How much cardio is too much?!
Sbruner87
Posts: 2 Member
So I have a ton of weight to lose. I'm obese.. can't find a decent answer online about how much cardio is going to be enough to help me lose weight quickly. Any tips.. or answers are appreciated
0
Replies
-
The answer depends on you. How much cardio could you do without risking injury? Without getting fed up of the extreme approach you've chosen and quitting altogether?
My "tip" is to let go of the idea of losing it quickly and consider instead how you could make this more sustainable. Isn't the allure of never ever being obese again attractive?10 -
I don't know if there's a way to really quantify that except for if you're feeling exhausted from all the exercise. But weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, so you need to make sure that is happening first and foremost.6
-
Exercise isn't the thing that makes you lose weight, as said above, it's the eating fewer calories than you need to maintain. Cardio can allow you to eat more and still lose.
But going balls to the wall on cardio from zero in the expectation that you will suddenly drop 50lbs is a sure fire way to burn out and injure yourself.14 -
You need to develop habits leading to long term health, not aim for fast weight loss. Fill out your MFP profile with an appropriate weekly loss goal (for most women the max sustainable is 1.5 lbs per week but it does depend on your starting weight.) Eat those calories plus half of your exercise calories and then evaluate progress after 4 weeks.4
-
You can't find decent answer because at the end of the day, maintaining a caloric deficit is the primary (and really only) thing that's important in weight loss. All of the weight loss tropes like, "You can't out run a bad diet," and "Weight loss is 80% in the kitchen, 20% in the gym" are essentially correct.
So just find a form of cardio you enjoy and do that for 30-60 minutes/day. Doing it regularly will make improve your fitness, increase your endurance, and make it easier for you to maintain a deficit. But if you're not weighing and tracking all the food you eat as a means of creating/maintaining a deficit, then cardio alone won't help you achieve your weight loss goal.
6 -
This content has been removed.
-
Amount of cardio does not matter. As others have said, calorie deficit matters, and it's probably wise not to have more than a 1000 calorie deficit, whether achieved through diet, exercise, or -- easiest, IMO -- a combination. Depending on how obese you are you might be able to get away with a little higher at first, but generally that's not a great idea.
As for how much cardio, how much can you see yourself happily including in your life? What worked for me (starting when I was obese) was to focus on what I could do without burning our or resenting it, what seemed fun, and then setting goals and working from there. I got to the point where I was doing a lot, but had to work up to it, and still need to include lighter days and rest days to keep from overdoing or getting burnt out.
What you don't want is to get dependent on exercise just for weight loss, as you will have to adjust the eating when you stop.1 -
Be patient op. Remember 70% of weight loss happens in the kitchen and how much you eat. If you haven't been physically active I would take it slowly. No need to risk a heart attack or stroke.
But if your body can handle running 2-3 miles a day have at it. Good luck on your journey.
People want fast results but it's better to have lasting results with a mind set to not revert back to the lifestyle choices of the past.1 -
I agree with the others here. Losing fast shouldn't really be the goal, if you plan to look good and maintain for life. Take your time and focus on learning new life style habits so when you reach your goal you can maintain.
I lost a load of weight without any exercise when i started, due to my anemia and bad knees. As i got healthier and lighter I made it my goal to get 8000-10,000 steps per day and 300mins per week walking.. But i did it so I could eat more pizza and still lose. Pizza is life.5 -
Start with what you are able to do and work up. The recommended amount is at least 250 minutes per week for weight loss, but if you can't do that much yet, any is better than none.2
-
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »IMO
A few weeks back when i started this new medication i am on it sent my energy levels through the roof, i can put in 3 hours of cardio pretty easy in one session.
However i thought about it and decided that while its nice to have the energy and while extremely high calorie burns look absolutely awesome, All i am doing is fueling my workout because i am negating the 1600 calories i am eating.. i am not really leaving much left for myself as a person, so personally i think its better to focus on maintaining a calorie deficit that is sustainable and then do a healthy amount of cardio rather then burn yourself out. I decided myself that despite my crazy energy levels, its better in the long run for my health and body
How did you ramp up to 3 hours of cardio? Going from nothing (or very little) to a lot of any exercise is a sure prescription for injury.
0 -
How much is too much? Any amount that (1) tires you out too much to go about the rest of your life, or that (2) destroys your happy life balance as you define it. Many/most people like their lives to be a nice mix of things: Work, family, social life with friends, exercise, hobbies, sleep, maybe other things. You know what things are Important to you; keep them in your life.
Beyond that, you can work up to as much cardio as you enjoy in that mix, without getting over-tired.
Personally, I look at weight loss as practice for eventual healthy living on a permanent basis. So, other than a temporary calorie deficit (for quite a number of months, until I reached goal weight), I tried not to do anything that I wouldn't want to keep doing forever. That includes unusual amounts of exercise, exercises that don't seem useful or fun to me, foods I don't enjoy eating, silly supplements, expensive special foods, etc.
And besides cardio, you might want to consider some strength-building exercise. It will help you keep more of your current level of lean body tissue (muscle, etc.) while you lose fat, rather than losing more lean tissue along with the fat. As a plus, muscle tissue burns a tiny bit more calories than fat just by existing, and strength helps us do pretty much everything in daily life better, so there are other advantages to staying strong.
3 -
I like Ann's response above, but I would also add a number 3: any amount that causes you to injure yourself.
I've definitely gone out too hard and fast before and injured myself which then stops me exercising and makes it hard for me to keep up the momentum with eating well and general healthy habits.
When you are obese you are making your joints work harder to carry your weight, and if you don't have strong muscles and good form it's easy to cause problems, especially if you really push it.
I've also learnt that getting stronger, especially around the core, has a really positive flow-on effect to cardio (running for me) and my ability to do more with better form, which helps prevent injuries.3 -
omakase619 wrote: »Be patient op. Remember 70% of weight loss happens in the kitchen and how much you eat. If you haven't been physically active I would take it slowly. No need to risk a heart attack or stroke.
But if your body can handle running 2-3 miles a day have at it. Good luck on your journey.
People want fast results but it's better to have lasting results with a mind set to not revert back to the lifestyle choices of the past.
100% of weight loss happens in the kitchen. exercise is for health reasons. you dont even have to exercise to lose weight.sure exercise can make a bigger deficit. but its not needed at all for weight loss.Im not saying not to go out and exercise,its best to get some type of exercise in. but for those who cant exercise,all thats needed is a deficit.0 -
I started off obese, I did 20 mins of exercise daily. I couldn't do anymore I was so unfit
The most important thing is logging as accurately as possible, that's what will help
1 -
So I have a ton of weight to lose. I'm obese.. can't find a decent answer online about how much cardio is going to be enough to help me lose weight quickly. Any tips.. or answers are appreciated
Here's my answer:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10506757/lack-of-patience#latest
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
3 -
Read this the whole way through since you could be self-sabotaging yourself
The only way to lose weight is through calorie deficit. The app tells you how many calories it is to lose up to 2 pounds a week (when you start losing weight it comes off quicker the first two weeks). The reason they do they do this is because it is probably unhealthy to eat too so little in a day to lose more then that. Though cardeo is good for losing calories so you can eat more in a day and still lose weight.
Though keep in mind that the amounts of calories burned are estimates that are usually over the actual amount you burned. So exerciseing to much without knowing how your body burns calories could slow down your weight loss progress. Some people eat back only half of the calories burned until they figure it out.
Though to answer you question about cardeo workouts I go around 1-3 times a week and do 20 minutes on the weight machines (good for gaining muscle and warming up), 15 on mild spinning, 30 minutes on the elliptical, 5 minutes on the stair master, and then mild spinning for 5 minutes. I burn around 400 calories at the gym with the gym machines estimates and I only eat back half. Then I also walk around 2 miles a day and I also walk to and from the gym when I went. I also was very strict with only eating what I was allowed to with my calorie budget. I even ate slightly under the calorie limit almost every day in order to make up for underestimating the calories in my food. Though this amount was never over 100 calories and I weighed myself to see if I wasent losing to much.
By doing that I lost ten pounds a month for three months. I stopped after three months since I met my goal. Through careful logging you can do the same thing. The only problem was by doing this I was getting burned out after three months. So please take this advice and count calories eaten carefully and dont go to crazy with cardeo.1 -
First off, how much do you want to lose and in what time frame?
0 -
Lose your weight in the kitchen and do enough cardio that isn't killing/exhausting you or making you bored and fed up. Change it up in the gym/exercise routine, if you jump on a treadmill and hammer it you will get bored, stop and eat pizza (imo)1
-
So I have a ton of weight to lose. I'm obese.. can't find a decent answer online about how much cardio is going to be enough to help me lose weight quickly. Any tips.. or answers are appreciated
I think you'll be good with leading up to an hour a day just make sure you get plenty of sleep and something with high protein 20-30 min before for fuel1 -
This content has been removed.
-
This content has been removed.
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions