Lowering Body Fat % - Doing Enough Cardio?

megsi474
megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I currently alternate 35-50 minutes of strength training (just dumbbells in my basement) three days a week with a 20 minute HIIT, treadmill inclines or something to that effect for 30-ish minutes for cardio on the other days with Sunday off. I'm just over 5 weeks into it and have been increasing or tweaking my strength training and have seen some great results- I'm leaner, have lost inches and 1% body fat. My scale has been sliding up and down the same few pounds so I've been going by the other two measurements as a means to know if what I'm doing is right.

I'm wondering if I'm doing enough cardio for an all over body fat reduction. I tend to keep it shorter because, to be honest, I don't like doing it as much as the weights but I also want to find a good balance and as my muscles get stronger, I'd like to be able to see them without a layer of flub over them. Because I'm newer to the tracking of body fat %, I don't know if my expectations are realistic or if my results of losing 1% over around 5 weeks is even truly a sign of success or if I should be doing more or different exercise.

Replies

  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Pretty please with sugar, sugar substitute, agave, honey or whatever sweetener you like on top?

    :flowerforyou:
  • HacheraTsarine
    HacheraTsarine Posts: 278 Member
    Did you reevaluate the amout of calories you have to ingest? When you lose weight, you have to reevaluate yourself : the amount of calories needed to lose weight when you weigh 180 lbs (for example) is good enough to make you gain weight when you are at 160 lbs (still for example). That MIGHT be the reason as for why your scale has been sliding up and down the same few pounds.

    As for expectations, I hope somebody a little more savvy than I am will be able to answer this, as I would be very interested in what other people might think.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Did you reevaluate the amout of calories you have to ingest? When you lose weight, you have to reevaluate yourself : the amount of calories needed to lose weight when you weigh 180 lbs (for example) is good enough to make you gain weight when you are at 160 lbs (still for example). That MIGHT be the reason as for why your scale has been sliding up and down the same few pounds.

    As for expectations, I hope somebody a little more savvy than I am will be able to answer this, as I would be very interested in what other people might think.

    Thank you so much for your reply. I'm currently TDEE -20% and don't have all that much to lose. I started at 150 and with strength training, I'd be fine just going down a size or two and being around 140 pounds if it looked good. I have been struggling with calories- mostly to find the right number and I have seen a small budge after upping it some.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Use your diet for weight control...BF reduction, etc; exercise for fitness. Cardiovascular exercise is just good for your heart...the little bit of calorie burn you get with it is gravy...but ultimately negligible if your diet is for ****. You can reduce BF doing nothing at all besides eating appropriate calories and foods...though I wouldn't recommend that as fitness is an essential part of overall health.
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
    Use your diet for weight control...BF reduction, etc; exercise for fitness. Cardiovascular exercise is just good for your heart...the little bit of calorie burn you get with it is gravy...but ultimately negligible if your diet is for ****. You can reduce BF doing nothing at all besides eating appropriate calories and foods...though I wouldn't recommend that as fitness is an essential part of overall health.

    ^This. Your cardio schedule and amount sounds great, but for overall weight and bf reduction, cardio is just a tool. Yes you can create a larger caloric deficit by doing cardio, measured not just by the calories you burn during cardio, but also afterwards as well (EPOC). When solely focusing on weight and bf reduction, cardio and weight training basically allows you to keep your calories higher than you would without doing those activities. However, your overall focus should be on your caloric intake. At some point you can't outwork a bad diet (more calories in than out). I took a look at your diary, and it's good to see that if you ever hit a sticking point, you have room to adjust your calories vs doing more cardio. Keep working hard... I'm excited to see your results.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Use your diet for weight control...BF reduction, etc; exercise for fitness. Cardiovascular exercise is just good for your heart...the little bit of calorie burn you get with it is gravy...but ultimately negligible if your diet is for ****. You can reduce BF doing nothing at all besides eating appropriate calories and foods...though I wouldn't recommend that as fitness is an essential part of overall health.

    ^This. Your cardio schedule and amount sounds great, but for overall weight and bf reduction, cardio is just a tool. Yes you can create a larger caloric deficit by doing cardio, measured not just by the calories you burn during cardio, but also afterwards as well (EPOC). When solely focusing on weight and bf reduction, cardio and weight training basically allows you to keep your calories higher than you would without doing those activities. However, your overall focus should be on your caloric intake. At some point you can't outwork a bad diet (more calories in than out). I took a look at your diary, and it's good to see that if you ever hit a sticking point, you have room to adjust your calories vs doing more cardio. Keep working hard... I'm excited to see your results.

    Thank you so much for this. I've struggled getting away from 1200 cals and obsessive to TDEE- and feeling satisfied. It's good to know I'm doing something right and sustainable.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    Use your diet for weight control...BF reduction, etc; exercise for fitness. Cardiovascular exercise is just good for your heart...the little bit of calorie burn you get with it is gravy...but ultimately negligible if your diet is for ****. You can reduce BF doing nothing at all besides eating appropriate calories and foods...though I wouldn't recommend that as fitness is an essential part of overall health.

    Very true. I've done the BF reduction with diet before and was smaller but mushy.

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