Heart Rate Formula is driving me nuts
 

My max heart rate is 163, I'm 57.
non smoker
40lbs overweight
resting heart rate is 65 bpm.

Traditional calculations say 114 bpm is my 70% target heart rate.

"Karvonen" formula, the new gold standard, says 140 bpm for 70% which takes resting heart rate into consideration.

It does not take much of a pace walking to get to 126 bpm according to my Heart monitor and it's still easy to talk at 135 or more. I want to stay in the "fat burning" range to build a good fitness foundation before I push it to better aerobic condition.

Questions...
1. I want to burn fat, not glucose. Is 140 bpm too high a percentage to be walking at?
2. If I stick with a 114 bpm, I'll barely be moving. Should I slooooow down to this bpm pace?
3. Have you heard of the Karvonen formula and do you buy it?

Thanks,
Bill

I am not sure how useful those heart rate vs intensity measure. I always found those calculators to have very low heart rates.

When much younger, I could exceed 200 bpm for about 40-50 minutes ( HIIT training ), and had no side effects other than being tired. Even normal workouts exceeded what they considered OK. And my resting pulse was much lower ( about 60 ).

My gauge is the a measure of the ability to talk while exercising. A good vigorous intensity is to not to be able to speak more than a few word without getting out of breath. I would consider that my 75% level.

If you can carry on a conversion, you are not really working out. If you are not sweating, you are not exercising.