When it comes to designing their cardio fat loss programs, many dieters wonder just how much is enough.
They read about people losing weight successfully by doing forty-five minutes a day and make this their new target goal.
Others hear about the benefits of HIIT (high intensity interval training) for fat loss and start making that their new choice of fat loss cardio.
Who’s right? And how much cardio do you really need in order to see optimal results?
Cardio and Fat Loss Depend on Diet
The big thing to keep in mind here is that cardio is simply a method for increasing the calorie deficit you experience at the end of the day.
Cardio on its own, is not a function of fat loss.
It would be perfectly possible to lose weight successfully without doing any cardio at all.
How? Better control over your diet.
Why Some People Do So Much Cardio
More often, I find that the people who are going overboard and doing loads of cardio each day are the same people who cannot seem to get a hold of their diet, or do know any better.
They typically can’t lose weight without doing boatloads of cardio and this is why. They don’t understand the importance of diet when it comes to fat loss. So, they choose to crank up their calorie deficit through cardio.
This does hold accurate when it comes to the math – if you require 1800 calories a day to maintain your body weight, you can then either eat 1500 calories a day, or eat 1800 calories a day and burn off 300 calories a day through cardio – both will theoretically deliver the same result.
Only theoretics and real life can be two completely different things.
The Problem With Relying on Cardio For Fat Loss
There are a few big issues to keep in mind when relying on cardio alone to provide fat loss. First, too much cardio will leave you injured. Try running for 10 hours a week and see how you feel. Unless you are training for a marathon or are a very seasoned runner, chances are this is not going to be a good idea.
Secondly, too much cardio can impact your ability to recover from your weight lifting sessions.
Too much stress placed on the CNS will cause the body to go into overtraining mode, which can actually cause you to hold on to your body fat stores harder.
Finally, you really must keep in mind just how much cardio it takes to compensate for bad eating.
You can easily eat back the calories you burned in an hour long hard run simply by grabbing a hamburger at the drive through – which takes all of two to three minutes to eat.
Is that trade-off really worth it?
That’s the thing you need to ask yourself.
Sure, if you really enjoy cardio – do it and enjoy a bit more food because of it.
But don’t use cardio to compensate for not eating properly.
When it comes to fat loss, the mantra should be the less cardio you can get away with, the better.
Yes, you will want to do some cardio for the health benefits it provides, but this can be achieved in about two to three sessions of thirty minutes each session per week.
Hardly the amount many dieters are doing.
Cardio is overrated when it comes to fat loss. Getting on a proper weight lifting program and getting control over your diet – that’s what will enable you to get fat loss results.
Not becoming a hamster on the treadmill.
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