I hear it all the time, “I wanted to lose weight, so I started walking/running/rucking/insertcardiooptionhere to burn more calories”
Logically, that does make sense.
But in reality?
It’s just not how the body actually works.
You absolutely can lose fat by walking or doing a ton of cardiovascular training. That has been proven time and time again. It isn’t the most effective way to go about it though
Mostly due to the fact that it eventually stops working. Your body adapts. It runs more efficiently. Which is NOT a bad thing. It actually means that your cardiovascular health has improved. That your lungs and heart are stronger and more efficient than they used to be. That they actually recover faster after a bout of increased activity. All of which means your overall health markers have improved. That is a huge win.
You have probably noticed improvements in energy and mood/mental clarity as well. But we aren’t talking about cardio to improve your health markers. We are talking about cardio for fat loss.
There is a laundry list of benefits to doing cardiovascular fitness training on a regular basis. And yes, it does “burn calories”- but not to the extent you think it does.
Any increase in movement will result in increased calorie burn, but in the grand scheme of things, the amount of calories burned from exercise is less than 5% of your daily calorie expenditure.
So how exactly do you move the needle if increasing energy expenditure isn’t the most effective way?
Besides decreasing the amount of calories you intake (in terms of what you eat and fuel your body with), building muscle is going to be your next best bet.
Not only is increasing your muscle mass going to also improve a lot of your health markers, make daily living easier and more enjoyable, but it is also going to help your body burn more calories naturally, throughout the day. It actually “costs” your body more energy to keep muscle thriving, than it does fat mass. So the more muscle you have, the more calories your body requires just to exist, daily.
So here is where the difference between cardio versus strength training gets interesting. Cardiovascular training does just what it says it does: it improves your cardiovascular fitness. It builds some muscular endurance, but mostly it strengthens your heart and lungs. And as your heart and lungs get stronger and more efficient, your body is able to perform that cardio activity at a much lower “energy cost”. Meaning that if you want to “burn” the same amount of calories doing cardio as you did when you started? You have to go further, and longer than you did initially to elicit the same energy expenditure or caloric “cost”.
This typically shows up as a “plateau”. Initially, when you implemented a consistent cardio training routine, you did see the scale go down. You kept on doing what was working, and it worked… until it didn’t. Your workouts got a bit easier (yay! Your cardiovascular fitness has improved!) but the scale just STOPPED responding. So you do more. You run harder, for longer and the scale moves again, but not a whole lot.
And then it stops AGAIN. See where this is going? It ends up being a vicious cycle and you end up miserable on the treadmill at max incline for an hour trying to keep the scale telling you what you want it to.
Again, I do NOT want to take away from the benefits you get from stressing your cardiovascular system. They are irreplaceable. But it doesn’t need to be gruelling in order to see those benefits.
Instead, if you implement some strength training IN ADDITION to your cardio, you will build muscle, gain strength and “reduce the efficiency of your metabolism”- meaning your body will require MORE calories to exist daily. This in turn, will increase the energy deficit and increase your ability to lose fat.
Not to mention, if you are actively seeking to increase/build/maintain muscle each and every day, any weight that you do lose? Will 100% be fat loss.
And when you reach your desired “weight” and enter back into a maintenance phase of life, you will be much more likely to be able to maintain your new “normal weight”.
So what exactly should training look like for fat loss?
Starting out with anywhere from 2-4 strength training sessions/week.These do not have to be 2 hour sessions at a fully equipped gym either. It can look like 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises. A structured, progressive program is most effective. Do me a favor and don’t just youtube random “HIIT strength” workouts. Programming does make a difference, and if you don’t know where to start, click here for my free anytime/anywhere bodyweight workout program.
And supplementing with some cardio as well. My favorite way to do that? Walk.
Yes, just as easy as that. Walking for 30 minutes a day makes a HUGE impact on the success of your fat loss goals. Walking is amazing because it has an extremely low barrier to entry. Nearly everyone can do it fairly easily. You don’t need any equipment and you can do it literally anytime. Even the 30 minutes you put in each day doesn’t need to be all at one time. If that doesn’t work for your schedule, breaking it into 3 10 minute walks/day is JUST as effective as doing it all at one time.
Now, if you love running or biking or swimming, or any other form of cardio. Do that. Walking is not the only effective form of cardio, it’s just the easiest and most enjoyable for most people. If you do partake in another form of cardio that is more intense than walking, I would recommend limiting that to 3-4 days/week, rather than everyday if you were walking.
Exercise as well as a caloric deficit (which is required for fat loss) are both forms of “stress” for the body. They are good forms of stress, but stress nonetheless. And too much stress? Will slow any fat loss progress to a near screeching halt. That being said, please remember, that more is not always better when it comes to exercise and fat loss!
This is the general structure I start all of my 1 on 1 online coaching clients with when it comes to their workout plans, especially if their goal is fat loss. And most of them love it. If they don’t love it right away, they do once they see the progress start to take off.
If you have any questions about any of this, please email me at abshealthandfit@gmail.com or you’re just ready to get started and have me take all of the guesswork out of it for you, you can apply for 1 on 1 online coaching here.
I’m always here to help.