Eliptitcal 20 Minutes 5 days a week

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jaysanchez4
jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm on a diet right now, eating extremely clean and drinking a lot of water a day. I'm going to get back into doing Cardio and I'm starting by doing the elliptical again.

Is 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week sufficient enough time to do cardio? Also, I'll start weightlifting every other day as well.

I'm trying to lose a lot of weight, maybe 25-30 pounds.

Thank You!

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    sufficient for what? What are you hoping to accomplish on the elliptical?

    Losing weight is all about calories, so as long as your diet is in line, you can lose that 25-30 lbs without any exercise (not recommended). If your diet is correct, the weight lifting is more important than the cardio to help you retain muscle mass. The cardio can just give you more calories to work with or help you gain stamina and cardiovascular health, but won't make you lose weight without supporting it with your diet.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    The AHA recommends 150 minutes per week of light to moderate cardiovascular work...so bump that up to 30 and you'll hit that mark...beyond that, it would depend on your fitness goals and aspirations. A 20 minute workout wouldn't do much for me unless it was at a very high intensity.
  • jamesha100
    jamesha100 Posts: 214 Member
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    20 minutes sessions are fine to start with in my opinion. As you get fitter then you will need to either increase the intensity or duration to get the same benefit.

    Personally I would treat this amount of exercise as a bonus to my deficit and not eat back the calories expended.

    Good luck.
  • jaysanchez4
    jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
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    Yes well i currently weigh 224 lbs, looking to lose about 30 lbs. I'm eating under my calories every single day. Lots of nutrients and healthier food than i normally used to eat. I'm starting to go on the elliptical to hopefully burn more calories and lose some fat.

    Question, so in the app. When i input my weight, age, goal etc etc it has already calculated my Deficit for me? So if i'm allowed to eat 1770 calories a day, then i eat 300 calories worth but burn 300 calories on the eliptical. Do i gain those calories back to eat again?

    Sorry, new to this and trying to gain as much knowledge as i can. I've lost a lot of weight before using MFP but now more than ever am i conscious to just be healthy, lose the weight feel good.

    I guess my question is, By Christmas time so about two months i'm hoping to drop a ton of weight. Will using the elliptical every day plus eating under my calories speed the process up?

    Thank You
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Christmas is about 6 weeks away and to lose 5 pounds per week is extremely aggressive. MFP recommends 1 lb per week or less with only 30 to lose. Most people recommended to not eat back more than half your exercise calories because most burn numbers are overrated. The elliptical work will contribute to your calorie burn, and hence your deficit and weight loss, but it won't be a lot at 20 minutes per day. Good luck!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    Yes well i currently weigh 224 lbs, looking to lose about 30 lbs. I'm eating under my calories every single day. Lots of nutrients and healthier food than i normally used to eat. I'm starting to go on the elliptical to hopefully burn more calories and lose some fat.

    Question, so in the app. When i input my weight, age, goal etc etc it has already calculated my Deficit for me? So if i'm allowed to eat 1770 calories a day, then i eat 300 calories worth but burn 300 calories on the eliptical. Do i gain those calories back to eat again?

    Sorry, new to this and trying to gain as much knowledge as i can. I've lost a lot of weight before using MFP but now more than ever am i conscious to just be healthy, lose the weight feel good.

    I guess my question is, By Christmas time so about two months i'm hoping to drop a ton of weight. Will using the elliptical every day plus eating under my calories speed the process up?

    Thank You

    You earn more calories from adding exercise. MFP gave you a calorie goal before exercise. However, calorie burns are estimates. Most people start by eating back 50-75%. Then adjust up or down after a few weeks. Time to compare actual weight loss vs. expected weight loss.
  • WRLemmon
    WRLemmon Posts: 49 Member
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    If you only do elliptical you can get your body used to it to the point that you really don't lose weight that much, you do improve your health, but for best results you need to change up your work outs. Do one day on the treadmill, one on the elliptical one on the bike or rowing machine and then either a good run or power walk to finish out the week. These all use different muscle groups and will give you better results. Also Strength training is critical for weight loss. You will gain more by doing a light high rep work out with weights for 45 minutes than just plain cardio. Always do your strength training before your cardio, a lesson I sort of learned the hard way.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If your goal is to be healthy then don't crash diet and don't use exercise to further increase an already aggressive calorie goal. Your calorie goal is plus exercise calories not just 1770 - that's already a very low number for someone your size.
    Is 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week sufficient enough time to do cardio? Also, I'll start weightlifting every other day as well.

    It's a start, just like weightlifting up the volume and intensity progressively.
    Also the same as weightlifting it depends on your goals. For me it wouldn't be anywhere near enough but I'm not you.
  • michael_hatten
    michael_hatten Posts: 34 Member
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    I use an elliptical a lot. The key is to know how hard and how long you are working. I originally wanted to do about 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week (CDC Recommendation). Now I do over 200 minutes of vigorous exercise per week. I vary the work by adjusting the resistance. I measure my effort by heart rate. I don't count calories per se but compare the calorie reading one day to the calorie reading the next just to compare the amount of work I do.

    Your body can adapt to the elliptical and for it to become less effective. I started walking on a treadmill every other workout just to shake things up. I use the slope control to get my heart rate up and to increase the calorie burn.

    For the most part, I eat as if I'm not exercising. I lost over 30 pounds at about a pound a week but it was in fits and starts. I never got hung up in calorie math.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    ...Question, so in the app. When i input my weight, age, goal etc etc it has already calculated my Deficit for me? So if i'm allowed to eat 1770 calories a day, then i eat 300 calories worth but burn 300 calories on the eliptical. Do i gain those calories back to eat again?

    In theory, yes; the way MFP is set up is that your exercise calories aren't factored into your daily calorie allowance, so you're supposed to eat them back to avoid going into too steep a deficit (which is a good idea for several reasons).

    The proviso is that if your elliptical is telling you that you're burning 300 calories in 20 minutes, it's lying to you. That's a highly inflated calorie burn, which is why many people advise to only eat 50%-75% of your exercise calories back. Most calorie burn figures you see in the MFP database or on exercise machines are overstated.
  • GroundedOne2019
    GroundedOne2019 Posts: 532 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    I'm on a diet right now, eating extremely clean and drinking a lot of water a day. I'm going to get back into doing Cardio and I'm starting by doing the elliptical again.

    Is 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week sufficient enough time to do cardio? Also, I'll start weightlifting every other day as well.

    I'm trying to lose a lot of weight, maybe 25-30 pounds.

    Thank You!

    I think so forsure! I love the elliptical it's a great calorie burner, find a great song to get your heart rate up and it a geek workout I bet you'll want to go more than 20. I always wanna keep going.
  • jaysanchez4
    jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
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    Thanks Everyone! I really am grateful for all the comments and help. It's helping me on my journey on losing weight. It's been 2 weeks, diet has completely changed and I definitely lost a few pounds. Chlorophyll is doing wonders!

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