150 Intensity minutes a week? No wonder obesity is out of control in the US!

Nick -- Thanks very much. I use the 208 -0.7*age formula for the Max HR. The zones are calculated based of % of MaxHR.

Even that formula is suspect. That gives me 157 where mine is closer to 170 (exercise treadmill test). There some sub-max test around the web that can be used to estimate max HR.

And however Garmin calculates IM it appears that it is not strictly on which what zone it is in, as you set it.

Based on my experience with the VAHR it also includes Activities Class that you set and the RHR as Garmin measures it, not what you put in the settings.

Garmin states that they follow the CDC approach, which is the 220 approach; however I can only get 2x credit at a HR of 145+. That means my max HR is 207. I am pretty sure that at the age if 55, this is simply not correct. If I keep trying to reach 145 to get 2x credit for IM, I am probably going to keel over.

I think it is a very subjective parameter compared to other data such as the VO2Max that also calculates the watch and are more objective to indicate fitness.
Although the idea of the thread refers to 150 minutes of intensity do not correspond to indicate a weekly recommendation, I personally ignore this data I think that together with the stress indicator are not very useful data, they are not objective or primordial data such as beats, time, location, etc.

150 is more than enough to stay healthy. Weight loss is mainly diet and not what the 150 is for.

The UK National Health Service also recommends 150 minutes, plus some muscular strengthening exercise. This 150 minute figure is about maintaining basic physiological health, not training for sports. It's easy to find evidence that doing much less exercise than this is bad for your health, but it's also hard to find much evidence that doing more is beneficial. In fact, very intense, high-impact exercise is injurious to joints and soft tissue in the long term.

Many people, including me, feel that doing much more exercise than this is "good for them," but I suspect that we are all people who have incorporated fitness and athletic capability into our self-image. I feel uncomfortable and edgy if I miss even one day's exercise, even though I'm not a competitive athlete and never again will be. I often beat the 150 minute figure on a single day, but I really have no reason to think that doing this is actually good for my physiological health. It might be good for my mental health, but probably not for reasons that I want to think about too deeply.

I believe some people are confused what the intensity minutes mean and how to accumulate them. They assume the x2 vigorous points are more beneficial and strive to reach those. Well, the x2 goal can be beneficial, but for what exactly? Vigorous exercise is defined as 75%-85% of your max HR. You would train in this zone to increase aerobic endurance and not for weight loss. Doing so burns more glycogen than fat stores. As Lars stated, continuous training in this zone can lead to injury or over training and burnout. Training at 50% to 75% burns more fat and is more beneficial for weight loss. They key is to train in the correct zones for what your goal is and not to just accumulate intensity minutes.

Rather difficult to be obese on natural food that mankind ate long time ago and some eat like me today. Most people to day that excercise do it to burn calories from junk food/factory food, because it contains so much calories, sugar, fat, and chemicals. Lets say a man needs 2800 calories then one can eat about 4kg cod (700 calories for 1kg) a day, a regular banana weighs 100g and it contains about 100 calories that mean one can eat 28 bananas to get 2800 calories. Broccoli is about 350 calories for 1kg so one needs to eat 8kg a day 8x350= 2800 calories. One kebab pizza could contain 2400 calories. I do count everything a eat via myfitnespal and I do eat a lot but mostly natural foods and I love foods:) I do think excersise is good but the latest 70 years or so mankind have gone from natural foods to junk food and that make people obese. Animals dont excersise and they eat natural food and are offen not obese

Rather difficult to be obese on natural food that mankind ate long time ago and some eat like me today. Most people to day that excercise do it to burn calories from junk food/factory food, because it contains so much calories, sugar, fat, and chemicals.

With the greatest respect, that's a bit of a generalization. There are all sorts of reasons why people exercise, and all sorts of reasons why people are overweight, apart from an overindulgence in junk food. Also, at the risk of being called a pedant again, everything contains 100% chemicals.

When I look at the activities listed at the health.org link posted in this thread, I think those are not really intens exercise activities, but just activities to keep the joints and muscles moving and not be sedentary all day. Nevertheless very very important to do. I see the difference very much wilth elderly (70+) people around me, those that just move on a regular basis and those that don't, The ones that don't move, very quickly reduce their travel radius (without car) to a few hundred meters. It is good to set this as a minimum goal but I wonder whether this category will be using a garmin watch to track their activities.

I personnaly would never count them as "intensity" minutes. For me intensity means that your breath should be a serious level higher, you should feel warm from the exercise, some sweat, so al least a moderate cardio activity.(green zone). Vigorous for me would be orange zone. Does this match the garmin definition?