How to use a heart rate monitor and lose belly fat?

You won’t get a good answer for this until you’ve worked with the monitor for several months. Amy’s post is a little confused. I recommend you get Sally Edwards’ Heart Rate Monitor Book also to give you some guidance in setting up your workouts.

Heartrate is very much an individual matter. Everyone is a bit different, and you will need to do quite a bit of work with the HRM before the data is much use to you.

220 minus your age is a generic estimate for maximum heartrate. Yours WILL be different. The best way to determine your max is via a medically supervised stress test. Maximum is what it is, is not trainable, and bears no relation to your fitness level. It gradually decreases with age.

The next most important number is your lactate threshold. That is the point at which your cardiovascular system can no longer supply sufficient oxygen to your muscles, and you start to go anaerobic, building up lactic acid. This is trainable. For the average Joe, its around 80% of max, but elite athletes can train it as high as 95%.

You are probably thinking about the so-called fat burning zone. That is the level of intensity where you are burning the highest percentage of fat relative to total calories burned. The commonly accepted range for this is 60-70% of max.

Bear in mind that going at a higher rate, if you can, burns far more total calories in the same time period, AND more fat, even though the percentage of fat versus total calories is a little lower.

Do you need a monitor? No
Is it a useful training tool? Yes, if you put time and effort into learning what the data really means, and how it relates to YOUR performance.

I find it of particular use in determining the ‘workout value’ of non-traditional activities, or comparing things like swimming and cycling to running. Snowshovelling, for example, is nowhere near as aerobically challenging as I thought. I now count it as light lifting, but not as a cardio workout.

See article below.