Success with only cardio machines?

I stayed under my calories most days using MFP and ran/walked on the treadmill 3-5 times a week and lost 30+ lbs. The treadmill was the only form of exercise that I used. I gained some back a year later but I'm back down again. This time I run outside instead of using a treadmill. Try the c25k program. It worked for me.

I've had success with cardio but only paired with diet. At one point I was burning a 1000 calories a day but my joints began to wear out and I wasn't losing since I was using it as an excuse for late night snacking. Just ended up sabotaging any gain and getting sore in the process. It takes about two packages of twinkies to undo an hour and a half on an elliptical. Someone once said weight loss is 70 percent diet and 30 percent exercise. Seems about right to me. I get much better results restricting a diet heavily (NO CHEATING) and light workouts.

Essentially cardio exercise alone would only help weight loss by virtue of you burning up more calories, and provided you do not get hungrier and eat that advantage away after you have trained!
A properly structured eating plan where you have a slight calorie deficit is the way to go, coupling that to some cardio would be even better.

I lost 110 lbs through mostly treadmill and some elliptical. I didn't count calories but I ate smaller portions and made the small substitutions every time i ate - i.e. no mayo, salad with ff or no dressing instead of fries, etc. I ate less and burned more.

I'll add that even though I kept the weight off, there's a reason I'm back on this site. I love cardio and am planning a few long distance races this year. I don't love my body. it's still too jiggly that cardio won't do.

So while you can lose weight by doing cardio only (just like you can doing any activity that creates a larger calorie burn that what you eat) if I could go back in time and do it differently I would have. I would have incorporated strength training a few years ago when I lost the weight instead of being unhappy and confused with what I had left for a few years and seemingly starting up all over again.

I've seen greater results from lifting over 2 months than I've seen from any othe rprogram in terms of the composition and dimensions of my body.

I started out on cardio alone, but found I was losing more muscle than fat, not what I wanted. I added in a strength program to reduce the amount of muscle loss and upped my protein intake as well. I ended up doing pretty good with that and to me it's more sustainable in the long run.

I do a bit of cardio each week, but also free weights as well.

Say a 40-min weight session followed by 30 mins on treadmill at incline 5 at 3.5mph. I always do this fasted.

I also try to eat a low carb diet during the week with extra carbs on lift days.

I also do 2 days per week of HIIT running followed by Steady State cardio.

I have lost about 80lbs in a little over a year, but also with some good body recomposition.

If you just do cardio, you loss may be partially muscle as well.

I have to recommend you try LeanGains.

rippedbody.jp seems to have some pretty good guides.

Muscle will give you a nice body recomp and the LeanGains formula involves no cardio.

I would say this weekend...calculate your TDEE, do your measurements, take pics, calculate your macros, and try it for 8-12 weeks.

You will save your joints and a lot of time too.

I am going to go to this as soon as I can. I got a DEXA a couple weeks ago and I am clocking in at 19% bf.

But, I will say, just 2 days of HIIT, about a 20 min session has really leaned out my face, and my clothes are getting very loose.

I keep an tight shirt and tight pants in the closet and squeeze into them until the look good...then go shopping again.

With LeanGains, your weight may go up, but your body will look a lot better and flabbiness should start to go away.

It cant hurt, but it will take some time to tune your diet and macros.

As with everyone, please post updates.

Cardio alone will give you a smaller version of your current body. If you want to reshape your body you have to weight-train.

agreed. You can see from my profile picture that I've lost a lot of weight (6 stone approx) and most of it was done on a treadmill... i tried to incorporate some bodyweight compound exercises (squats, lunges, press ups etc) but i wasn't very strict with it. Now i look a lot smaller but not nearly as lean as I'd like. I think I'll have to undergo a body recomp which is probably going to be difficult because my size doesn't allow me to eat as much as I probably would need to in order to gain the muscle needed to lean out. good luck

You can have success by just doing cardio (some people only do cardio), but I would suggest using weights 2-3 days/week. Weights will help you burn fat more effectively, lose as little muscle as possible, and you will look better when you reach your goal weight if you have some muscle tone.

ETA: As for diet, do 80% healthy, 20% indulgence. Eat what you like but use moderation. Have a couple pieces of chocolate, not a brick of chocolate. If you deprive yourself now you're more likely to overeat later. Logging your calories is important because most people who don't log their calories probably don't realize how much they're eating, or what macros they're hitting for good nutrition. Eat back half your exercise calories (the other half will be to make up for underestimation in calories consumed and overestimation in calories burned). Use a weekly goal instead of a daily goal. During the week stay under your goal and then choose one day a week where you're allowed to go over your daily goal (but not so far over that it goes over the weekly goal).