Is 20 mins of exercise enough?

Carey125
Carey125 Posts: 15 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys just wondering, is 20 minutes of cardio exercise enough to loose weight?

It seems lately that I am extremely exhausted when I try to work out. I'm not sure why, but it's killing me. (Not enough sleep, too much work, not eating right who knows?) Lately 20 mins is all I have been able to do before I start to feel tired and get the shakes. So do you think bumping down to 20 mins a day will still continue to help me loose weight?

Thank in advance for any advice.
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Replies

  • rubyandmani
    rubyandmani Posts: 31 Member
    yes. as long as you are active and doing some exercise.xx
  • eshnna
    eshnna Posts: 109 Member
    Anything is better than nothing. So my answer is yes.
  • JeffBrown3
    JeffBrown3 Posts: 161 Member
    edited August 2015
    Any exercise is better than no exercise. I say keep on keeping on and you can increase in time when you're able to. Exercise isn't necessary to lose weight as long as you are in a calorie deficit.
  • BasicGreatGuy
    BasicGreatGuy Posts: 857 Member
    20 minutes is enough to make a difference.

    It would be a good idea to try and narrow down the cause of your recent symptoms, in my opinion. Not a good idea to ignore the cause or brush it aside.

    Have you been counting your calories every day?

    Are you under-eating?

    What kind of workout history and regime did you have previous to you getting these symptoms?

    How much sleep have you been getting?
  • ajmurray1234
    ajmurray1234 Posts: 163 Member
    Hello Carey125,
    It depends on what you are doing and what your calorie intake is. As you know, you have to create a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1lb a week. How you create that deficit is entirely up to you. 250 exercise and 250 less calories than your body needs to maintain your weigh, or.... 500 less calories.

    I don't know what your physical exertion is, but typically you can burn 200 calories within 20 minutes. This leaves you with a 300 less calorie intake for the day.

    I personally don't have time to do much cardio, so I eat 500 calories less BUT will lift weights for at least 3 sets.

    Regards,
    Andrea
  • Carey125
    Carey125 Posts: 15 Member
    20 minutes is enough to make a

    Have you been counting your calories every day?

    Are you under-eating?

    What kind of workout history and regime did you have previous to you getting these symptoms?

    How much sleep have you been getting?

    I counted calories for almost 200 days. Measured and weighed my food. As far as the work out regime, it is around the same thing. I mix it up (Zumba, or some kind of dance, stationary bike, strength training)
    There are some days I can achieve a full hour work out, other days 20 mins is a struggle. I sleep about 6 hours a night. 8 full hours is a rare thing for me.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited August 2015
    If 20 minutes is all you can do, then 20 minutes is all you can do!

    20 minutes of very hard exercise is better than nothing, heck, 20 minutes of light exercise is better than nothing!

    We all do the best we can. If you've done your best, it's all you can do. Don't fret.

    If this is a decrease, you might want to look into why you have less energy. Need more food? More sleep? Stuff like that.
  • BasicGreatGuy
    BasicGreatGuy Posts: 857 Member
    Carey125 wrote: »
    20 minutes is enough to make a

    Have you been counting your calories every day?

    Are you under-eating?

    What kind of workout history and regime did you have previous to you getting these symptoms?

    How much sleep have you been getting?

    I counted calories for almost 200 days. Measured and weighed my food. As far as the work out regime, it is around the same thing. I mix it up (Zumba, or some kind of dance, stationary bike, strength training)
    There are some days I can achieve a full hour work out, other days 20 mins is a struggle. I sleep about 6 hours a night. 8 full hours is a rare thing for me.

    With you shedding more light on the situation, it doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary is happening. We all have our days when completing our regularly scheduled workout is hard (for various reasons).

    If you wanted, you could try giving yourself an extra rest day for a few weeks and see how that works for you.
  • SimoneBee12
    SimoneBee12 Posts: 268 Member
    Are you drinking enough water? I know that if I don't have enough water, I'm sluggish when running.

    Also, do you find that you work out better on days when you eat before working out? Does the time vary each day? Are you getting enough protein?

    There are a ton of things it could be, personally, if you're getting the shakes, or feeling dizzy, I would stop altogether for about a week and try to look at the foods I'm eating to see if it's better. You don't want to be dizzy and fall over and injury yourself or something.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Exercise is for fitness and health and NOT needed to lose weight. That's more dependent on your CICO. Exercise will help to create a deficit though and/or give you a higher calorie intake option.

    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

    9285851.png
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    I don't know what your physical exertion is, but typically you can burn 200 calories within 20 minutes.

    That seems awfully high. Where are you getting that figure from?
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  • 3stepsahead
    3stepsahead Posts: 56 Member
    its a good start for sure
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Carey125 wrote: »
    20 minutes is enough to make a

    Have you been counting your calories every day?

    Are you under-eating?

    What kind of workout history and regime did you have previous to you getting these symptoms?

    How much sleep have you been getting?

    I counted calories for almost 200 days. Measured and weighed my food. As far as the work out regime, it is around the same thing. I mix it up (Zumba, or some kind of dance, stationary bike, strength training)
    There are some days I can achieve a full hour work out, other days 20 mins is a struggle. I sleep about 6 hours a night. 8 full hours is a rare thing for me.
    Try to get more sleep. When I sleep less, I lose less. I've tracked that. I'm not the only one. But getting enough sleep is important for so many, many reasons.

    We all have off days. I can't even predict them. Some days, I'm sure I haven't eaten enough or am feeling tired and the workout is great. Other days, I feel great going in and end up not getting a great workout. I truly cannot make heads or tails of it. At this point, I don't even care. I do what I can. Like I said, we do our best and that's all we can do. :)
  • ajmurray1234
    ajmurray1234 Posts: 163 Member
    I don't know what your physical exertion is, but typically you can burn 200 calories within 20 minutes.

    That seems awfully high. Where are you getting that figure from?

    The keyword being typically.... you can typically burn 10 calories a minute. 10x20= 200
  • lseed87
    lseed87 Posts: 1,105 Member
    It is good. Generally the heart rate goes up more at 30 minutes.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    I don't know what your physical exertion is, but typically you can burn 200 calories within 20 minutes.

    That seems awfully high. Where are you getting that figure from?

    The keyword being typically.... you can typically burn 10 calories a minute. 10x20= 200

    But that doesn't answer my question - where are you getting that figure from - typically or otherwise?
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Try breaking into 10 or 15 min segments 2-3 x day. It doesn't have to all be at once.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    To lose weight (not loose), you need to eat in a deficit. For optimal health a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity a week will move you out of the sedentary category and an additional 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous (that's get your heart rate to 65 - 80% of max) per week will build your physical fitness.

    It usually takes about 20 minutes to get your heart rate up to that in a steady state - That is, you can get your heart rate to that pretty fast, but to burn calories, you need to be at that rate for a while.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Carey125 wrote: »
    It seems lately that I am extremely exhausted when I try to work out. I'm not sure why, but it's killing me. (Not enough sleep, too much work, not eating right who knows?)

    My suggestion would to be figure it out first, before making any decisions.


  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    TFor optimal health a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity a week will move you out of the sedentary category...

    I don't think so. 20 minutes a day of moderate activity and nothing else is still sedentary.

  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    But that doesn't answer my question - where are you getting that figure from - typically or otherwise?

    I currently weigh 270 lbs and I pull about 800 calories for an hour's spin class where my average heart rate is 83%. This data is from a heart rate monitor. I have lots of historical data from cycling at various weights and a long distance ride of 80 miles + at an average speed of 17 mph would net me about 600 an hour.

    So a rule of thumb I use is 10 calories per minute for a fairly hard workout.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I don't know what your physical exertion is, but typically you can burn 200 calories within 20 minutes.

    That seems awfully high. Where are you getting that figure from?

    The keyword being typically.... you can typically burn 10 calories a minute. 10x20= 200

    For a 160 pound human to burn 200 calories in 20 minutes they would need to run 2 miles. So 20 minutes at a 10 minute mile pace.

    Definitely doable, not sure it's "typical".
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    Why are you getting only six hours of sleep? Is it a scheduling thing, insomnia, sleep apnea? Are there changes you can make to increase that amount? Sleep is important to weight loss, physical and mental health.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    Yeah, 20 minutes. Since that's all you have to exercise. How much time do you have to eat?
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    Yeah, 20 minutes. Since that's all you have to exercise. How much time do you have to eat?

    I believe OP was referring to stamina, not time available.

  • JillianRN527
    JillianRN527 Posts: 109 Member
    A friend of mine always says "Abs are made in the kitchen." If you're eating within your macros and calorie range exercise if just an added bonus!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    vivmom2014 wrote: »
    Yeah, 20 minutes. Since that's all you have to exercise. How much time do you have to eat?

    I believe OP was referring to stamina, not time available.

    yeah that was my understanding too

  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
    Depending on which standard you look at, that amount is probably not quite enough for general cardiovascular health and increased longevity. Check out this article:

    well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/the-right-dose-of-exercise-for-a-longer-life/?WT.mc_id=2015-KWP-AUD_DEV&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVREMARK&kwp_0=18141&kwp_4=118587&kwp_1=148985&_r=0

    Whether or not that is enough for YOU to lose weight depends on your body. Track carefully and see whether or not that level of exercise works for you.
  • Wiley285
    Wiley285 Posts: 16 Member
    My experience is that I need to eat before I work out (not right before, of course) I'm usually in the gym about an hour after breakfast. If, for some reason, I don't have breakfast (rare), I notice a clear drop in stamina. The same things holds for me with water. If I'm at all dehydrated, my workout sucks.
This discussion has been closed.