HR sometimes spike 150 while simple walking

[Jake0001_0002]

Hi, i just wanna ask usually what is your HR during the day

For me my resting heart rate is in the 85-90. Im a bit sedentary and overweight. But usually when i sit and work , my hr can go from 95-105. If after i eat, it can go up to 110.

When im walking around in the house, as i try to walk as slow as i can it still 100-110

If i walk outside it can go 110-130. 

Occasionally, it can even go up to 140-150 area which makes me feel very worry

I went to cardiologist for checking. We did heart ultrasound, neck ultrasound, 24h holter blood pressure ,many ecgs but all return fine

Im just 23 yo, blood test verylow  risk of diabetes and high cholesterol thing

So i wanna ask your guys opinion on my heart rate. Im so worry that im hesistant to to outside. Is there any thing to do to improve and get over it.

[Heybales]

Some people just have a higher HR - though that is a tad over what I've seen in studies normally - but if Dr found nothing wrong you just have a Honda heart you might say.

May still be unfit too, that can improve if you keep the walking up.

I will comment because of this - if you are using Fitbit for weight loss, it may be easily going into workout mode when you walk for short daily activity, even though that is not really a workout type activity.

What that means is Fitbit goes into HR-based calorie burn, and for walking that means an inflated calorie burn in the calculations.

Perhaps many times daily, for sure during purposeful walks.

Daily activity (and walking), is best estimated for calorie burn by the distance traveled - because pace and mass are very accurate for calorie burn.

So, your Fitbit is reporting a daily calorie burn that is most likely inflated by I could imagine a decent amount.

Correctly then your eating goal for weight loss is a deficit from that figure.

But it's an inflated figure.

So in reality you aren't really getting the deficit you may think you are on paper.

It may claim you are burning say 2500, and with 500 deficit eating goal is 2000.

But in reality you are burning 2250, so only a 250 cal deficit.

So food logging better be spot on accurate, or you could easily wipe out that deficit, and be truly eating at maintenance.

Not great Solution, disable HR reading during the day - turn on for specific times, perhaps sleeping. Because restingHR is a meaningful figure and does have some changes related to fitness improving.

And then start your workouts as normal and walking will be distance-based calorie burn.

Or, leave the HR on and delete any workouts auto-created for normal daily short walks.

Any purposeful exercise walks use the Activity Record created when started to manually create a Workout Record afterwards - with same start & duration times, same distance, and let Fitbit calculate the calorie burn.

That Workout Record will replace the Activity Record for calories and distance - so you can leave both records and no doubling up.

That way you can reference back to walks and look for improvements to the HR as fitness improves.

But getting better calorie burn estimates.

[MGcreates]

@Jake0001_0002 There are several possible answers to why your fitbit shows your heart rate jump to 140-150. 

1) If you're walking at a good speed and having a conversation, sometimes you can "run out of oxygen," causing your heart rate to jump until you catch your breath. I spend a lot of time on the phone for work and usually power walk while I'm talking. I'll see this happen from time to time if I'm excited, walking faster than normal, and talking faster than normal. It's your body's way of getting necessary oxygen to your muscles quickly.

2) You mentioned that you're a bit sedentary... When you first start working on your fitness and doing more than you're used to, your heart rate is going to make that jump a lot quicker and easier than you'd expect. Basically, your heart rate is jumping like that in anticipation of some serious movement. The great thing is the more you exercise like this, the fitter you'll get, and the harder it's going to be for you to get your heart rate up like that. 

3) Your heart rate may jump like that if you're power walking up an incline (even a slight hill), or if it's really hot and humid. The summer heat and humidity causes your heart to work harder during exercise. This is normal. If you're outside in the heat and sun, your heart rate will probably be higher even if you're just standing there. When you're walking, just be sure you're drinking plenty of water and not pushing yourself into heat exhaustion. The heat can drain your energy faster than usual. 

4) It may not be your heart at all. HR trackers have two fatal flaws... light and sudden movement. If your band is even a little loose, light may get between your skin and the sensor. When you're walking and moving your arm, the movement of the watch on your arm can cause flashes of light on the sensor, which ends up being read as an extra heart beat. You may see this during any type of high intensity movement (I've seen it on an elliptical). I've even had readings that counted the thud of my steps as extra heart beats. I even read not too long ago that skin pigment and thickness of arm hair can even affect the accuracy of the HR monitor.

I've been wearing a fitness tracker for 7 or 8 years now, and I've learned that these things are good to get a general idea of your health but pretty horrible when it comes down to details. The only way to really get a consistently accurate heart rate during any kind of exercise is to get a chest strap.

Try not to focus too much on this... your visit to the cardiologist came out great. The best thing you can do is pay attention to how you feel when you see this happening. If you feel the same as you do when your heart rate is 110-130, chances are it's a fitbit error. Even if you're breathing heavier and "feeling the burn," as long as you feel ok then don't worry about it. At your age, a heart rate of 140-150 during exercise (with the cardiologist's ok) is nothing to be concerned about. I'm twice your age and hit that on a regular basis during exercise. If you need a little extra reassurance, learn to check your heart rate the old fashioned way: two fingers on the jugular, count the beats for 15 seconds, multiply by 4. When you do this, you'll be surprised at how often your fitbit is wrong... seriously, it can be way off. 

As for your heart rate going up during normal activities, this is perfectly normal. Your heart rate will increase after eating because your body is pumping more blood to the digestive system to handle the meal. Sitting and working, chances are your stress level - and possibly movement - goes up a bit. Walking around the house, your heart rate increases because it's anticipating some physical activity. This is all normal. Don't worry about walking through the house as slow as you can. Make it a point to get the most out of those steps. Your heart rate goes up because your heart's expecting you to move at a normal pace... don't disappoint it. 😉 

[Jake0001_0002]

Thanks for your reply. Yes im also trying to cut down some weight with the hope to lower my blood pressure and hbr.

But im a bit stuck as at the same time cutting down weight requires me to do intense exercise  which make my hbr rate go up ( a simple run can also raise my hbr to 160-190) and i feel anxious abt that 

[Jake0001_0002]

Thanks for your reply. I just finish a stress test from the cardiologist. Yes the heart rate is high just for some simple walk. But the doctor tells me the test is fine, nothing is wrong with my heart and it will get better with exercising

So im in the middle where i want to exercise but also afraid it can go too high and out of control.

Because i realize my heart recovery rate is also very slow. Like it can stuck at 130-150 range for 15min just by standing after high intensive running

[Heybales]

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@Jake0001_0002 wrote:

Thanks for your reply. Yes im also trying to cut down some weight with the hope to lower my blood pressure and hbr.

But im a bit stuck as at the same time cutting down weight requires me to do intense exercise  which make my hbr rate go up ( a simple run can also raise my hbr to 160-190) and i feel anxious abt that 

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Cutting down weight does NOT actually require intense exercise (or any) - not in general.

Side effect of exercise is actually increased water weight for several reasons. Intense even more so.

Perhaps you personally have an amount you really need to eat daily or you otherwise feel very unable to make it, and you are so short on available time intense exercise is the only way to increase your daily burn, so that when you take a deficit to eat less you feel like you are eating enough.

From experience I'd suggest don't associate exercise with weight loss, or as many do, you'll reach goal weight and stop the exercise since it was merely a means to an end.

But in reality you only need to eat less than you burn - many have lost weight without exercise.

Many true phrases to that:

weight loss starts in the kitchen

you can't outrun a bad diet

fork put-downs and table push-backs should be first exercises

How much time do you have for exercise?

How many calories does Fitbit estimate you burn daily on days with no exercise?

How much do you have to lose until healthy weight?

I'd suggest too if HRR is that slow - build up your base fitness before you attempt the intense stuff - that's just asking for stuff to break. Being younger helps you, but still not a great method.