Cardio isn't for "fat burning".

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  • ronocnikral
    ronocnikral Posts: 176 Member
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    Rax1974 wrote: »
    kind of a click-bait crap title. Cardio, just like all energy usage is for fat burning. After glycogen is gone, what do you think your body does for energy. If you are eating at a surplus then fat get added and you are losing the battle. Your message is good but you picked a poor way to get your point across. IMO.

    It's also flawed, and ninerbuff doubled down, that you have to burn ALL or most? glycogen stores to even start burning fat. Which is not true. Various muscle fibers do utilize lipids (fats) as a fuel source. So, if you train those muscle fibers, you are utilizing fat as your primary fuel source. This can be quantified in a lab setting (respiratory exchange ratio).

    It's a fair point he is trying to make, it's just the delivery is bad, real bad.

    OK, I'm off the dog pile.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Cardio is for whatever you want to get out of it. Maybe it's for burning fat, maybe it's for burning time; I have half an hour to kill, so I'll run a 5k. Maybe it's for fun. Or cabin fever. Or scenery. Or transportation. Maybe you're doing a race, or it's scheduled into your training plan. Maybe it's to test new equipment - I got a set of road tubeless wheels and I've put hundreds of miles on them learning the ins and outs of this new tech before I take them onto unpaved mountain roads.

    To say that a type of exercise is only for the one thing you approve of is incredibly stupid and shows a profound lack of understanding (of why people exercise) and imagination (about the ways exercise can benefit people).
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Okay, then if Cardio isn't for fat burning what exercise do you recommend?

    Fork put downs and table push aways.


    You burn fat by consuming less energy than you expend...you expend energy all day...exercise is generally a very small % of your overall expenditure. The point is that you can do all the exercise you want but if you're consuming more than you expend you will not burn fat or lose weight.

    I ride about 80 miles per week and lift 3x per week and do a bunch of other general activity. I've lost weight, maintained weight, and gained weight doing all of this...the difference being how much energy I was consuming

    Stealing the bolded - B-E-A-ootiful!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    Rax1974 wrote: »
    kind of a click-bait crap title. Cardio, just like all energy usage is for fat burning. After glycogen is gone, what do you think your body does for energy. If you are eating at a surplus then fat get added and you are losing the battle. Your message is good but you picked a poor way to get your point across. IMO.

    I think the point is that you can do all the cardio you want...it's not going to default to losing weight or burning fat...it's very obvious in any gym that there are numerous people who think just because they're on the hamster wheel, they should be losing weight. There are a lot of people who think you have to do hours upon hours of exercise to lose weight. There are tons of people who don't understand that you will burn fat simply consuming fewer calories than you expend whether you exercise or not. There are tons of people who think the act of exercise in and of itself is what is going to drive weight loss...and if that were true then maintainers who exercise regularly should be withering away and dying. I believe this is directed at those people to help them better understand what is actually happening.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    Rax1974 wrote: »
    kind of a click-bait crap title. Cardio, just like all energy usage is for fat burning. After glycogen is gone, what do you think your body does for energy. If you are eating at a surplus then fat get added and you are losing the battle. Your message is good but you picked a poor way to get your point across. IMO.

    Cardio is for conditioning your cardiovascular system...
  • KatzeDerNacht22
    KatzeDerNacht22 Posts: 200 Member
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    I like to add cardio to my weight lifting routine, of course I track my food and calories but I'd have to eat a lil bit less if I didn't work out
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    ... maintainers who exercise regularly ...

    Is there any other kind? Not really.
  • ronocnikral
    ronocnikral Posts: 176 Member
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    Cardio is for whatever you want to get out of it. Maybe it's for burning fat, maybe it's for burning time; I have half an hour to kill, so I'll run a 5k. Maybe it's for fun. Or cabin fever. Or scenery. Or transportation. Maybe you're doing a race, or it's scheduled into your training plan. Maybe it's to test new equipment - I got a set of road tubeless wheels and I've put hundreds of miles on them learning the ins and outs of this new tech before I take them onto unpaved mountain roads.

    To say that a type of exercise is only for the one thing you approve of is incredibly stupid and shows a profound lack of understanding (of why people exercise) and imagination (about the ways exercise can benefit people).


    You're out wandering around. You should come back into the house. Maybe I missed, but who said there is only one type of exercise?

  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Rax1974 wrote: »
    kind of a click-bait crap title. Cardio, just like all energy usage is for fat burning. After glycogen is gone, what do you think your body does for energy. If you are eating at a surplus then fat get added and you are losing the battle. Your message is good but you picked a poor way to get your point across. IMO.

    I think the point is that you can do all the cardio you want...it's not going to default to losing weight or burning fat...it's very obvious in any gym that there are numerous people who think just because they're on the hamster wheel, they should be losing weight. There are a lot of people who think you have to do hours upon hours of exercise to lose weight. There are tons of people who don't understand that you will burn fat simply consuming fewer calories than you expend whether you exercise or not. There are tons of people who think the act of exercise in and of itself is what is going to drive weight loss...and if that were true then maintainers who exercise regularly should be withering away and dying. I believe this is directed at those people to help them better understand what is actually happening.

    I have to agree with this. There are lots of people at my gym who are long-time regulars (I know this because I'm a long-time regular) who year after year, stay at or near the same weight, even though they are on those machines for hours each week. They work out a lot harder than I do. I can only assume their eating habits are undoing their calorie burns.

    I know a lady who runs the same trails as me, too. She runs dozens of miles a week - way more than me - and yet years later, she's still chubby. I spoke with her recently and she asked why I was so lean. She was frustrated that she was able to get stronger and faster, but was still overweight. I asked her if she paid attention to her eating. She said she "thought" she was eating "healthy" but wasn't strict about it. She had only a rough guesstimate of her intake. Don't get me wrong, these people seem to have tons of energy and can really rock the cardio (IMO the best reason for doing cardio is the heart benefits and the feel-good chemicals, so DON'T STOP!) but the massive amounts of exercise they do doesn't ever change their weight. They need to follow-up with their food, because although they are working hard, they clearly are NOT working in a deficit.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,510 Member
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    Rax1974 wrote: »
    kind of a click-bait crap title. Cardio, just like all energy usage is for fat burning. After glycogen is gone, what do you think your body does for energy. If you are eating at a surplus then fat get added and you are losing the battle. Your message is good but you picked a poor way to get your point across. IMO.
    It takes a pretty intense effort to deplete glycogen low enough to "use" it all up. And even IF that did happen, lipolysis isn't the way energy needed immediately would work. I posted this earlier in the thread.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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  • razzapool
    razzapool Posts: 89 Member
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    although don't give up cardio it is very good for your general health and if like me you do a lot of it per week it certainly does your aid your fat loss by simply expending a lot of energy
  • Rax1974
    Rax1974 Posts: 408 Member
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    We all understand the point. We get what he is TRYING to say. Why not just say it in a way that is not trying to get as many hits as possible. Folks, you want to speed up your weight loss, cardio will help as long as you keep your intake the same but it is not necessary for weight loss. See how easy that is!
  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Ugh Yes! Thank you! Right now I'm super frustrated by my friend who is hitting the gym a few times a week (cardio and some circuit training) but endlessly complaining that she's not losing weight . She is now saying it's a thyroid issue. So I ask her what she's eating, if she's tracking in any way and she wants nothing to do with it. And I'm like, clearly what you are doing isn't working. If you need to create a Deficit and you burn 2000 calories a day but eat oogaliboo calories a day, how exactly will you know what's going on? 2000 - unknown = not weight loss means that the unknown part is the problem!
    Edit to correct my stupid autocorrect.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Cardio is for whatever you want to get out of it. Maybe it's for burning fat, maybe it's for burning time; I have half an hour to kill, so I'll run a 5k. Maybe it's for fun. Or cabin fever. Or scenery. Or transportation. Maybe you're doing a race, or it's scheduled into your training plan. Maybe it's to test new equipment - I got a set of road tubeless wheels and I've put hundreds of miles on them learning the ins and outs of this new tech before I take them onto unpaved mountain roads.

    To say that a type of exercise is only for the one thing you approve of is incredibly stupid and shows a profound lack of understanding (of why people exercise) and imagination (about the ways exercise can benefit people).


    You're out wandering around. You should come back into the house. Maybe I missed, but who said there is only one type of exercise?

    You should read a post before you reply to it. Would you like a do-over?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    ... maintainers who exercise regularly ...

    Is there any other kind? Not really.

    To be honest, I don't know any. I know people who do more than others, but everyone I know who is at a healthy weight and maintaining that is physically active in one way or another.
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
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    I wish this silly "cardio doesn't burn fat" notion would die already. Cardio increases TDEE which increases calorie deficit which burns stored fat. Every time I stop or reduce cardio, the fat comes back. When I keep up the cardio, the fat comes off and stays off.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I wish this silly "cardio doesn't burn fat" notion would die already. Cardio increases TDEE which increases calorie deficit which burns stored fat. Every time I stop or reduce cardio, the fat comes back. When I keep up the cardio, the fat comes off and stays off.

    It only increases calorie deficit if you're still eating in a deficit...if I'm eating at maintenance, it doesn't increase calorie deficit...'cuz I'm eating at maintenance.
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I wish this silly "cardio doesn't burn fat" notion would die already. Cardio increases TDEE which increases calorie deficit which burns stored fat. Every time I stop or reduce cardio, the fat comes back. When I keep up the cardio, the fat comes off and stays off.

    It only increases calorie deficit if you're still eating in a deficit...if I'm eating at maintenance, it doesn't increase calorie deficit...'cuz I'm eating at maintenance.

    And the deficit or maintenance or surplus will be determined by my TDEE which will be directly related to my cardio. And since I eat around the same amount of food on average (week to week), and don't want to eat less (and nowadays don't bother tracking calories), then the amount of cardio is the only thing I manipulate to burn fat or maintain fat loss. So to say cardio doesn't burn fat is just nonsense and misleads a lot of gullible people.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Cardio has the potential to burn stored body fat if and only if one remains in a negative energy balance...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I wish this silly "cardio doesn't burn fat" notion would die already. Cardio increases TDEE which increases calorie deficit which burns stored fat. Every time I stop or reduce cardio, the fat comes back. When I keep up the cardio, the fat comes off and stays off.

    It only increases calorie deficit if you're still eating in a deficit...if I'm eating at maintenance, it doesn't increase calorie deficit...'cuz I'm eating at maintenance.

    And the deficit or maintenance or surplus will be determined by my TDEE which will be directly related to my cardio. And since I eat around the same amount of food on average (week to week), and don't want to eat less (and nowadays don't bother tracking calories), then the amount of cardio is the only thing I manipulate to burn fat or maintain fat loss. So to say cardio doesn't burn fat is just nonsense and misleads a lot of gullible people.

    Or it educates a lot of people who think just because they're churning away on the hamster wheel that they should be losing weight...looked around a gym lately??? These people are everywhere. Like I stated before, there are tons of people who think the exercise itself should lead to weight loss...they have zero control over their diet...they do hours of cardio thinking they should be burning fat and have zero results to show for it...not sure why this is so hard to understand...seems pretty basic.

    Ultimately, if you're in a deficit, you are consuming fewer calories than you are expending...if you are maintaining you are consuming a balance of calories...if you are gaining, you are consuming a surplus of calories, regardless of your exercise.

    Nobody is arguing that it doesn't impact TDEE...that's pretty obvious.