Am I exercising correctly

[bethanysmum2002]

Hi everyone

I just wanted to get some advise regarding my exercise. I started this year at 227 pounds (103kg) and started exercising by walking 1.86 miles (3kms) in the evenings in approx. 35 minutes. The weight came off steadily and my fitness improved and I have been able to do a little more than that distance now in 30 minutes. I got down to 212 pounds (96.5kgs) without an issue.

But in the last 3 weeks everything has come to a halt including my weight loss.

I have been reviewing my exercise logs and compared my heart rates and am wondering if this could be impacting my weight loss.

In the beginning my stats looked like this:

 

But now they look like this:

I am not doing anything any difference, just walking faster and with more intensity and sometimes I even jog.

Could this be the reason my weightloss has stalled?

Thanks

[WavyDavey]

Hi @bethanysmum2002,

Nice work so far, you're on the right track.

It's hard to tell, but the last screenshot you posted seems notable. It has a massive amount in the peak heart rate zone. Peak zone training is very difficult, leaving one very out of breath. It would be difficult I think to get that much peak zone from walking, but you'd have to be the judge of your own intensity.

Take a look at the section called Accuracy in this article, as the tips there can have a big effect on heart rate monitoring.

What should I know about my heart rate data?

Regardless, you may want to take a look at the calorie intake part of the equation, as it's easier to affect weight loss on that end than continually trying to up exercise intensity/duration.

Most importantly, I think you are exercising quite correctly.

[bethanysmum2002]

@WavyDavey thanks for the feedback, I’ll read that link you sent me as soon as I get home from work 

I really do think there is an inaccuracy somewhere as my exercising now has me puffed slightly while doing it but I can still talk or sing to myself and I come home a lot less out of breath than when I first started 2 months ago, the most I can jog for in one go is 2 minutes and I even tried walking slower to see if that reduces the peak but it doesn’t.

Will read that section and let you know how I go

[WavyDavey]

Hi @bethanysmum2002,

Keep me in the loop. It takes some playing around with the band placement and tightness, but once you find the sweet spot of it and the tracking will be fine. I was wearing the band a little too loose during intense exercise, and it gave readings similar to your recent one.

Peak zone exercise is very intense.  It's hard to get out a single word, much less talk. 

If you do want to increase your weight loss, I can highly recommend HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). This training uses peak zone in an intelligent way that can have a big effect on increasing metabolism.  There are some great HIIT routines that involves walking/jogging that you may want to search on youtube. From experience, this is very effective work.

[bethanysmum2002]

Hi @WavyDavey

OK, so a couple of weeks ago I thought that maybe my fitbit was too loose but whenever I tightened it or wore it further up my arm, I would either have the heart rate stop while I was exercising or it would not record my full exercise times (ie only 22 minutes of a 35 minute workout)

But with these extreme peak readings I did what you suggested and I tightened the band one more notch.

I wore it up here while I walked

It did leave a slight indentation so I don't know if this was too tight but it is only one notch tighter than I usually wear it.

Anyhow, did my walk and I went back to full on power walking like I was doing 3 weeks ago, breathless and dripping in sweat and back to doing my 3kg circuit in 29 minutes but continued on for 33 minutes.

Got back home and checked my stats, not once in the peak zone so looking a bit more realistic.

HOWEVER, again, it did not record my whole workout, only 21 mintues and 18 mintues of that in cardio.

But when I checked my hear rate for the day it recorded everything - showing 20 minutes in cardio.

So not really sure what the issue is but I suppose as long as it is recording that I have done a day of exercise and my total stats are recording the correct heart rate for the day, it should be recording the correct calories burnt.

Thank you @WavyDavey for you help with this. I think I would rather my fitbit underestimate my calories burnt for the day than overestimate, which is OBVIOUSLY what it has been doing in a big way and which is why my weightloss has slowed.

Thanks again

[emili]

one other thing to consider @bethanysmum2002 besides noting how awesome you are... as you get smaller you have to reduce your calorie intake for the day.. lower weight, lower BMR, which effects TDEE- etc etc. I would make sure that if you are manually calculating how much to eat per day, you redo your stats with the smaller you.. if you are using fitbit to tell you, make sure your weight is accurate..

Good luck in your fitness journey- you are doing great!