I'm 16, 5'4 and 157 pounds and i do 1 1/4 hours of cardio 3-4 times a week but last week i did 1 bout on monday and 3 bouts on Friday/Sat/Sun. I want to ultimately lose about 20 pounds but i was wondering whether 1 1/4 hours burning about 300-400 calories is too long to have any effect?
I estimate i eat about 1600-1800 cal a day...
Thanks.
although cardio is the best way to lose weight, your body, if you carry on exercising at such a high rate so frequently, willwear itself out. its much better to do 35-40 minutes three days in a row. or if not then an hour every other day so that your body can rest in-between. this is because your body will not be able to keep up with the strains of such exercise.
good luck with losing weight, and remember that your diet is equally if not a more important aspect to weight loss!
OK thanks but people say you need to burn 3500 calories a week to lose a pound and i only burn 300 calories at the gym when i go so i get nowhere near that amount.
What kind of Cardio do you do??
It's not that you need to burn 3500 calories a week from exercise. That's the deficit you need to lose a pound, and most of that deficit will come from what you're eating. Like you said, 300 cals a day in exercise is not going to make losing a pound each week feasible.
You should do less cardio, and more strength training. If your intention is to lose weight, lifting weights will go a long way. Cardio burns more calories in the moment, but lifting weights means burning calories long after you stop working out. Maybe try doing 3 days of cardio, and 2 days of strength training.
The deficit itself will come mostly from your food. Find out your BMR, and aim to eat at least that much. There are a lot of resources on this site with more detailed advice.
I always thought I was working out too much too, but I have yet to wear myself out and I've been doing Elliptical Trainer cardio 40 minutes a day EVERYDAY for the past YEAR, and I have yet to have problems, and I eat about 1600 calories a day.
It varies on what cardio machines i use...
I use the treadmill, sitdown bike, crosstrainer and this "wave" thing where you move your knees up and down from side to side... good for the bum apparentely!
Usually i do 100kal on the wave
150 cal on the bike
50 cal treadmill warmdown
How many calories should i really be burning on a typical session?
I am quite unfit and treadmills make my ankles really hurt even when walking! (not walking on the ground though)
I go to a gym so i just use the equipment there.
To answer the original question: No. You're not doing too much cardio. An hour and 15 mins seems like a long time, but you're going at such a low intensity that it shouldn't be too hard on your body.
I think that it's good that you mix up your workout because it'll keep you from getting bored and keep your body guessing, but I agree with the above posters that you should up the intensity of your workouts and do shorter time. You could easily burn the same amount of calories in just 30-45 mins if you just turn up the bike to a higher level or try to incorporate some jogging while on the treadmill if your ankles can handle it.
If you are already exercising at your highest intensity, then just gradually up the level (about 5% a week) until you're burning more calories in a shorter amount of time.
I find it difficult already though...
How many calories should i be burning?
300 cals in an hour? I burn about 700 in an hour.
Maybe you should focus more on your heart rate. Find out what your target heart rate is for fat burning and track it either on the sensors on the machines, or invest in a heart rate monitor.
I kept it up for about a month, maybe just over and I just suddenly stopped.
I'm trying to get back into it but my body still feels pretty tired.
I know I will pick it up again eventually because this has happened before.
Original Post by skskingston:
although cardio is the best way to lose weight
-- Not necessarily: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=15265 39 - weights are extremely important for fat loss, and the argument is made that they are better.
and remember that your diet is equally if not a more important aspect to weight loss!
-- This I agree with.
Well as much a i would like to burn 700 calories a day, sorry but with my fitness level, its not going to happen... i tried running on the treadmill and it was quite slow at calorie burn and it tires me out! I understand that lean fit people can do 700-1000 calories in a hour or so but its not going to happen for me any time soon so don't say "300 calories in a hour? I do 700!!!!"
Good for you, yeah? =/ I just started working out so...
Try a heart rate monitor. That will base calorie burn on your actual level of exertion (rather than the average person, which is what the equipment displays). As you get more fit, you can up the intensity to keep your exertion level high.
Yeah but i can't do the same intensity as a fit person. Say if they did level 11.00 on the treadmill, i can only do 6.0...
Regardless, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Do the best you can and set your own goals--trust me, everybody at the gym is too worried about their own workouts to be looking at what level you are on.
right.. i didn't mean anything bad. the more unfit you are, the less time it takes to burn calories. So choose a machine where you enter your weight and track your heart rate. sorry if i offended you.
Jessiika,
I would like to weigh in on your question.
Firstly, NO, your cardio routine is nowhere near too much. Athletes do it all the time. You may tell yourself that you are not an athlete, but athletes are just people you work out to compete. Remember that soccer games are two 45 minute halves of intense cardio and that's more than you do. Plus, coming from a former athlete who exercised for 4 hours a day, no, 1.25 hours is fine. I would be worried if you said two hours a day, that's too much for everyday fitness.
Let me tell you that I do wish you were doing more resistance training or interval training, because these burn fat more effectively and give you that lean look. I stayed away from saying weightlifting because I know that most women do not want to look "bulky." Just continue with your calorie deficit and you'll see results.
Also, trying to strive for 700 calories per hour intensity for one full hour is a little over the top unless you are a competitive athlete. Don't measure yourself against that goal unless you are shooting for a 30-minute workout or intervals that add up to that.
By these standards, I'm killing myself. I am not a competitive athlete and am still about 45 pounds overweight, but at the gym, I burn about 1200 calories per workout. And if I believed the numbers in the database here, that total would be even higher. I do this 3 days per week (I do weights on 3 other days and burn much less) and I have never felt better in my life.
Since beginning my gym membership in January, I have done this every week except for one when I had a cold and last week when I was on vacation (although I did get a good workout while on vacation with the ocean kayaking, walking, and swimming I did).
How long does it take you to burn 1200?
By the way, i moved up the bike from level 3 to 5 and burned 100 cal in 16 minutes which may seem a long time but i am going to keep moving it up each time if i can.
