Has anyone had a hard time getting their heart rate up when exercising. Before surgery I always checked it when I worked out. Always maxing out around 160 when I walked on the treadmill at 4.0. Now I run intervals at 6.0 then walk at 4.5 and can't get it past 137 this is for an hour. I even did sprints at 7.0 and nothing. My question is since I've been stalled out so much and don't get in that many calories have I slowed my metabolism down. I finally made an appt. to see my surgeon and NUT. I didn't go it to my 1 year follow up because I felt like a failure. I just wanted to hear from you guys.

I would consult a trainer and your PCP. Could it be that you've gotten so conditioned that 137 is a good rate for you? I don't know. I know when I was working out heavily, my pulse was never what I expected it to be, and then I found out I had AFib, so no machine would count my pulse, and I always thought I was counting it wrong. It's good to get some expert advice. Good for you for running, btw!

I can relate. It is hard for me to use the heart enabled programs on the cardio machines because my heart rate never gets read by the sensors. If I am busting it out on the elliptical, I was only able to get it up to 125 max even though I was on level 16 out of 25 going at 7.1 mph. That is when I said, "forget this." I am going to hurt my muscle before getting my heart rate into cardio zone on those machines. My heart rate is normally between 37-44 and blood pressure was measured last week at 95 / 60. Running or Tabata and cross fit type workouts get my pulse up. I tried using the machines this week, but haven't been on one at a gym in over 2 years. Usually I am running (> 6 mph) or doing some cross fit WOD (workout of the day). Look up cross fit workouts. You can do these anywhere and do not need to belong to a box. One of my favorite games to do anywhere is to assign an exercise like burpee, jumping jack, push-up, sit-up, etc to a face card type and then do as many reps as the card says to do until you get through 52 cards. No breaks. It takes about 20 minutes and will have your pulse up.