Fat Burning Heart Rate Calculation
Many people and many different heart rate zones have been proclaimed as fat-burning heart rate zones; I would like to present two that you might want to experiment with. The second one is good for fat loss and everything according to its creator. Try it; the test of the pudding is eating it.
Both of these are based on your age, so they may be less accurate, but it’s worth trying them to see how they work for you.
The traditional calculation
The fat-burning zone is most simply defined as around 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. The maximum heart rate is usually determined by age, namely 220 - age. For starters, this should not be an overthought, but for those who regularly exercise at high intensity, the heart rate monitor may set a higher value. But let’s not worry about that now; let’s start from the base case where you don’t know your maximum heart rate yet, and you choose the age-based zone as a starting value.
And let’s define the value around 70% as 65-75% for simplicity.
Fat Burning Zone CalculatorDr. Phil Maffetone’s MAF 180 calculator
The MAF 180 formula is also based on your age but takes into account your health and fitness level. This method is not optimal for those under 16 and may not be suitable for active athletes over 65. If you are concerned, please read up on this.
This formula was developed for weight loss but has been adopted by active athletes because it has an excellent effect on endurance and long-term results. This heart rate range is recommended to be used for months/years and to measure progress continuously with MAF tests. You can read more about this on the page linked above.
MAF is short for “Maximum Aerobic Function”, and what a coincidence that Dr Phil Maffetone’s name starts with it. By aerobic function, we mean that our body uses large amounts of oxygen for exercise that requires low to moderate effort.
MAF 180 CalculatorOnce you have chosen a heart rate range that suits you, there is nothing to do but start using it. In the purple boxes, you will find the minimum and maximum values. Press the yellow button if the calculator doesn’t calculate it by itself. These ranges are very easy: you can still breathe easily, you don’t pant, and you can talk.
It’s important not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes, I only manage to stay in the range 50% of the time. If I get above 80%, I consider that very good; if I get above 90%, that’s excellent. I enjoy this kind of movement because it relaxes me. I hope it works for you.
Tip: you can make phone calls during your workouts or even participate in online meetings from your phone if it doesn’t require typing. I tried both, and both worked. To be fair, ask your conversation partner if the noise from the treadmill/indoor bike bothers them, but usually, the noise cancelling feature on phones works quite well and filters out background noise.
If you want to be less productive, then listen to music and podcasts, watch TV, Netflix - unplug.
You can check out what I’m up to here: this is my Garmin public profile.
The series includes:
- Fat Burning Heart Rate Calculation
- Calorie Calculation