Cardio doesn't help you lose weight...

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

I don't know about anybody else, but I haven't started lifting weights yet . . . All I've been doing is cardio, and I've lost 46 pounds. Clearly this dude has NO IDEA what he's talking about!

Actually, lifting can burn fat. There are some studies on this.

BUT never believe anyone who says things like "X exercise won't help you lose weight". Obviously, anything that helps you burn more calories than you take in is going to help you lose weight. So saying that is just stupid!

I found that the best thing for me was a mixture of cardio and strength training. Strength training helped me minimize muscle loss during my losing phase and build muscles during maintenance. This helped raise my metabolism (dieting lowers it) and makes it easier to maintain my weight because it increase my calorie burn over all. It also makes it easier to do everyday things like carry heavy suitcases and lift my bike onto my bike rack.

Cardio OTOH helps me burn massive amounts of calories and I always "lean out" when I get to a phase in my training where I am doing very long runs and bike rides.

Dr. Oz had this guy on who had all kinds of PhD's and degrees in this feild of study, and he said the same thing! Dr. Oz (and me) were completely baffled as to why he would say this. His argument was that cardio helps maintain weight and helps strengthen heart health, but does not factor into actually LOSING weight and burning fat. I can understand his perspective.. but I don't exactly agree with it. I think its a very radical way of looking at human physiology. I tried to do some research on the issue, but couldn't find any concrete research articles supporting this theory without having to buy a $50 book.

Maybe that is the case with some people. For me, it seems like if I just lower my calories and don't work out, I have better success. Working out hard doesn't seem to be effective. But I like the fit part so I keep trying...

I hate exercise. I have always hated exercise. I will probably always hate it!!

Back in 2002, I joined Weight Watchers. I followed the plan Monday through Friday, and ate whatever I wanted on Saturday and Sunday. I did not exercise at all. I lost anywhere from 2 to 5 lbs each week. I noticed when I ate more protien, I lost more weight. The information that I received from Weight Watchers basically said that I could eat more if I exercised. I chose to eat less and exercise none. The program worked for me. When I stopped following the program, I began eating more and more. The weight did come back because my diet changed.

Cardio and strength training go hand in hand. If you want to lose weight you MUST be doing BOTH cardio and strength. Not saying that you need to lift heavy weights but the more muscle you have the more calories you body will be burning long after your workout is done. Too many times, I have seen people just focus on doing cardio and as weight loss occurs they havent done any strength training so they have lots of excess skin and flab because they arent building muscle from doing the strength training.

If you want to lose weight you MUST be doing BOTH cardio and strength.

^ Neither of these are necessary to lose weight. Both are helpful but to say it's a MUST is absurd.

This is silly.

Weight loss is about calories in and calories out. A deficit will create weight loss. Plain and simple.

If you are moving and pumping up your heart rate- you are burning calories.

^^ This one is correct. Its interesting to see the wide variety of responses to this question. Goes to show that MFPers, as a community, are not experts. Anyway, as the earlier poster said, if you burn more calories than you take in, then you will lose fat. You can create that caloric deficit through nutrition alone....or you can choose to do some form of exercise to burn extra calories and eat a little more, but still keep a caloric deficit.

I went through metabolic assessments at my health club (O2 uptake evaluation using New Leaf equipment) and the program they recommended has worked for me. The basic notion is: there is a zone of cardio activity (based on heart rate) that optimizes weight loss aka the fat burning zone ... if you walk too slow or run too fast, you're not at the optimal zone so you won't burn as much fat as you would in the "zone". Here's a couple of pages from about.com that discuss exercise intensity and weight loss:

http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/The-Truth-About-The-Fat-Burning-Zone.htm
http://exercise.about.com/od/cardioworkouts/a/Cardio-Workout-Program-For-Weight-Loss.htm

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

Its not true! As the "muscles develop" the fat will go away.Not to mention improve your bone density. But you still need Cardio to burn fat as well.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

What did you read?

Even though she has me "ignored", I feel I need to rebut her misconception, so that nobody else falls for it.

Hell, even your beloved eHow says it burns fat! (http://www.ehow.com/how_4500347_burn-fat-weight-lifting.html) :laugh:

Here is one article with credible sources: http://www.livestrong.com/article/382599-does-weight-lifting-burn-fat/

bump

it all has to do with creating a calorie deficit. You will not lose weight by doing cardio if you don't change your eating habits.

Still can't believe a worker at the gym told me this. I have lost 34 lbs. recently and went looking for a second gym near work (I lose some motivation on the drive home). The person showing me around said the weight loss was due to diet changes and not all of the excercise since I don't do weights. I do cardio 5-6 days a week, crunches nearly every day I work out and pilates for about 20 min. nearly every day, go to the class twice weekly. How discouraging this would be to someone who was planning to walk/run only.

Cardio burns fat. A lot of people want people to believe that lifting weights or should I say, lifting heavy is the answer and it's not. A person can lift weights until they are blue in the face, but that will not make the fat go away. It will develop the muscles under fat.

I don't think this is true.. do you have solid research to back this up? From my understanding, I've read otherwise.

Its not true! As the "muscles develop" the fat will go away.Not to mention improve your bone density. But you still need Cardio to burn fat as well.

Cardio burns fat. Lifting weights by itself will not burn the fat.

I love cardio. I'll pick it over lifting weights any day.