Can you cut without cardio?
leira_T
Posts: 45 Member
I was recently diagnosed with pcos (the lean type- I am a 23 year old female, 5'3 132lbs) which is a hormone disorder where my body doesn't process carbs efficiently - which leads to insulin resistance - which leads to extra androgens & testosterone - which leads to abdominal fat (very general summary, look it up for more info on pcos). Over the past 4 years I have gained roughly 20 lbs of both fat and muscle. I have worked out 4-6 days a week 1-2 hours at a time for the past 4 years doing a combination of running (about 12 miles a week) plus TRX, HIIT, kickboxing, Barre, etc. Despite intense training and eating clean, I just kept gaining fat. Come to find out, women with pcos are not supposed to do much cardio at all because the extra cortisol produced just leads to further fat gain. Now I have switched my diet to fairly low carb (<100 g per day) and switched to strictly weight lifting 4 days a week. So my question is, can I lose fat without doing any cardio?
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Replies
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You lose by eating fewer calories than you burn throughout the day. Cardio isn't a necessity for that.3
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Yes. Losing fat comes down to being in a calorie deficit.1
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So then can I still gain muscle at the same time?0
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So then can I still gain muscle at the same time?
To a point gains in a deficit will taper down. So while in a calorie deficit you will be maintaining the muscles you have built in the past 4 years. Continue with ample protein and your strength training regime. Keep your deficit around 250.3 -
So then can I still gain muscle at the same time?
absolutely, probably much better now that you arent burning all the calories you are eating. Might be difficult while you are in a calorie deficit. Once you are in a surplus you should go back to building muscle. Hard to do both simultaneously unless youre a newbie1 -
Lifting (especially if you lift fairly heavy) burns far more calories than people seem to realize. It also keeps your metabolism elevated for quite a while after you have finished.9
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Perhaps you should try a Keto diet. By reducing your carbs to 10%, protein to 20% and fat (healthy fat) to 70% AND cutting down on your cardio, you may begin to see muscle gains. Eat meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, occasionally berries and no sugar. Lifting should be multi-functional movements--squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups mixed up with some jump roping, sprinting and pyrometric movements. Have your carbs immediately after a workout. Hope this helps!8
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beverlyclark1 wrote: »Perhaps you should try a Keto diet. By reducing your carbs to 10%, protein to 20% and fat (healthy fat) to 70% AND cutting down on your cardio, you may begin to see muscle gains. Eat meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, occasionally berries and no sugar. Lifting should be multi-functional movements--squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups mixed up with some jump roping, sprinting and pyrometric movements. Have your carbs immediately after a workout. Hope this helps!
I have considered a keto diet as it is supposed to be really good for pcos. I even tried it for two weeks and actually got my period for the first time in months (amenorrhea is a symptom of pcos) but my biggest struggle with it is I love fruit! But fruit is full of carbs1 -
I'm not too concerned about not being able to build muscle since I already build muscle much faster than most women, but I don't want to lose it either0
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quiksylver296 wrote: »
I've heard this can actually be true for women with PCOS, because of the increased testosterone...0 -
Look at high-level women in CrossFit. They hate cardio, watch the CrossFit games, it's hilarious, the top athletes run like 8 minute miles, for 2 miles at most. Heck, in the 2016 CrossFit games documentary Dave Castro, the games' director, has a hilarious moment where he's talking about programming for the games and he asked himself what's the thing that CrossFitters hate to do more than anything else? Run. So he makes them do like a 5k trail run, and laughs maniacally at the idea.
They don't seem to have any trouble at all staying cut af.
Running is the worst.0 -
I've never heard the no cardio thing for PCOS. One of my female friends has PCOS and she was instructed to do a moderate amount of of both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training.
Too much high intensity exercise in general is going to raise cortisol levels in anyone. 1-2 hours per day of the exercise you were talking about sounds pretty excessive IMO and would probably stress most body's out. I personally think you'd be fine with a more moderate approach to your fitness.0 -
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Ask any 'Golden Age' Bodybuider.... ("what's cardio?")0
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Yeah, what he said ^^^
I despise cardio and only do it in the spring when I am cutting off the protective winter layers and it's still too cold and wet out for "real" activities.0 -
This guys condition proves my point^^^
Cutting is a function of *diet* (so long as you lift too...)0 -
Try yoga and Pilates. It's much more gentle on the body and it lowers cortisol. It sounds like something your body needs. I have PCOS too and I do boho beautiful videos on YouTube (cause I can't make up my own moves/workouts!). You will still sweat and use your muscles but it will have a much lower impact. Cardio isn't just high intensity, it can be low intensity too
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Thanks everyone for the insight, your comments were very helpful! I will continue lifting and managing my diet and see where it gets me!0
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quiksylver296 wrote: »
Yes, in general women with pcos can build muscle faster than the average woman. It has to do with the excess testosterone produced by the pcos.0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »
Yes, in general women with pcos can build muscle faster than the average woman. It has to do with the excess testosterone produced by the pcos.
Maybe in a surplus. Even males struggle to gain muscle in a deficit, even more so on keto diets or low carb diets which just as beneficial as carb diets.
But you can definitely lose weight without cardio. Its all calories.1
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