Can I lose weight with just cardio?

@angelbaby35 Yes please don't ruin your back. Watch not only calories but ig the quality of food. Make sure it wholesome and balanced. 30-40 minutes of cardio is a good start. You can incorporate resistance bands if weights have to be avoided.
 
@angelbaby35 If straight weight loss is your goal for right now cardio thats safe with your physical status will be a sure winner. If your doing 10 minutes of each you are probably burning a couple hundred extra calories.

Most people on a rest day with little to moderate activity burn between 1600-1800 calories a day. With all that cardio you are probably around 2100 calories for maintenance. You are more than likely burning around 300-400 calories for the work that you described above.

Macrofactor will help you find your daily or weekly calories because it keeps track of the calories you eat and the weight you gain or lose and adjusts every week.

Its hard telling because if you work full time, with the gym, office work even, you could be burning like another 600 calories for an 8 hour office shift ontop of the 1600-1800 for daily living and 300-400 for the cardio. So even on a rest day if you work an 8hour shift at mcdonalds that can burn alot of calories. With the information you have provided me I really can’t tell you much more.

But I can tell you is half a pound is 1750 cal and a whole pound is 3500 cal and thats around a daily deficit of 300-500 calories. So if your losing 2-3lbs a week then you are in a deficit of 7,000-10,500 calories a week. Which is around 1000-1500 a day.

You might want to check out macrofactor

https://macrofactorapp.com/

Or the rp diet app

https://info.rpstrength.com/diet-app/

If you want a book on dieting and eating :

Renaissance diet 2.0

Renaissance periodization- understanding healthy eating

—-

If you start macrofactor if you kept logs of your calories and weight somewhere else you can put in like 2-3 weeks of info and then have to make a new program off that and it will give you current info instead of waiting a week.
 
@angelbaby35 I will emphasize this

YOU CAN'T OUT RUN A BAD DIET.

cardio is great for heart health, and you will burn a good 100 calories per mile on good days. However, by a huge margin, your weightless is predominantly controlled by what you eat.

Don't conflate this with overly simplified (calorie in > calorie out) because our "calorie out" is so varied, this is a hard inequality to calculate.

Running is great for building all the smaller stability muscles, this helps you to tone the entire overall body too, so that way as you lose fat you appear more toned as well.

It is important that you noted that you will watch your caloric intake. That step is the cornerstone of your weightless, and not any form of running you plan to do. Running is great when you have an extremely strict diet, but you want to reach sub 12% body fat but can't eliminate enough calories due to macro intake. In general though, cardio should be seen as your heart health generator and not your fat loss burner
 
@angelbaby35 Yes but you got to be careful. Make sure you’re still getting plenty of protein and so you don’t lose muscle mass but what I would do is go into a calorie deficit but still work out and try to keep on with the protein
 
@angelbaby35 Weight lose is much more to do with diet than exercise.sure exercise definitely helps but if you have a poor diet,or eat more calories than you need, no amount of exercise will get weight loss. So I would say take a look at what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat first.
Cardio will help improve heart and lung function so gives you better quality of life..in the long run also less chance of heart disease..again back to diet.

Lifting weights will require more calories so you will use those up, and some research suggests the body continues to use up calories long after lifting weight, whereas cardio pretty much stops once you stop.

So in summary I would say look at your diet, continue your cardio, build in some weight programme but remember, consistency is key, make this a lifestyle and find what you enjoy best...doing work you hate won't last a long time.

Finally if you can, build in some swimming...great overall body workout and if carry excess weight ATM, the water will help to take pressure off the joints as you build up the strength.

Keep going and good luck
 
@angelbaby35 Cardio is good, keep doing it. It doesn't really burn many calories but it's good for other reasons

Weights are good. They also don't burn many calories but have a ton of great benefits. When you can, do what you can.

The kitchen, the kitchen is where you lose weight. Make good healthy food choices, be vigilant of your calorie deficit, develop new habits that you can sustain.

I personally don't think 1600 calories is too little. I have to eat way less than that to move the scale and I'm a big dude. Everyone is different. If you need more help than reddit can provide in that aspect, talk to your doc and maybe get a referral to a dietician.
 
@angelbaby35 Yes the ELMM diet, I cannot believe so many people have not heard of it.

Eat Less Move More

It is absolutely guaranteed to work you only need to look at recent history for proof.
 
@inession Lol, I tend to do more weight training, minimum 12 reps 5 sets, I'm big enough so don't try to do huge weights, 12 reps make me grow anyway lol.

I tell people to never have set days, just go to the gym and do 5 sets of 5 exercises of whatever they feel like, doesn't matter what it us if you want to lose weight. Leg day, chest n triceps etc come after when your trying to shape.

I do cardio for 5 mins before training and a little after to loosen up a bit. 30 seconds skipping 30 second rest, then 30 secs on the bag the 30 off.

It's been working for years, I'm 38yo now and a full boxing session with lots of cardio finishes me off for a day or two now, so if I go I do squats and push ups when they are doing a mile jog. It's embarrassing that although I look fit it would take me around 16 mins to finish a mile................that's fast walking speed ffs lol
 
@angelbaby35 I think you might be better off doing 30-60 minutes on a single exercise but I’m not sure. It can get boring to do a single exercise for 60 minutes, so I understand, but I think longer sessions at low/moderate intensity will help you improve over time. I’d start with 30 minute sessions of 1-2 exercises and work your way up from there.

You may want to see a physical therapist and get advice on calisthenic exercises that will be low risk for you. There’s no need to do heavy weights, but resistance exercise is an important part of overall fitness if you can manage it. You may be able to reduce your risk of future injury with the right resistance exercises.
 
@robertfred777 Thanks for this. I think I move about not because of boredom, but because 10 minutes per machine is all I can do without dying :) I am trying to build it up though. So when I do get better I could stick to one/two machines.
 
@angelbaby35 From what I understand, zone 2 cardio is best for fat burning. That’s a low/medium-low intensity or heart rate. It also allows you to train for greater fat burning and endurance without overdoing it. In this zone you should be lightly sweating after about 5-10 minutes and be able to carry on a conversation without much trouble. Once you’ve gotten a month or two of exercising 2-3 times a week at this level, you should be able to stay in zone 2 for 45-60 minutes and feel perfectly fine.

There’s a ton of information on the science behind zone 2 training on YouTube and in podcasts. Peter Attia is a great resource but his material is often presented in a highly technical jargon.

Really pushing yourself at your maximum heart rate is good to do sometimes for increasing VO2 Max, but 80%-90% of your aerobic workout time should be lower intensity.
 
@angelbaby35 The key is consistently keeping your heart rate high for minimum 30 minutes.

Even if you fast walk on treadmill on 3.5 mph speed for 30 mins daily itll help.

Also eat better and eat less. Diet is huge.
 
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