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Heart Rate to Burn Calories

Calculate your target heart rate to burn calories effectively!

Overweight people who wish to practice exercise need to know that it is important to find the optimum heart rate to burn calories and lose weight efficaciously. To get rid of excessive fat, you should achieve the target heart rate to burn calories. However, if you work over Maximum Target Heart Rate to burn calories, you go into an anaerobic threshold. It means that you force the body too hard, and no health benefits are gained. If you push the body into the anaerobic threshold, your body cannot meet its oxygen demands. Soon you feel exhausted, the heart rate increases above the Maximum (which is 100%), you stop to burn calories, and you start to hyperventilate because of the excessive amounts of lactic acid in the body. You must remain within your Minimum and Maximum Target Heart Rates to burn calories and in this way you may lose weight most effectively.

How to calculate your target heart rate to burn calories?

Heart rateIf you use Target Heart Rates, make sure that you know how you feel at 65% - 85% of your Maximum Heart Rate. Target Heart Rate comprises from 65% to 85% of Maximum Heart Rate and in these conditions you can burn from 50% to 70% of calories.

There are two different ways to calculate your Target Heart rate to burn calories. Use special formulas to calculate the target heart rates. You can get results recurring to our Target Heart Rate Calculator.

Simple method to calculate your target heart rate to burn calories:

  1. Calculate your Maximum Heart Rate: Maximum Heart Rate = 220 - your age
  2. Calculate your Minimum Target Heart Rate: Minimum Target Heart Rate = Maximum Heart Rate x 0.65 (65% of your Maximum Heart Rate)
  3. Calculate your Maximum Target Heart Rate: Maximum Target Heart Rate = Maximum Heart Rate x 0.85 (85% of your Maximum Heart Rate)

Example for Age = 35 years:

Minimum Target Heart Rate = 220 - 35 years x 0.65 = 120 bmp (beats per minute)

Maximum Target Heart Rate = 220 - 35 years x 0.85 = 157 bpm

Target Heart Rate is 120 bpm - 157 bpm

Method to calculate your target heart rates using Karvonen Formula:

  1. Calculate your Maximum Heart Rate: Maximum Heart Rate (* by USA Researchers) = 206.9 - (0.67 x age)
  2. Get your Resting Heart Rate: Take your pulse for one minute when you wake up in the morning or after you have been resting for some time
  3. Calculate your Minimum Target Heart Rate: Minimum Target Heart Rate = (Maximum Heart Rate - Resting Heart Rate) x 0.50 + Resting Heart Rate
  4. Calculate your Maximum Target Heart Rate: Maximum Target Heart Rate = (Maximum Heart Rate - Resting Heart Rate) x 0.85 + Resting Heart Rate

Example for Age = 35 years and Resting Heart Rate = 60 bpm (beats per minute):

Minimum Target Heart Rate = (206.9 - (0.67 x age) - 60) x 0.50 + 60 = 122 bpm

Maximum Target Heart Rate = (206.9 - (0.67 x age) - 60) x 0.85 + 60 = 165 bpm

Target Heart Rate is 140 bpm - 165 bpm