Is 30 min of cardio enough?

vikeschick42
vikeschick42 Posts: 28
edited September 23 in Fitness and Exercise
I just recently started incorporating cardio into my daily routine. I've been doing a couple different DVD's, but basically sweating and getting my heartrate up for 30 minutes. My question is, is this enough? My goal is 5 days a week. So for this former couch potatoe, 30 minutes, 5 days a week seems like a huge step. But I keep reading where people are doing 50-90 minutes a day!
1. I can't handle that (at least not yet)
2. I don't have the time

So my question is, has anybody else only done 30 minutes about 5 days a week and been able to see results? Does it help, or am I not doing enough?

I guess the 2nd question is it allows me to add 210 calories to my intake and I feel like that is way too much food to lose weight. That would put up me to 1700 calories a day and there's no way I could lose on that, so is it okay if I just stick with 1490 (my current allotment to lose 1 pound a week)? In other words, not eat my exercise calories back? I don't think I'll go into starvation mode at 1490 a day.

Thoughts?

Thanks so much!

Replies

  • oddyogi
    oddyogi Posts: 1,816 Member
    30 minutes is plenty. :)
  • gdunn55
    gdunn55 Posts: 363
    30 minutes is good, but remember eventually you might want to up that some.
  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    From your perspective (couch potato) to 5 days a week 30 mins is a lot. But eventually try to hit 45mins a day.
  • oddyogi
    oddyogi Posts: 1,816 Member
    As far as weight loss goes, yes more than 30 equals more calories burned. But for cardiovascular health, doing any more than 30 minutes isn't much more helpful. Especially if you're running, doing too much could negatively impact your health. I know this from experience.. I spent a whole summer running about 6-8 miles a day, and I ended up injuring my back. Two and a half years later it's still injured.
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