Cardio
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CassieJones104
Posts: 76 Member
How much cardio should I be doing to lose weight? Is 3 times a week for 20 min sufficient or does it like everything else just depend on the person?
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Replies
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Weight is lost by a eating in a caloric deficit, exercise is for health.12
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That is the minimum recommended amount for fitness and heart health.3
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I have heard if you sit all day, an hour a day of movement is generally recommended. however any movement you are doing that you weren't before will benefit your heart health. but calories in < calories out will ultimately determine your weight loss.7
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http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10346155/cardio-isnt-for-fat-burning/p1
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
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I'm confused. I understand that CICO is what determines weight loss but won't cardio help? Saying it's just for fitness or health seems a little misleading. If you do an hour of moderate to intense cardio five times a week, while eating at slight deficit you will lose more weight than if you were just sitting on the couch. Right?7
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krwjohnson wrote: »I'm confused. I understand that CICO is what determines weight loss but won't cardio help? Saying it's just for fitness or health seems a little misleading. If you do an hour of moderate to intense cardio five times a week, while eating at slight deficit you will lose more weight than if you were just sitting on the couch. Right?
Not if it increases your appetite enough that you eat back all the calories you burned.
There are two basic approaches (and all sorts of combinations) - eat "maintenance" calories and exercise to create a deficit, and eat "deficit" calories. The same deficit created either way results in the same weightloss.
IMO, increasing NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis; in other words, time spent on your feet and moving around) is actually more important than "doing cardio". Serves the same purpose in raising your daily calorie burn, but doesn't make you as hungry.6 -
I, personally, am back on the running wagon after a year off and a 20+ lb weight gain.
I run because I love it. Do about 60-75 minutes every other day but because I am trying to lose weight and not just keep my heart strong, I am careful to fuel myself in a calorie deficit situation. Good foods like oatmeal are filling and provide great, long lasting energy and stave off the hunger.
I think if you are doing cardio 20 mins a day 3x a week, its a great start and maybe you'll grow to love it and increase it a bit and then comes the 5k, then 10k and you're hooked.
Except for one cheat day where I went 1000+ calories over (before I stopped counting), I eat just under my 1350 calories a day (this includes a small, measured glass of wine with dinner) and I have lost 14 lbs in >20 days. I'm never hungry and never crave carbs. But I also burn around 600 calories a day from exercise and operate at a continual deficit.
Just saying, everyone is different, but it is CICO.
best of luck and you're off to a good start.
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queenliz99 wrote: »Weight is lost by a eating in a caloric deficit, exercise is for health.
This is so not true - not by EATING in a caloric deficit, its by being in a caloric deficit. This site is after all called my FITNESS pal. So sick of seeing that phrase on these forums... sighhhhh
OP - if you want to get yourself in a caloric deficit by exercise alone go for it - its going to be substantially better for your health than starving yourself to get there. But 20 min 3 times a week is not going to burn that much unless you are doing HIIT or some sort of high intensity circuit. You should be doing minimum 20 minutes of exercise every day, even if that's just a 20 min walk.13 -
Wonderful things happen to a body when good, whole food is being eaten, either on maintenance or on caloric deficit. Add some weight training and weightloss is guaranteed, there's more benefit in it than just doing cardio.
But to answer your initial question - 20mins STEADY cardio 3 times a week is not enough for anything. Amp it up to 40mins and see how it goes.1 -
applesandtapeline wrote: »Wonderful things happen to a body when good, whole food is being eaten, either on maintenance or on caloric deficit. Add some weight training and weightloss is guaranteed, there's more benefit in it than just doing cardio.
But to answer your initial question - 20mins STEADY cardio 3 times a week is not enough for anything. Amp it up to 40mins and see how it goes.
Ignore this. You need a calorie deficit to lose weight. This can be created through diet, exercise or a combination of the 2.10 -
Exercise helps create more deficit but its not essential for weight loss - Being in calorie deficit is.6
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krwjohnson wrote: »I'm confused. I understand that CICO is what determines weight loss but won't cardio help? Saying it's just for fitness or health seems a little misleading. If you do an hour of moderate to intense cardio five times a week, while eating at slight deficit you will lose more weight than if you were just sitting on the couch. Right?
Well your calories will vary depending on how active you are to create that 'slight deficit'. A sedentary person might eat 1500 calories for a slight deficit, but 2000 if he exercises 1 hour a day and is on his feet a lot, for example. That's why FOR ME exercise is very important, but I do agree that there's a point where exercise makes you too hungry for the calories it burns - so for me light exercise was the best while losing (some lifting and walking - I got too hungry when I started running).
20 minutes of exercise 3x a week really won't matter as much as your every day activity level when it comes to burning calories though. It's honestly pretty insignificant - I burn maybe 100 calories on my bike in 20 minutes.1 -
queenliz99 wrote: »Weight is lost by a eating in a caloric deficit, exercise is for health.
This is so not true - not by EATING in a caloric deficit, its by being in a caloric deficit. This site is after all called my FITNESS pal. So sick of seeing that phrase on these forums... sighhhhh
OP - if you want to get yourself in a caloric deficit by exercise alone go for it - its going to be substantially better for your health than starving yourself to get there. But 20 min 3 times a week is not going to burn that much unless you are doing HIIT or some sort of high intensity circuit. You should be doing minimum 20 minutes of exercise every day, even if that's just a 20 min walk.
Whatever. However you want to create a deficit is up to you. Before i started counting calories accurately i tried losing weight by exercising which is hard to do if don't know how many calories you are eating. I was spinning my wheels. 20 years of nothing but I did have excellent health other than being obese.
OP, get accurate with intake and exercise for health and it will add some calories to your day.4 -
applesandtapeline wrote: »But to answer your initial question - 20mins STEADY cardio 3 times a week is not enough for anything. Amp it up to 40mins and see how it goes.
This isn't right. Yes, increasing your time can help you, but to say that you're not accomplishing anything with 20 is nonsense.
OP: focus mainly on diet, and add whatever exercise you can do for health and fitness. If you can only do 20 minutes at a time right now, do it up. Try to increase as it gets easier.4 -
Cardio is great. I would never tell someone who wants to do cardio NOT to do it... but like others said, it really comes down to your calorie deficit. Start with 20 min 3x per week and see how you feel, you can always increase it with time.. you don't have to jump in the deep end because you feel you have to in order to lose weight.
While I lift weights and do yoga, I don't really do cardio. I am very active on a daily basis however - walking, cleaning, taking care of my kids, bouncing around, cooking etc.7 -
Cardio is essential for me. When I exercise less, I gain back a few. When I get back on track, I lose it. This is how I lost 39 lbs and have been maintaining at 113-115 lbs. I'd rather get my deficit by doing cardio while eating 1700-2000 calories, than starving myself on 1200 without cardio. My magic formula has been 7-10 hrs/week both during weight loss and maintenance.3
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queenliz99 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »Weight is lost by a eating in a caloric deficit, exercise is for health.
This is so not true - not by EATING in a caloric deficit, its by being in a caloric deficit. This site is after all called my FITNESS pal. So sick of seeing that phrase on these forums... sighhhhh
OP - if you want to get yourself in a caloric deficit by exercise alone go for it - its going to be substantially better for your health than starving yourself to get there. But 20 min 3 times a week is not going to burn that much unless you are doing HIIT or some sort of high intensity circuit. You should be doing minimum 20 minutes of exercise every day, even if that's just a 20 min walk.
Whatever. However you want to create a deficit is up to you. Before i started counting calories accurately i tried losing weight by exercising which is hard to do if don't know how many calories you are eating. I was spinning my wheels. 20 years of nothing but I did have excellent health other than being obese.
OP, get accurate with intake and exercise for health and it will add some calories to your day.
What I am getting at is it is not healthy to lose weight simply by eating a calorie deficit.. you will lose weight but that doesn't mean it is healthy. Everyone needs to exercise, every day.5 -
queenliz99 wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »Weight is lost by a eating in a caloric deficit, exercise is for health.
This is so not true - not by EATING in a caloric deficit, its by being in a caloric deficit. This site is after all called my FITNESS pal. So sick of seeing that phrase on these forums... sighhhhh
OP - if you want to get yourself in a caloric deficit by exercise alone go for it - its going to be substantially better for your health than starving yourself to get there. But 20 min 3 times a week is not going to burn that much unless you are doing HIIT or some sort of high intensity circuit. You should be doing minimum 20 minutes of exercise every day, even if that's just a 20 min walk.
Whatever. However you want to create a deficit is up to you. Before i started counting calories accurately i tried losing weight by exercising which is hard to do if don't know how many calories you are eating. I was spinning my wheels. 20 years of nothing but I did have excellent health other than being obese.
OP, get accurate with intake and exercise for health and it will add some calories to your day.
What I am getting at is it is not healthy to lose weight simply by eating a calorie deficit.. you will lose weight but that doesn't mean it is healthy. Everyone needs to exercise, every day.
Some can't though.3 -
How much cardio should I be doing to lose weight?
For weight loss - somewhere between zero and loads.
Is 3 times a week for 20 min sufficient.
That's pretty minimal but 60 minutes a week is better than nothing and will help your heart health to a degree.
But think at age 31 you could be a lot more ambitious than that - is there no "cardio" you actually enjoy? It doesn't have to be indoors or in a gym or boring....
Or does it like everything else just depend on the person?
Yes exactly this!
For me it's between 4 - 10 hours of cardio a week as I have fairly advanced fitness goals (and I enjoy both the activity and the results).
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