Cardio doesn't help you lose weight...

I credit not gaining a pound on holiday to all the intense hours of walking and some jogging I did. Literally ate the most delicious, unhealthiest, large amounts of food in London for a week. I think I had sausage every morning the entire time I was there lol Did not gain an ounce and after it all I did not feel guilty. I have yet to make weights a full part of my workout and at that point hadn't lifted in about a month sooooooo I think the cardio was doing a great job at burning the calories and keeping that gain at bay. I will be adding weights but, I know cardio got me here.

I don't think "Intense" and "walking" belong in the same sentence.

To whomever thinks cardio does not help one lose weight, I woud suggest they eat a "normal" (though reasonably controlled and nutritious) diet, drink 6-8 glasses of water per day, and take something like Zumba 1 hour classes, three times per week for two months; then report back how much weight you lost. For me, pounds and inches lost doing this were close to dramatic! Of course, everyone is different, I would just challenge those "cardio skeptics" to try it and see what happens! Cheers and best wishes!

Warning that this is pretty tl;dr when it comes to placing things in the correct order, sorry I'm not very good with grammar;;

-- When it comes to weight loss, it's almost purely diet intake.
Or so, 70% diet, 30% excercise.
However, cardio and strength training go hand and hand.
Cardio is a fat burner yes, but strength training allows for lean muscle growth. Lean muscle speeds up you metabolism which allows you to burn the fat and then allows you to keep burning the fat even if you're doing something like sitting around.
Diet is the key in weight loss. The reason why so many people gain weight is because their foods are primarily acidic and fat is your body's way of protecting the stomach lining from acid. Reducing your intake on foods changes how much fat your body requires since you're taking away a lot of the acid that goes into your body, if you are to take acidic foods completely, you'd see much more dramatic results.
Remember also that there are 3,500 calories in a pound. Yeah you can exercise to your heart's content and lose weight, it does burn off a lot calories, though monitoring your intake on foods help ease the process of burning off calories.

Cardio works just fine for me. Strength training will always be at the bottom of my list. A person has to do what they feel is right for their body.

So how much weight have you lost recently on this cardio-only plan?

Wow, this is amazing to me that we've got this long of a thread on this. Look the facts are simple, you lose fat and weight by burning more energy (calories) than you take in. Cardio exercise burns more energy, so does heavy weight training, so does walking your dog, having sex, or cleaning your house. Now each activity has different energy needs but at the end of the day activities you do will cause your body to use more energy.

Now of course Diet is a key here. Again it doesn't matter how much energy you burn off each day if you're taking in more calories than your body requires. So your diet has to work with your exercise program and overall daily expenditure. It's not rocket science folks, it's actually quite simple.

Just because you prefer Cardio does not mean that weight lifting doesnt burn fat. AZackery Please do research before you give such strong, bold statements. Or say in your opinion.

If I only lift weights, how long will it take me to lose fat?

I suggest you read Body for Life or New Rules of Lifting for Women. I believe that the New Rules is a 9 week program if I remember correctly.

It's roughly 6-7 months if you follow the phases in the book as prescribed.

Gradual increases in weights, Lifts that develop in complexity. I got through about 3 months of it and decided to change over to Stronglifts 5x5 because I enjoy simplicity

It is NOT that cardio does not help you lose weight...of course being active will ALWAYS help you lose weight...I think a lot of people who say this are not informed correctly or do not really know how to explain it...

Muscle burns more calories then fat...so having more muscle means you are burning more calories even if you are just sitting..so yes you need to make sure you are building muscles as well as losing fat...

Cardio MIGHT make you lose fat AND muscle... so in the long term you are not as healthy..it is better to mix both. CArdio to help now and build a little muscle for later and of course no one wants to be flabby..


To help to do it correct (Yes i use to be fit before ).. do a little warm up 15 min cardio....then weights (girls unless you use hormons you will NOT get big)..or calisthenics (sit ups,push ups, pilates, yoga) ...and then do cardio (atleast 1 hour)..

Hope this helps.

I suggest you read Body for Life or New Rules of Lifting for Women. I believe that the New Rules is a 9 week program if I remember correctly.

I'm not going to read the book, but thank you anyway.

Heaven forbid your pollute your mind with something that might actually contain useful information.

Haha, I don't even understand why anyone is arguing with you. Cardio works for you right? You burn more calories than you consume so you are loosing weight right? Well great job and keep doing what you are doing. People are just trying to help others understand that in the end, the caloric deficit is most imporant as you need to govern your intake vs your usage. Strength training will increase your usage, but cardio will also burn calories (which is usage also).

Cardio works just fine for me. Strength training will always be at the bottom of my list. A person has to do what they feel is right for their body.

I think of it this way.
Any time you have a true caloric deficit under your BMR (so we’re talking strictly properly functioning systems here to take all the exceptions like long term starvation mode out of the equation) you’re going to have weight loss. Cardio burns hot and fast, the after burn lasts a short time only at the end of the workout. Creating a caloric deficit uses all types of energy sources to fuel the body’s function including fats, sugars, and proteins. While in weight loss mode you can decrease the % of this weight loss attributed to lean mass by coupling it with weight training. Strength training burns less during a lifting session, but the after burn lasts a longer period of time once the exercise session is complete.

I think you may be confusing BMR and maintenance. You don't have to eat under your BMR to lose weight, it is actually suggested that you don't eat less than your BMR if you don't have a lot to lose. Eating under your maintenance calories will cause you to lose weight, and BMR is lower than your maintenance.