cardio or less calories?

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Replies

  • sc10985
    sc10985 Posts: 347 Member
    Thanks for all the responses! I do feel a lot better when I get my butt on the treadmill for 20-30mins. I've just seen it posted numerous times that strength training> cardio so I just wanted to make sure my efforts weren't all in vain. I will keep doing both!

    20-30 mins is fine. Most of the time people are talking about body composition goals and time management when discussing benefits of resistance vs steady state cardio.

    There are people spending MANY hours per week grinding away and steady state cardio when it really is not optimal unless training for a specific event.


    Ahh I see, that makes sense. Thank you!
  • nyrina4life
    nyrina4life Posts: 196 Member
    Cardio is not useless. People who say that are ignorant. It's good for weight loss because it burns calories and it's good for improving health. It improves cardiovascular health (hense the nickname) and it improves fitness.

    Exactly! Cardio is great, it's all I am doing to get back on track, and I have lost both weight and inches. To ignore cardio is just silly. :wink: Do both cardio and strength for a double whammy. Strengthen your body, and increase the oxygen flow through your blood. Its a win, win!
  • hdtracy
    hdtracy Posts: 49 Member
    I've heard that as well about cardio being the same as just not eating the calories in the first place. And I can see where people are coming from with that. But the reason I still do cardio has a lot to do with the mental piece of it.

    If I just did a 20 minutes walk/jog on the treadmill, I'm much less likely to over-eat after, because I don't want all that hard work to be "not worth it", you know? So that's one thing.

    Also, it allows me to not feel like I'm starving myself.

    If I just "cut" by another 200-300 calories a day, that'd put my daily goal somewhere around 1100 which would leave me feeling hungry, deprived, and way too far below my BMR.
    But if I go for that 20-30 minute walk/jog, and burn the 200-300 calories, then I'm still able to have my goal be at 1500 calories a day.

    If that even makes any sense! lol.

    I'm one that I need to feel like if I'm hungry, I can eat without feeling guilty. I had seeing numbers in the red, and my daily cardio has let me keep those in check!
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
    I don't think there's any way I would have lost this much weight without doing cardio. When people on here criticize cardio, it's because they find if boring and/or because what they mean is that you need to do strength training in addition if you want a toned body.

    Yes, for weight loss, you can just not eat those calories instead, but I personally find if much easier to exercise so I can eat more. Low-calorie diets make me tired and irritable.
  • cuttingshadow
    cuttingshadow Posts: 36 Member
    Personal experience - Cardio helps !... I just do walking outdoors or in treadmill for 60 mins - 5 days a week, control calorie according to MFP goal (1 Lb per week loss) and managed to get a result of 2 pound of weight loss per week for the last 3 week since I started. I absolutely did not do any weights training, just walking.. It helped lower my BP as well..

    -CS
  • nilbogger
    nilbogger Posts: 870 Member
    For me doing some cardio is more fun than cutting out 200 calories.
  • shannashannabobana
    shannashannabobana Posts: 625 Member
    strength training> cardio
    Now that is a different question entirely than 'is cardio useless'. I think most people would say they are both useful, depending on what you want to achieve.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    I cut my cardio to three 30 minute sessions when I began bulking and my conditioning went to hell. Im reintroducing more cardio and upping my calories. Three 30 minute sessions is definitely not enough for everyone. Long distance cycling was not enough. I need to run a few 5ks a week or my conditioning goes to hell and I sweat like a pig and my lifts all suffer.

    I may have been okay with a few 30 minute sessions of HIIT, but, every time I do HIIT I injure my left ankle, so, I don't do it.


    So, for me, the answer is cardio. More than I planned on. And I'm trying to GAIN weight. So that should tell you that cardio is important, regardless of goals.
  • Showcase_Brodown
    Showcase_Brodown Posts: 919 Member
    Cardio definitely isn't "useless." Its purpose is to develop your cardiovascular health, with the added bonus of burning calories. If you aren't after conditioning, the easier way to lose weight might be to eat a few less calories.

    I've seen people on the forums with a quote similar to "you can out-eat your exercise, but it is hard to out-lazy a good diet." I can't take credit for the quote, but I think it's a solid mind-set for weight loss. Diet is the most important piece of the puzzle.

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