optimum heart rate for fat burning

[mandimoo]

i understand this to be 60-70% of your max HR for sex/age/weight. i have been exercising hard for approx 2-3 months before xmas and not really seeing any fat burning results. for xmas i got a heart rate monitor that alerts me when im 'in the zone', so i excercised at 60-70% last night and it was SOOOO easy, i cannot beleive i can burn fat in this way. can anyone reassure me that exercise really can be this easy? please? cos i hated working so much harder that i kinda lost my motivation.

[teag1rl]

Hi mandimoo. Are you only trying to burn fat though exercise? A diet (I'm a convert to fat burning diet as opposed to low claroie) combined with exercise will make a difference. Don't only do cardio exercise. In my experience you need to do some resistence and weights to burn fat too. Also, dont mix the two, do cardio one day and weights the next.

[mandimoo]

i eat 2 weetabix with dried fruit for brekky. salad, usually without carbs for lunch and 3-4 peices of fruit in the day. and in the evening i eat pretty much what i want within reason, trying not to snack on unhealthy stuff although that went outa then window over xmas! does that sound ok?

[Oneeyedvic]

I have used a HR monitor for the last year.

I achieved a 3 stone weight loss (from 18.5stone to 15.5 stone) in around 3 months by exercising on CV machines for around 1 hour 4 times a week at a heart rate of 80%.

I did also generally eat very healthily - I actually follow weight watcher points and make sure I don't eat more than 40 points a day. This proved difficult in December since I was out a lot - and then the gym closed for two weeks and it was Christmas where I did binge.

Am back at the gym again and back on the healthy diet.

I found that if I eat what i want and exercise, I maintain my weight, If i take care of what I eat, I lose weight.