So i heard cardio is not good for losing weight, is it true?

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zuniguy
zuniguy Posts: 4 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ive heard from a few sources that when dieting you dont want to do cardio because i causes you to lose weight, not from fat but from muscle. so muscle loss is not what i want, so does this mean i dont do cardio and just stick to weight training?

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  • apratsunrthd
    apratsunrthd Posts: 23 Member
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    Patently ridiculous. Whoever told you that has never met a marathoner.
  • mikejholmes
    mikejholmes Posts: 291 Member
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    Losing weight comes from a calorie deficit. Cardio can help create a calorie deficit. And when you lose weight, you WILL lose muscle. It's inevitable. But if you're lifting, you will lose LESS muscle than if you aren't lifting.

    Plus, you'll end up looking a whole lot better if you lift. AND you'll be stronger, and therefore able to do more. Win all around.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    Your diet is what affects weight loss. If you do cardio in a deficit you'll lose weight. Can some of it be muscle, ya...probably, but that's what eating in a deficit does. You lose muscle, water, and fat. Is it going to be noticeable, probably not as it can take a huge deficit to lose that much muscle from cardio alone.

    Diet for weight loss, lifting to maintain muscle mass (cardio doesn't maintain it), and cardio so you can eat more and for heart health.
  • eversmj
    eversmj Posts: 40
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    Sounds like someone had the right idea but mangled the details. Definitely do cardio. But weight training will help you preserve muscle mass, which is a good thing.
  • mikejholmes
    mikejholmes Posts: 291 Member
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    Patently ridiculous. Whoever told you that has never met a marathoner.
    You see a lot of muscular marathoners do you? Please provide a picture. All the ones I can find don't look muscular to me. Sprinters, on the other hand.....
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    Patently ridiculous. Whoever told you that has never met a marathoner.
    You see a lot of muscular marathoners do you? Please provide a picture. All the ones I can find don't look muscular to me. Sprinters, on the other hand.....

    Agree.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    I am no expert but when I started down this road I knew that burning calories make things go faster and get my overall health to improve. I now I eat at a very slight deficit, run 25 miles a week, do a set of Nautilus three times a week and I feel great. I don't think I would have the same results if I just ate at a deficit. It just works for me and is what I settled into for now. I am always looking to change things up to see what happens. This week I have thought about getting a bike, starting back on free weights, training for a triathlon and entering a fall full marathon. I know all that won't happen but i'll bet at least one of them does. I just love cardio and don't think I can maintain without it.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,618 Member
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    Overall any exercise is for health and fitness. Weight loss is DIRECTLY due to calorie deficit which is CICO.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Losing weight is going to be much more about what you put in your pie whole...ie you eat less and you will lose weight...exercise isn't required at all to lose weight, but it does make it easier because you can actually consume a bit more while accomplishing the same weight loss goals...to boot, it is necessary for your fitness. In that RE, cardio as well as resistance training is pretty much essential to a well balanced fitness regimen.

    You will lose muscle if you underfeed your body and on top of that go over-bored with exercise...largely because your body won't have the nutrients necessary to hold onto muscle.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    Ive heard from a few sources that when dieting you dont want to do cardio because i causes you to lose weight, not from fat but from muscle. so muscle loss is not what i want, so does this mean i dont do cardio and just stick to weight training?

    It depends on how much cardio you are talking. Doing excessive cardio will result in muscle loss to some degree, regardless of diet.

    If you are currently weight training, cardio is a good thing to do on your rest days to help with fitness.

    Like anything too much is never good. Health and fitness are not always good bed fellows.

    For optimal health exercise, like food, is good in moderation.
  • Broccolibrew
    Broccolibrew Posts: 1
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    Cardio, or continuous but not over-vigorous exercise, causes microscopic tears in muscle fibers which not only causes your body to burn calories to heal them but they repair them to a stronger state (as a natural process to make them less likely to "tear" again).

    In theory, as muscle weighs more than fat, cardio could eventually cause you to "gain" weight as the thickening muscles replaces the fat your body has burnt. But that is one of the reasons why looking in the mirror rather than at your scales is the best judgement of weight loss if you're involving exercise.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,662 Member
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    Ive heard from a few sources that when dieting you dont want to do cardio because i causes you to lose weight, not from fat but from muscle. so muscle loss is not what i want, so does this mean i dont do cardio and just stick to weight training?

    if you do cardio INSTEAD of weight training, then your its like a double wammy.

    if you run too big a defecit, you stand to lose more muscle then at a lower defecit.

    And you need the resistance training stimulus to hold onto muscle. without it, you stand to lose more muscle then otherwise.

    Doing both is ok, but your going to want to eat back a certain portion of your exercise calories back so as not to run a gigantic defecit

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