HR In fat burn zone for 7+ hours a day!

[CGuti]

Hey all!
So my HR is in the fat burn zone for over 7 hours a day.... Pretty sure it's broken. Anyone else have this issue!?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @CGuti

Is the heart rate setting turned to 'on'? Did you wear the tracker at these hours?

When the heart rate setting is turned to 'on', its always on, when taking of the tracker, the heart rate tries to keep monitoring your heart rate, even when taking of, it's reading the sky.. leading to false high heart rates..

If this is the case, consider changing the heart rate setting to automatic, this way the tracker does stop monitoring heart rate when it's taken off, and measure again when sensing any movement. It also increases battery life on the tracker.

[SebringDon]

@CGuti

It depends on how out of shape you are. When I first started my Fitbit journey, I could get up and walk across the room and my heartrate would be in the fat burn zone. Now I have to work at it to get fat burn minutes.

ETA: It may not even be as hard as I thought. I just looked back at my history and as recently as a month ago I had some 7-hour fatburn days, and that was almost three months into my journey. I managed over 6 hours three weeks ago.

[CGuti]

@SebringDon Thank you for the heads up! I am out of shape and that makes total sense. However, these readings are at various times like when I am asleep, or in class. I was driving and my HR was over 100! It did not do this at first but lately it has been. Just a little odd.. I wish I could do nothing and be in a fat burn zone! I'd be a skinny Minnie haha

[SebringDon]

@CGuti

You might want to manually check your heart rate occasionally to see if you agree with your Charge HR. Either count your beats for 15 seconds and multiply by 4, or if you have access to a blood pressure cuff, check your HR to see if it agrees with the pulse the cuff reports. I used to check mine by hand occasionally, but I've learned my HR does a pretty good job. It was dead on at both the dentist and the doctor's office when they checked my BP.

Also make sure you're wearing your HR at the right place, and in the "Goldilocks Zone," not too loose and not too tight, but just right. I've found it makes little difference for me, but some people report that's a critical issue for them.

[Remkat]

I use my fitbit to monitor my heart rate because I have POTS.  It is this weird, unexplained rapid rise in heart rate from just standing up.  My fitbit usually logs about 3-5 hours of fat burning, although I am sedentary except for the doctor prescribed POTS exercise protocol that is about 30 minutes a day of alternating recumbent aerobic with recumbent (seated) strength training.  If you are otherwise healthy, your issue is not POTS and could deconditioning may be the cause of your tachycardia.  BUT if you have a normal heart rate when you are lying in bed before you stand in the morning, and then after 10 minutes of simply standing in one place (boring) your heart rate increases by >28 Beats a minute, then read about POTS and talk to your doctor.  It took me 18 different doctors of various specialties before the POTS diagnosis was determined in my case, the test of choice is a tilt table test often performed by cardiology.

[Tharrell]

I have dysautonomia. My AltaHr logs me, on average, 15 hours a day in the fat burning stage! I’m not that active. I just finished wearning a heart event monitor. I only got a short message from the cardiologists nurse saying I have sinus rhythm and sinus tachycardia. That means nothing is wrong, but I have a fast heart beat. While I’m glad to hear my heart was otherwise healthy, I already knew I was tachy, that’s why I went to the cardiologist LOL. I was hoping to find other users with 15 plus hours of fat burn daily! I do have a serious problem mainting weight, I drop weight if I’m not careful.

[karlijaay]

Apparently I spend around 10-15 hours a day in the fat burn zone too! 

I have had ECGs and stuff done and everything normal, I guess just a heart rate that is a little higher? 🤷🏼‍:female_sign:

[Remkat]

there are symptomatic things that patients can do for dysautonomia, aren't there?  I think the specialized dysautonomia clinics (usually a Neurology run clinic) on the west coast are Stanford and Mayo @ Phoenix AZ.  Have you been there? I haven't been a patient there, but I took my friend who has dysautonomia to Stanford for her initial visit.  Stanford performed 4 or 5 tests in the morning to determine which type of dysautonomia she has, and then they saw us back in the afternoon for exam and to advise which medicine and symptomatic care best fit her type.  I don't think there is a cure unless the dysautonomia is secondary to some other condition; but you can probably make yourself more comfortable with some specific advice for your body based on the tests.  

[Rabea999]

mine is normally over 8 hours as well, don’t know what is going on.  

[musicdoll1]

I never paid much attention until recently that I was in the fat burn zone for so many hours of the day. Generally while I am at work and as long as I am awake after for the most part. I have a hard time keeping weight on. My last doctor was obsessed about my weight and gave me a little bit of a complex. I've never given my weight much thought. Really just want to be healthy and pro-active. Tested me for everything under the sun. Now I am wondering if it is just because my heart wants to go go go.. Not that he would have listened to me about it. Thinking I might go ask my doc or a nurse. I also have random peaks in the 180's here and there. Seems to be right before I lay down lately. A few months back I had another echo and holter monitor. Everything was generally good. Nothing the docs were concerned about any way.

[Remkat]

did your doctor check you for “POTS”, AKA postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome? POTS does not show up on ECHO, whereas the high heart rate would show up as sinus tachycardia on the Holter monitor. Official test for POTS is a tilt table test usually done at a hospital or cardiologist office...and “poor mans" test for POTS: lay down for 10 minutes- take your heart rate; then stand up for 10 minutes (without moving around) and retake your heart rate. If HR goes up by 20-25 beats a minute after the 10 minutes of stationary standing, then you need to ask your doctor about POTS. If your heart just wants to go go go, then deep breathing is a powerful tool to increase parasympathetic calming of the heart. This type of parasympathetic breathing is used in biofeedback, meditation, Qi Gong—lots of sources out there for you to look at to learn this breathing. peace out

[musicdoll1]

Thank you for those suggestions. I will definitely look into those. Sometimes I feel like getting a doctor to look into anything is pointless. The doctor I have now is better than I have had for years, but it is still hard to push for certain things. It usually takes a month or two to even get in to see him. I may try talking to a nurse at the office though. I am hoping that having an average HR especially while at work of roughly 114 might peak their interest. Being that high for 6-11 hours day should tell them something.

[Return2Living]

@musicdoll1 - I have CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) which also means I have Orthostatic Intolerance.  I regularly see my HR in the exercise zone for 6 to 11 hours a day. But I'm not that active, barely just above the sedentary level even though I push myself to get moving and working on a "project of the day" just about every single day. I count things like doing the dishes, cleaning furniture, scooping cat litter, vacuuming - any daily household chore that I'm on my feet for as "exercise". 

I keep a separate hand written log of my daily activities and log how many active minutes I had each day to compare to the Fat Burn stats FitBit says I get. I KNOW I'm only truly active for about 4 hours a day even though I'm in the fat burn zone for 6 to 11 hours. I'm sure that would tire anyone out to be in the fat burning zone for half the day!  

[musicdoll1]

Very similar to me. Chronic fatigue and chronic pain. How I ever ended up in a factory job is beyond me. I just sort of suck it up and make it work. I do try and keep an eye on my HR though since I have arrhythmia, but the docs aren't concerned about it so I just try and not worry.

[DeeR1]

I am 60, female and my cardio health is 47-51 and RH rate averages 62-63, I am slender about 49 kg average and STILL my fatburn zone is hours and hours every day, even when relaxed on the lounge. Could this be stress related or a problem with my Charge 3?

Me too, and being stressed about things doesn't help and at least in my case causes me to stop eating

Forgot to say my numbers are generally 76-90 in fat burn, when cooking or housework happens into 100-116 and of course up higher when exercising but never over about 150 at peak. Quick recovery too, but I am trying to gain weight and always burning fat makes it almost impossible.

Moderator Edit: Merged replies

[Meknessy]

I have the same problem. The daily log shows 30 mins but the graph shows 240 mins. It happens a few days a year. Pretty sure it is an app problem not my actual heart rate.