Need Help With HR Monitor

I finally got a heart rate monitor. I'm trying to understand where I need to be to optimize weiht loss. Here's what I think I know: It looks like I need to be in the 60-70% range for burning stores of fat. The 70-80% range will burn carbs for fuel before burning stored fat. 80-90% is for cardio strengthing only. Can you let me know if what I think I know is correct? Is there a certain length of time that I need to be in a certain range? I wish there was people at my gym that could help but those Yoohoo drinking folks don't use HR monitors!

I wish I could help you out Wanda, but I have no clue... I am lucky if I even do any walking at all... I have been really bad about exercising... Let me know what you find out though, so that when I finally do get around to doing my exercising, I know.... Good Luck and keep up the good work... Shawn M. 309/189/150

Target Zone Exercise The most effective way to reach your fitness goal is to exercise in your target heart rate zone. There is a target zone that's right for each day's workout. For example, if you want to improve aerobic fitness you need to be working at 70-80% of your maxHR, for 40-60 minutes per day, 3 to 4 times per week. Without this information, you would get on a treadmill and not know how hard or how long you should be exercising. In most cases you may be going too easy or too hard. There are 3 key target zones that help you achieve specific goals. 60-70% Lose Weight or Recover 70-80% Improve Aerobic Fitness 80+ % Increase Athletic Performance (Thisis from the Polar Heart rate monitor site)

After 5 minutes on the Eliptical I was over 80%! So then I moved to the treadmill. I had to play around with the speed the incline to keep me in the 60-70% range. I actually worked less hard than I typically would have. I think I'm going to like this little gadget!

Wanda, I love my heart rate monitor from Polar. I do interval workouts ( workout for several minutes at 80-90% then go down to 60-70% for so many minutes****ep doing that during my whole workout time of 45-60 minutes. It is helping me tremendously, especially this past week with a 4 pound lost. It's been a while. My trainer helped me figure out my best work out interval. Donna

you should see a noticable difference in the scale - working in your zone! keep us posted I LOVE MY heart rate monitor .... now i cannot be with out it!