Cardio doesn't help you lose weight...

SharadaRose

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

Its not true! As the "muscles develop" the fat will go away.Not to mention improve your bone density. But you still need Cardio to burn fat as well.

Debbe2

It really does have more to do with your calorie intake, but if you eat the same amount of food and exercise a lot more, it's the same end result: You're burning more calories than you take in.

If you exercised a ton, but increased your food consumption to compensate, you wouldn't lose weight.

That's not to discourage anyone from exercise. The benefits of losing weight with exercise far outweighs the benefits of losing weight without it. Improved cardiovascular health being top among the benefits, but strength training in particular, combined with the proper diet (ie higher protein, smaller caloric deficit), helps to maintain as much of you lean muscle as possible as you lose fat.

This is the winning answer!!! IMO of course

CaptainGordo

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

What did you read?

Even though she has me "ignored", I feel I need to rebut her misconception, so that nobody else falls for it.

Hell, even your beloved eHow says it burns fat! (http://www.ehow.com/how_4500347_burn-fat-weight-lifting.html) :laugh:

Here is one article with credible sources: http://www.livestrong.com/article/382599-does-weight-lifting-burn-fat/

maidentl

I have always heard the opposite - that cardio is the calorie burner but strength training is great for retaining lean muscle mass and thus keeping the metabolism up. Regardless, cardio is good for your overall health so I hate to see them discouraging anyone from doing it.

FITnFIRM4LIFE

bump

SharadaRose

It really does have more to do with your calorie intake, but if you eat the same amount of food and exercise a lot more, it's the same end result: You're burning more calories than you take in.

If you exercised a ton, but increased your food consumption to compensate, you wouldn't lose weight.

That's not to discourage anyone from exercise. The benefits of losing weight with exercise far outweighs the benefits of losing weight without it. Improved cardiovascular health being top among the benefits, but strength training in particular, combined with the proper diet (ie higher protein, smaller caloric deficit), helps to maintain as much of you lean muscle as possible as you lose fat.

This is the winning answer!!! IMO of course

Here Here :flowerforyou:

iuangina

it all has to do with creating a calorie deficit. You will not lose weight by doing cardio if you don't change your eating habits.

Iamfit4life

I have always heard the opposite - that cardio is the calorie burner but strength training is great for retaining lean muscle mass and thus keeping the metabolism up. Regardless, cardio is good for your overall health so I hate to see them discouraging anyone from doing it.

I'd hate to see anybody discouraged from doing either, honestly.

Sometimes there is misinformation on here.

AZackery

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

Its not true! As the "muscles develop" the fat will go away.Not to mention improve your bone density. But you still need Cardio to burn fat as well.

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.

joejccva71

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.

Cardio doesn't burn fat. Cardio improves cardiovascular health and conditioning as well as it creates more of a calorie deficit because it burns calories.

Eating a calorie deficit = burns fat.

Period.

Azdak

I hate exercise. I have always hated exercise. I will probably always hate it!!

Back in 2002, I joined Weight Watchers. I followed the plan Monday through Friday, and ate whatever I wanted on Saturday and Sunday. I did not exercise at all. I lost anywhere from 2 to 5 lbs each week. I noticed when I ate more protien, I lost more weight. The information that I received from Weight Watchers basically said that I could eat more if I exercised. I chose to eat less and exercise none. The program worked for me. When I stopped following the program, I began eating more and more. The weight did come back because my diet changed.

What you are describing is the classic pattern of the overwhelming failure rate of "diet only" programs.

Anyone can lose weight through all sorts of intervention. Weight loss "success" is only achieved when that weight has been kept off for at least two years. That's where the "diet only" (or diet pills, drugs, HCG, etc) plans fail 95% of the time and exercise-based programs succeed at a much higher rate.

iuangina

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.

Cardio doesn't burn fat. Cardio improves cardiovascular health and conditioning as well as it creates more of a calorie deficit because it burns calories.

Eating a calorie deficit = burns fat.

Period.

Cardio creates the deficit = burns fat

Azdak

Cardio doesn't burn fat. Cardio improves cardiovascular health and conditioning as well as it creates more of a calorie deficit because it burns calories.

Eating a calorie deficit = burns fat.

Period.

That pretty much sums it up.

erickirb

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.

Cardio doesn't burn fat. Cardio improves cardiovascular health and conditioning as well as it creates more of a calorie deficit because it burns calories.

Eating a calorie deficit = burns fat.

Period.

Cardio creates the deficit = burns fat

diet alone can create the deficit too. so can just weights, so can cardio. Cardio in and of itself does not burn fat, cardio in a caloric deficit will burn fat, but in that case so would weight training.

The main benefits to exercise are not weight loss, that can be achieved from diet alone.

ChitownFoodie

Bump......

Azdak

If you want to lose weight you MUST be doing BOTH cardio and strength.

^ Neither of these are necessary to lose weight. Both are helpful but to say it's a MUST is absurd.

Language can be such a tricky thing.

iuangina

Should have said if cardio creates deficit then it burns fat. Oops my bad. There's no way for cardio ALONE to burn fat.

Azdak

I went through metabolic assessments at my health club (O2 uptake evaluation using New Leaf equipment) and the program they recommended has worked for me. The basic notion is: there is a zone of cardio activity (based on heart rate) that optimizes weight loss aka the fat burning zone ... if you walk too slow or run too fast, you're not at the optimal zone so you won't burn as much fat as you would in the "zone". Here's a couple of pages from about.com that discuss exercise intensity and weight loss:

http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/The-Truth-About-The-Fat-Burning-Zone.htm
http://exercise.about.com/od/cardioworkouts/a/Cardio-Workout-Program-For-Weight-Loss.htm

Your success is coming from the volume and mix of the program, not because of the "fat burning zone". This is my biggest complaint with the New Leaf system and the clubs that offer that service.

The fuel substrate used during exercise has no effect on overall fat oxidation (fat loss). In my discussions with the "trainers" at New Leaf, the good ones are starting to realize this and some of their newer printouts emphasize overall caloric expenditure rather than "fat burning", but many clubs have purchased the entire system as a "product" and parrot the boilerplate language without really understanding the science.

Metabolic testing has many uses and benefits. IMO, New Leaf has not worked as hard as they could to give people the most factual information.

maidentl

I have always heard the opposite - that cardio is the calorie burner but strength training is great for retaining lean muscle mass and thus keeping the metabolism up. Regardless, cardio is good for your overall health so I hate to see them discouraging anyone from doing it.

I'd hate to see anybody discouraged from doing either, honestly.

Sometimes there is misinformation on here.

Totally agree!

Tujitsu56

Haha, I had a debate about this with a friend the other day. He is taking some type of exercise science in college right now. He was convinced that eating properly was not the main factor. I tried to help him understand what's being said below.

Most important rule to weight loss is caloric deficit. Calories consumed vs Calories used. As people have stated, cardio isn't what's burning the fat. The reason muscle development (lifting heavy weights) can be considered fat burning is that once you increase your muscle mass, your body will burn more calories at rest. Whereas cardio isn't going to add much muscle mass and may actually reduce your muscle mass if done exessively with improper eating. Lower muscle mass would mean less calories burned at rest.

So in theory, he is correct. Your eating is most important. As someone else mentioned though, it's hard for many people to diet only. There are many other benifits of exercise other than weight loss too.

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.

Cardio doesn't burn fat. Cardio improves cardiovascular health and conditioning as well as it creates more of a calorie deficit because it burns calories.

Eating a calorie deficit = burns fat.

Period.

Cardio creates the deficit = burns fat

diet alone can create the deficit too. so can just weights, so can cardio. Cardio in and of itself does not burn fat, cardio in a caloric deficit will burn fat, but in that case so would weight training.

The main benefits to exercise are not weight loss, that can be achieved from diet alone.