Cardio For Weight Loss
The big question is can I just do cardio to lose weight? In theory yes it is possible to just do cardio to lose weight. I’m sure you can find many individuals who have solely used cardio to lose weight. On the other hand, I would never prescribe only cardio for weight loss.
Generally in order to lose weight you need to follow the formula burn more calories than you are consuming. Calories out > Calories in! Cardiovascular exercises can be a great method for burning calories at the time. There are many different forms of cardio such as walking, biking, swimming, jogging and the list goes on.
What Else Should I Do?
There is no question cardio is great for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, when it comes to weight loss I would strongly recommend mixing in cardio with resistance training and most importantly a great diet!
One of the nice things about resistance training is your body burns more calories when you are recovering. Mixing this with cardio which burns more calories at the time can help you to burn more calories over all and improve your metabolism.
Nutrition
Nutrition is huge when it comes to weight loss. People often think if they do cardio or work out they can eat whatever they want. Let’s do a small case study. Let’s say that in your diet you cannot consume more than 2100 calories in order to lose about a pound a week. Now you start working out so that you assume that you can consume more junk food since you are burning more calories. You workout for one hour that day burning 300 calories in that workout. Next, after your hard workout you treat yourself to a blizzard from dairy queen depending on the size can range from 400 -1000 calories. You have now gone over your daily calorie limit and will be wondering why you are not losing weight after your put in so much hard work!
Totally new when it comes to nutrition? Check out Eating Healthy: Macro Nutrient Overview
I bet you haven’t tried these ab exercises?
In Summary
Cardio is an important component of overall health and fitness. When it comes to weight loss it can be a helpful tool but you should not only use cardio. To get the best results add in resistance training and have a balanced diet.
