As you get "fitter"

chrissilini

Ok, stupid question maybe but here it goes. As a person gets more fit through diet and exercise is it normal to require more of a workout for the same calorie burn you used to have for the same exercise? For example, a person starts out doing 60 minutes of cardio a day for say, 3 months and on average burns 350 calories. As that person loses weight and gets stronger cardiovascularly, would it make sense that after 3 months they are burning less calories for the same duration, speed, etc? That to get that 350 calorie burn you'd need to change intensity, duration or both? Just wondering.

Glucocorticoid

Yes, as fitness increases and you adapt to a certain exercise, efficiency will increase and you will not burn as many calories. Which is easily solved by working at a higher absolute intensity (or longer duration).

brianhurley91

Heyy,
I've come across this before and had to alter some habits, but this short article should have everything you need to know. Your workout shouldn't change the amount of calories burned by much. increasing your cardio makes your workout easier by distributing oxygen more efficiently, but the moving of the muscles is what burns those calories.

the difference is that as weight is lost, your metabolism calorie needs decrease, meaning that your calorie deficit is getting smaller.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-plateau/MY01152

-Brian