re working during exercise,
but there are many other factors that can affect weight loss,” says NASM-certified
personal trainer Anthony Baugh. “If used correctly, it can guide your workouts to be
more efficient, ultimately helping you burn more calories and lose weight.” But, Baugh
says, the fat-burning zone people talk about isn’t one size fits all.

Generally speaking, when you’re working out, you’re within one of five zones:

 Zone 1: 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is your warm-up,

cool-down, and recovery zone.
  Zone 2: 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate. This is an average effort that’s
easy to maintain while holding a conversation. (Think a long, slow distance
run.)
 Zone 3: 70 to 80 percent of your max heart rate. (Slightly easier than a tempo
run, for example.)
 Zone 4: 80 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is a hard effort, but
it’s sustainable. (Now you’re at tempo pace!)
 Zone 5: 90 to 100 percent of your heart rate. This is as hard as you can go.

Zones 1 and 2 are your main fat-burning zones.

Zones 1 and 2 are your main fat-burning zones. When you’re working out within these
zones, most of the calories you’re burning are coming from fat. The higher your zone,
the less fat and more sugars you’re burning.

When your goal is to lose weight, you want to burn fat – and many people assume that
the harder you’re working, the more weight you’ll lose. But when you’re exercising at a
lower intensity, your overall calorie burn will be lower than during a high-intensity
workout, regardless of where those calories come from.

2. SO THE NUMBERS MATTER…

It’s helpful to have a constant indicator of how hard you’re actually working, since
some days a hard effort feels easy and other days a literal walk in the park feels like a
marathon. But despite the allure of the so-called fat-burning zone, you’ll probably want
to add at least a few high-intensity workouts to your weekly routine.

When you’re exercising at a low intensity, you may burn fat, but you stop burning
anything as soon as you’re finished working out. But when you up the ante – say with a
HIIT-style boot-camp class or interval run or ride – you create what’s known as the
afterburn effect.

The afterburn effect is the metabolic disturbance that burns calories even after your
workout is over.

The afterburn effect, also known as “EPOC” (that’s excess post-exercise oxygen
consumption) is the metabolic disturbance that burns calories even after your workout
is over. (So yes, you’re still burning calories when you’re back home on the couch on
your third straight episode of Stranger Things.)
And in this case, science has your back. A University of Southern Maine study looked at
the total calorie burn of low-intensity exercise vs. high-intensity exercise, and found
that the difference in calorie burn was substantial. The low-intensity group that cycled
at a steady rate burned 29 calories in 3.5 minutes, while a group running 15-second
sprints only burned four calories.

But when it came to the afterburn, the cycling group only burned an additional 39
calories, while the runners burned 65. The cycling group worked out almost five times
longer than the sprinters, and the sprinters burned 95 percent of their calories after
the workout was complete.

Getting into the higher zones is probably more effective for weight loss.

So while sticking to Zones 1 and 2 can be enjoyable and the best way to enjoy a long,
chatty run with friends, getting into the higher zones is probably more effective for
weight loss.

“I’ve always found that the best way to drop fat and lose weight is actually to train in
short, hard intervals that max out your heart rate,” says Baugh. “Lower-intensity
intervals can be useful, but they’re generally less effective for weight loss.”

3. …BUT THE NUMBERS OUTSIDE THE GYM

MATTER MORE.
The “calories in, calories out” adage may be outdated – after all, a calorie from broccoli
is pretty different when considering its overall nutritional value than a calorie from a
Pop Tart – but calories and your diet are still the single most important factor when
setting out to lose weight.

Calories and your diet are still the single most important factor when setting out to
lose weight.

“It’s all about calories consumed and calories burned,” says Baugh. “Fortunately, using
a heart rate monitor can help give you a more accurate gauge of just how many
calories you’ve burned.” To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you
consume – so while yes, it’s science, it also comes down to simple math.
Please note that the information provided in the Polar Blog articles cannot replace
individual advice from health professionals or physicians. Please consult your physician
before starting a new fitness program.

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