Resting heart rate and heart rate zones

[JonGoesOn]

Hey guys!

New to Fitbit and have a question about my resting heart rate, and the heart rate zones.

Essentially, due to health issues, I'm ridiculously unfit. My Fitbit Charge 2 estimates my resting heart rate at around 92 bpm (which seems to be in line with my Polar H7's reading).

Using this as a benchmark, I've calculated my heart rate zones from 50% to max (141 - 190 bpm):


My question is: does the Fitbit app adjust these zones automatically based on my resting heart rate, or is it solely based on age?

If the latter, do I need to add my own custom heart rate zone in order to stop Fitbit thinking that I'm exercising when I'm resting, or to stop it putting me in the "fat burning" zone when I reach 95 bpm and I'm literally just sitting here doing nothing?

What's the best practice here?

[JonGoesOn]

Is it actually just not possible to adjust the defaults...?

It seems that everything is based on my age, rather than my fitness level, which seems absurd!

If my max heart rate, as a 30 year old, is set at 190, and it assumes that 50% (95 bpm) is light/fat-burning activity (when it's really JUST above my resting heart rate), then how can I trust any of the stats/reports? 😕

[JonGoesOn]

47 minutes in the "fat burn" zone is totally inaccurate... That's literally just above my resting heart rate, and I'm not burning fat just by walking around the house and going up the stairs once. That's not training zone exercise, that's everyday activity...

The default zones are just plain wrong, and based on the ideal max heart rate of a healthy 30 year old. I can't believe the calculation isn't advanced enough to include your resting heart rate/fitness level, especially as it's already recording that data! I'm just gobsmacked...

Am I wrong here? Is it more advanced than I'm giving it credit for? Or am I doing something wrong?

If it's really not advanced enough to take this into account then I may need to consider not using the Fitbit app. Are there any alternatives that you'd suggest?

[Lion1988]

Fitbit has completely failed their system assuming every one is fit and the same, the American system used is about 20 years outdated. I am a store person who trains weight and needs to work on my cardio, my heart rate now is 110 and I'm in cardio mode, I don't mind the system is so behind but when its apart of the calorie and food intake app it kind of ruins it for the food side of it.  I don't know how fitbit hasent fixed this yet to have it an option at least,  I'd expect this from a cheap knock off not fitbit. Even a guide on how to set the proper Max hr scale would be nice. I just hate been told I can eat 5000 callories a day because it thinks I'm jogging all day 

[JohnnyRow]

@JonGoesOn    This article explains Fitbit heart rate zones.  Yes, they are based entirely on age, but if you follow the link in the article, you can see they follow the American Heart Association guidelines.  I realize there are other guidelines out there taking into account resting heart rate but I personally can't find too much fault with Fitbit for following American Heart Association guidelines.

But Fitbit also allows you set your own Max Heart Rate, and a custom Heart Rate Zone to fit the needs of people who want another approach.  That same link explains how to set your own custom zone.  If you have not tried that, I suggest you give it a go before giving up on Fitbit completely.

I would also suggest one doesn't have to be too attached to zones and their names.  To me "fat-burning zone" is just a name given to a certain range of heart rates, no matter how much fat gets burned.

And no matter which zone something is assigned to, I know that a higher heart rate indicates more strenuous exercise.

[Lion1988]

I have tried to play with the scale, Max hr only goes up to 220 to make it worse. I still seem to be running a marathon tho I'm sitting down, burning 6000 calories a day and having the food side of the app telling me I can eat three pizzas after dinner today is a bit disappointing.

[Nexlevel]

Perhaps you should be evaluated by a cardiologist. 

[Norman12]

I have the same problem and I was evaluated by a specialist, two MRI’s and oodles of holter monitor tests.  My resting heart rate is 80 and Fitbit thinks that I am burning fat all day. I’d appreciate a fix for this as well...