How much Cardio is TOO much cardio?!?

Windi38

and she clarified she was saying doing the same exact cardio meaning treadmill or elliptical at the same pace and resistance over a long period of time that your body becomes accustomed to it so you are just waisting your time...

it is true that if you do the same cardio at the same pace/resistance etc...your body will get used to it. It's simply that you no longer have to work as hard to do the same thing and so you don't burn as many calories. You have to change it up some. Do different types of cardio on different days. It also works better if you do a type of cardio that makes you work harder for a while and then you get to rest a little and recover. Interval training type cardio.

If I do only 30 minutes of cardio, I burn maybe 200 calories. an hour gets me to over 400 and an hour and a half to 700+...the longer I work out, the more calories I burn. Eat a moderate amount of healthy food and that equals more weight loss. period. It's simple math. More time=more calories burned=faster weight loss. Simple.

Tiggerrick

Part of the problem on this topic is the misconceptions that people have on where your body gets its energy from. Your body can use carbs, fat, and/or protein as fuel. It will use what it has on hand in that order until it runs out, then goes to the next fuel. At the begining of a workout (first 10 to 20 mins) it will burn the sugars (carbs) you have floating in your blood. As those run out, your body starts breaking down fat for energy. If you work out at a slow steady rate, it will give your body time to break down the fat into fuel, however, if you need more fuel than the speed at which your body can break down fat, it will also start breaking down protein.

Here's an interesting example for all of you along this same topic of conversation; I use a cardiac monitor that calculates not only calories, but % of FAT calories burned. My two most recent workouts are as follows:

Friday: I rode my mountain bike (vigorously) for 1hr and 50 min (12 miles) and spent 1789 calories, of which 25% were FAT calories (447)
Saturday: I hiked (moderately) for 2hrs and 30min (8 miles) and spent 853 calories, of which 60% were FAT calories (511)

I burned more FAT during the work out in which I spent the least calories.

A calorie spent is a calorie spent, and it will lead to weight loss, but you may want to be careful, or at least mindful, as to which type of fuel you want to use to keep you going.