Has anyone lost body fat by doing cardio only?
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Dave198lbs wrote: »The popular opinion on here is that to lose body fat you need to do strength training, but as anyone on here lost body fat with no strength training and only cardio? Stomach fat especially
I guess the next question is, what kind of stomach do you want? Honestly, if you don't have low enough body fat and adequate muscle, then you won't have abs. So at some point, you might have to lift and even more, you might have to bulk to get abs if that is you goal.
Personally, i exercise to reach my goals, not set goals based on my exercise. And for the type of body I want, resistance training is a must.
no
If you say so. I have seen plenty of times where people are underweight and still don't have abs and still have stomach issues. And the only way it was corrected was by adding mass. But if you feel you want to expand, please do.
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I should probably do some sort of exercise besides cardio, but running is so easy to fit in my schedule and so addictive.
I don't think it's recorded on this site, but I started at 203 lbs. I am now at 149 lbs. Only type of exercise I ever did was cardio.
People recommend strength training for several reasons, but basically if you have a caloric deficit you will lose weight.0 -
When I started my MFP about a year ago, I was doing a mix of strength and cardio. During the summer with the nice weather, lifting fell to the wayside as I enjoyed taking long bike rides outside. And now, here I am with snow on the ground, at my goal weight, and oh so very very flabby. SoI'm back in the gym lifting weights. Yup, you can lose body fat. But you may not like where you end up.0
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I usually lift heavy as i can (pyramiding up on weight, down on reps, with minimum rest) for 60-90 minutes and do only 15 minutes of running or some sort of cardio afterwards. Find what works best for you.0
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Yes. My suggestion, if you hate strength training, do cardio, but try and increase the resistance. So your muscles are getting a good workout too.0
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yes...while running a calorie deficit.0
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I lost a great deal of body fat just doing cardio, but I didn't look nearly as good as when I started lifting. At some point it's about aesthetics, at least for me. I like delts, glutes and hamstrings.
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There are certain things we do in life, even when we don't like them. If you're a runner (which in my books is good - I'm a runner too) I can offer you a couple of good reasons that you may want to incorporate strength training into your routine.
1) Injury resistance, cross training 9including strength) helps address muscular imbalances and improve your injury resistance.
2) Maintain lean muscle mass - not an issue for you yet but at the age of 40 or so males start losing abut 1% of their lean muscle mass per year unless they engage in some form of resistance training. Personally I don't want to be one of those feeble old men who can barely walk (have balance issues etc that are often related to loss of muscle mass) when I'm in my '70s. It's not the fountain of youth but it goes along way.....
The good news is that runners don't need to hit the weights the same way a bodybuilder would. A couple of half hour sessions per week is usually sufficient.
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TavistockToad wrote: »you will lose bodyfat if you're ina calorie deficit, regardless of exercise.
Thank god. I hate strength training. An unpopular opinion I know, but I find it really boring, and I've tried everything to make it more fun, but nothing has worked.
I lost 125 pounds in 2012, and like you, I did not want to lift weights. I lost all of my weight by running. I've rain in 5K's, 10K's and Half Marathon's. While I lost a huge amount of body fat, I lost muscle as well because I didn't lift. Now I wish I had. I found a lifting program that fits my needs and now I actually enjoy it! It's up to you, but I would encourage you to lift as you're losing weight. When you get to your goal weight, you will look much more fit if you lift.
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TavistockToad wrote: »you will lose bodyfat if you're ina calorie deficit, regardless of exercise.
you will maintain more lean mass if you strength train while losing weight.
^ This is all that needs to be said.0 -
Yes! I started my weight loss journey focusing on cardio and high intensity interval training, that's how I lose about 30lbs. Then I started added strength training, it just boosts your metabolism even more and helps your body to burn throughout the day. Now I do 60 mins cardio and strength train for about 2 hours a week. Good luck
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I lost 70 lbs just by eating less and doing tons of cardio. Once I started strength though, I lost tons of inches and my body looks better then it did doing only cardio.
I'm not going to lie though I am not consistent with weights and I absolutely love running and zumba.
Fat loss is from eating in a caloric deficit. The cardio helps to burn more calories.0 -
Of course you'll lose body fat doing cardio BUT only if the basic principle is applied: Calories consumed less than calories being expended.
However I think it's correct that running and cycling won't do much for the upper body.
I might get corrected here but there are exercises that people seem to call cardio that are also strength:
I've been doing a boot camp type circuit training and am quite happily toning up without a weight in sight. Not as sexy as machines, barbells or dumbbells but still effective.
Squats, sit ups, lunges, press ups, planks - all use your own body as the 'weight' and require your muscles to work against the resistance.0 -
It just depends on your body and your goals. I cardio-ed my way to 95 lbs in college, but I still had a fair amount of body fat - just no muscle underneath. I was thin, but lumpy and bumpy. Then I discovered strength training and I added muscle and suddenly the lumps and bumps started disappearing. I look MUCH better 15 lbs heavier than my lightest weight because I'm not just bones and fat. That said, I have some very slim friends who only do distance running, have never touched a bar or dumbbell and look like gorgeous supermodels. Totally depends on your particular body how you'll look after various types of exercize. Also what your goals are beyond bodyfat. There are lots of benefits to both cardio and lifting, though I know that's not what you asked.0
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I'm doing the fairly standard MFP slow weight loss. I ride my bike on average about 5+ hours a week. I do not do strength training. Since May 16th, I'm down about 38 pounds of which 34 pounds was fat. Weight and fat mass measurements were taken about weekly. Dropped my BMI from 32.5 and fat % 36.2. Currently I'm somewhere around BMI 27.5 and fat % of 26.6. These measures were taken with a Tanita scale.
Therefore, you can lose weight and fat simply doing cardio. When I get to my final weight goal, I may well add some sort of weight training to try and convert fat to muscle.0 -
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People don't say on here that you need to weight train to lose fat, so let's start by not putting words in the proverbial mouth of the forums.
What is widely accepted is that weight training is the most efficient when it comes to pure fat loss. When you eat in a deficit, the body loses water, fat, and muscle. By weight training (progressive overload) in that deficit, you are working to maintain that LBM so the body loses mainly water and fat.
So you can lose fat through just caloric deficit alone, deficit and cardio, deficit and weight training, (or like many of us) deficit and a mix of cardio/weight triaing. What people are saying isn't that weight training is needed for fat loss, but it is more efficient especially when it comes to body composition.0 -
Yep, lost a bunch just running, also looked flabby and jiggly despite losing a lot of weight....Did a dxa scan and realised I lost a bunch of muscle mass too...:'(
Started strength training, did not lose much on the scale, but dropped two pant sizes.....
I know which one I prefer0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »you will lose bodyfat if you're ina calorie deficit, regardless of exercise.
Thank god. I hate strength training. An unpopular opinion I know, but I find it really boring, and I've tried everything to make it more fun, but nothing has worked.
Keep in mind that you don't need to do the standard weight lifting programs. Any program that provides resistance will help you maintain muscle. You can do body weight resistance or programs like cross fit/body pump. And resistance training can improve your cardio workouts.
What this dude said...
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My legs were muscular from my running, my upper body was flabby and weak from my lack of lifting.0
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now i am weight training and cadio more than 1 hours a day. right now is 2 weeks and i lost 2 kgs.0
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Good point.People don't say on here that you need to weight train to lose fat, so let's start by not putting words in the proverbial mouth of the forums.
What is widely accepted is that weight training is the most efficient when it comes to pure fat loss. When you eat in a deficit, the body loses water, fat, and muscle. By weight training (progressive overload) in that deficit, you are working to maintain that LBM so the body loses mainly water and fat.
So you can lose fat through just caloric deficit alone, deficit and cardio, deficit and weight training, (or like many of us) deficit and a mix of cardio/weight triaing. What people are saying isn't that weight training is needed for fat loss, but it is more efficient especially when it comes to body composition.
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TavistockToad wrote: »you will lose bodyfat if you're ina calorie deficit, regardless of exercise.
Thank god. I hate strength training. An unpopular opinion I know, but I find it really boring, and I've tried everything to make it more fun, but nothing has worked.
You could always do exercises that incorporate both strength and cardio. Things like mountain climbers, wood choppers, kettlebell swings, burpees, boxing, walking lunges, jump squats, skaters, etc.0 -
My take is yes. BUT I'm a better shape if I do free weights for upper body sculpting while also doing regular cardio. The exercise in general lets me eat more calories since 1200 calories is low for many people, but its the calorie goal I have to stay near for fat loss WITHOUT exercise.
And the other BUT is that I don't see the fat loss reflected on my scale as I'm adding muscle at the same time as losing fat, and it is what it is, I'm more motivated by my scale than how my clothes fit. It's not logical but it is. So for me its a balance of how much exercise I do versus not, to actually see pounds drop on the scale.
And the kicker for me is I MUCH prefer weight training to cardio, but my knees and back have issues so I have to be careful, but I love my upper body training. I hate cardio, hate might be a bit strong, so I just massively dislike it. I do it anyway, I'm just not happy about it.0 -
successgal1 wrote: »My take is yes. BUT I'm a better shape if I do free weights for upper body sculpting while also doing regular cardio. The exercise in general lets me eat more calories since 1200 calories is low for many people, but its the calorie goal I have to stay near for fat loss WITHOUT exercise.
And the other BUT is that I don't see the fat loss reflected on my scale as I'm adding muscle at the same time as losing fat, and it is what it is, I'm more motivated by my scale than how my clothes fit. It's not logical but it is. So for me its a balance of how much exercise I do versus not, to actually see pounds drop on the scale.
And the kicker for me is I MUCH prefer weight training to cardio, but my knees and back have issues so I have to be careful, but I love my upper body training. I hate cardio, hate might be a bit strong, so I just massively dislike it. I do it anyway, I'm just not happy about it.
Bolded is highly doubtful. Yes, the extremely obese, extremely undertrained, and the returning athlete can put on some fairly appreciable muscle when losing fat but it is normally short lived and nearly impossible to balance out fat loss on the scale with muscle gain (especially for a female...sorry, it is what it is). What you are most likely seeing is water retention from the weight training. I can gain 6lbs over night after a heavy lifting session.
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Dave198lbs wrote: »The popular opinion on here is that to lose body fat you need to do strength training, but as anyone on here lost body fat with no strength training and only cardio? Stomach fat especially
I guess the next question is, what kind of stomach do you want? Honestly, if you don't have low enough body fat and adequate muscle, then you won't have abs. So at some point, you might have to lift and even more, you might have to bulk to get abs if that is you goal.
Personally, i exercise to reach my goals, not set goals based on my exercise. And for the type of body I want, resistance training is a must.
no
If you say so. I have seen plenty of times where people are underweight and still don't have abs and still have stomach issues. And the only way it was corrected was by adding mass. But if you feel you want to expand, please do.
underweight ≠low body fat.0 -
Strength training can be boring. For most of us here our goal isn't to be a bodybuilder or fitness model and following set routines or over exposing yourself to fitness/lifting forums simply causes more confusion. I remember seeing a guy on Muscle & Strength who only lifts once or twice every 10 days. Instead of eliminating it consider stepping outside of the bully pulpit of the internet and experiment for yourself.0
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TavistockToad wrote: »you will lose bodyfat if you're ina calorie deficit, regardless of exercise.
Thank god. I hate strength training. An unpopular opinion I know, but I find it really boring, and I've tried everything to make it more fun, but nothing has worked.
Oh thank god, I'm not the only person who hates strength training! I've considered the possibility that if I had a person rather than a book/the Internet for guidance, maybe I'd learn to like it -- but my budget doesn't support that at all, so running it is.0 -
Yes, coming from little or no exercise, increasing my level of outdoor activities (running, hiking, biking, skiing) has helped and still help me to lose fat AND gain muscle. If I came from lifting to only cardio, I would agree with you that I would lose muscle along with fat.0
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