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Old 02-04-14, 07:52 AM  
Lucky Star
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I'm not a cardio lover but have always had to include some in order to drop pounds. My preferred is AWT-style circuits (a la older Firms) plus walking, though lately I'm starting to add some slow stepping. The only high impact I'll do is whatever The Firm includes - and I sometimes modify that - otherwise it's low impact all the way.

Is it the fastest, most efficient way to lose weight? Maybe not, but I know it's good for my health and it's what I'll *do*.
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Old 02-04-14, 08:25 AM  
Jane1721
 
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Originally Posted by slysam View Post
I think the conventional wisdom about losing weight with just cardio is a little flawed. You may be able to lose some weight by adding cardio if you were not already active, but the success of cardio alone for weight loss is often overstated. As you know, diet is the main thing especially if you have a lot to lose (not saying you do) or are already active and fit.
I was thinking along these lines too. I remember seeing a You Tube video where a guy demonstrated the importance of food over exercise for weight loss. He had one guy run on a treadmill for five minutes and another guy eat pizza for five minutes, then compared how many calories the exerciser burned (less than 100) compared to how many the pizza guy ate (close to 1000). It made a great point!

My weight has been as high as 143 and as low as 108, and I have always done about two hours of exercise daily. In my non-scientific opinion based solely upon my own observations of myself, one should exercise to be healthy and eat less to lose weight. I'm sure exercise does support weight loss efforts, but to say cardio does or does not work for weight loss is too exclusive of a claim. There are too many other factors (food, stress, sleep, etc).
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Old 02-04-14, 08:43 AM  
Gams
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
It's good for your heart regardless, so I would never consider it a waste of time whether I lost weight or not.
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Old 02-04-14, 08:47 AM  
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I lost 70 pounds while hiking, running and bike riding. So, I disagree with that statement. But, while my legs were really toned, my upper body was not. As I age, I'm finding that a mix of strength training and cardio helps me slim down, and unfortunately (as I have exercise ADD) consistently sticking to a program.
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Old 02-04-14, 09:39 AM  
LoveVA
 
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I lost 70 pounds while hiking, running and bike riding. So, I disagree with that statement. But, while my legs were really toned, my upper body was not. As I age, I'm finding that a mix of strength training and cardio helps me slim down, and unfortunately (as I have exercise ADD) consistently sticking to a program.

Does this mean that you do rotations only? I'm doing my first rotation ever (Brazil Butt Lift) and I am getting some good results much more quickly than I have in the past when I just picked lots of workouts to do in a month.

Up until now, I have felt like I have to use as many of my workouts in a given month as possible. So I'm all over the place, using different workouts each week. I'm wondering if I need to decide that I want to focus on a specific goal (e.g. cardio endurance, lower/upper body strength) and put a few workouts in rotation in a given month and use them repeatedly for that month before moving on to something else.
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Old 02-04-14, 11:00 AM  
Harantwanders
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
I get the best results regarding weight from just cardio and eating properly.

I gained steadily during my years of lifting (still lift but lightly these days).
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Old 02-04-14, 11:08 AM  
slysam
 
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2. For myself, I see more effective results combining resistance training with cardio. If time to workout is is limited, I am better served doing just resistance training when fat loss is the goal. One of the reasons for weight gain is that we lose muscle mass if we dont exercise in ways that preserves muscle. When we loss muscle through dis-use, the body's caloric needs reduce. Even eating the same as in youth will lead to fat gain when that happens.
Well said, this is what I was referring to when I posted about some sort of strength training is good to keep existing lean mass. I haven't really dieted without some sort of resistance training in part because when I was in college my nutrition professor talked about this. She said (layperson's paraphrase not exact quote) that people usually lose some lean mass including muscle along with fat when they lose weight. To some extent this just happens. But what can happen is that people can get smaller but end up with the same or even higher body fat percent than before they dieted. Muscle boosts metabolism a little (I think the amount is currently overstated by some strength and conditioning folks right now) and having less means a slower metabolism than you would have had. She said there are things people can do while dieting to diminish this--mainly strength training, but also eating enough protein and general good nutrition and to some extent cardio or physical work. My impression is strength training just works a little better. If we are able to keep more lean mass while dieting we look "more toned" and have an easier time maintaining weight.

I don't think it has to be heavy weights as I mentioned. I think they can work well for people, but so can kettlebells, bodyweight exercises, aerobic weight training, barre, pilates, some types of yoga, resistance bands, etc. And it is good for your health--but that is true of all healthy exercise.

I personally think it is still good to do cardio especially if you enjoy it. It does help with weight loss, but more importantly it helps keep your heart healthy. And if you enjoy it, you might get an "exercise high"--a good aerobic workout puts me in a good mood and helps me de-stress. And that is priceless!
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Old 02-04-14, 12:47 PM  
Sarah-lara
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Unfortunately some new research (including some shown on this Horizon episode) points toward cardio, on its own, being ineffective for weight loss for some people. Notice I didn't say for mood; for improved posture, balance, stamina, and circulation; for reduction of your chances of various diseases; etc. You're definitely not wasting a minute of your time by walking! But yeah, you gotta build some muscle and do the darn diet too. (Boo! I hate the diet part!)
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Old 02-04-14, 01:00 PM  
gladgirl
 
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Smile

I can lose weight/lbs with diet alone.
I can lose weight/lbs with diet and cardio.
I can lose weight/lbs and look my best with diet and strength training, in my case KB's.
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Old 02-04-14, 01:11 PM  
Sarah-lara
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I can lose weight/lbs with diet alone.
I can lose weight/lbs with diet and cardio.
I can lose weight/lbs and look my best with diet and strength training, in my case KB's.
You're smart that you chose KB's because they definitely have a cardio component too. Double duty! I once hung out on a bodybuilding forum that sort of shuns cardio and believe me, those guys look terrific and love their training but several of them mentioned getting winded just walking to their cars from the gym floor. ETA: I was surprised by that because there are so many ways to get some cardio while lifting, but apparently they weren't using them.
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