NO Cardio To Lose Weight??

I just read an article that is out there, I heard about it on a local talk radio show, about a researcher who said that cardio workouts help you in absolutely no way lose weight. I am currently dieting and working out to lose weight but the bulk of my "working out" is a 2 mile walk/jog. Would that mean I am wasting the time doing that? Has anyone else heard about this or has more understanding about this?

Maybe they mean cardio alone can't help you lose weight because it's important to strength train as well.

My personal experience has been that exercise alone did not help me lose weight.  It had great health effects, but I did not lose weight until I added caloric restrictions, making sure I was eating under my burn rate.  Once you start doing that, exercise is a great way to increase your metabolism or make up for some added calories through the day.

I all I can go by are my results, and I've lost weight doing only cardio before...so.

I like doing strenght training too, because it tones, but just this week I lost four pounds doing only cardio. So...yeah. That's my experience with it. Sorry if it's not very helpful.

Depends what he's talking about, as in JUST cardio doesnt help you lose weight. But it doesn't even matter what he's talking about because if you're eating crap and doing cardio you arent going to lose weight.

In your situation, you are eating well presumably if you're on a diet, and you are going that extra (2) miles(s) LOL and BURNING calories while doing it. So ... calories burned means losing weight... So why wouldnt the cardio be good? How do you suggest its a waste of your time? Cause it definatly isn't. Cardio has tremendous health benefits as well as losing weight. Take the radio station or article or whatever in context, because what you're doing is perfectly awesome and sitting on the couch rather than going for a walk is not only healthy but you are going to burn those calories faster!!

So I'm wasting my time running 7 miles 4 days a week when I could've been sitting on my formerly fat @$$ playing video games?

Just as charleneraymond said cardio burns calories so cardio helps you lose weight. 

Maybe he meant to say that if you consume 5000 calories a day (like what I used to do) there is no amount of cardio that will help you lose weight.

If you are referring to the article in Time magazine, the author made the following points in regard to "cardio being useless for weight loss":

1. The majority of people who do hard cardio workouts tend to overeat -and eat unhealthily- afterward.  Either as a reward or because their workout made them hungry.

2. The majority of people who specifically have set exercise times or days tend to be less active during the rest of their day.  They blow all their energy in a 30-60 minute intense workout and then are relatively inactive the rest of the day.  In their test groups they found it was better to just move throughout the day...even in short bursts during the day (watch TV, then clean house, sit and read, cook dinner).

As long as you don't fall into either of those majorities then cardio is helping you out.

I presume this refers to the Time article that exercise won't help you lose weight (if you carry on eating crap). Search the forums for it, there are 4 threads on this already although I know Melkor locked some of them because it was getting repetitious.

Don't you dare STOP exercise!!! While it may not help you lose weight as much as eating a healthy diet (20 % exercise & 80 % diet)... it does help you in so many other ways! Warding off cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc while also giving you tons of energy to take on the day.... please don't just read the article... read between the articles lines!

I am a cardio junkie.  I love cardio, but you have to add in caloric restriction to see any results.  I speak from personal experience only.  I used to do cardio a couple of times a week, but I ate whatever I wanted and (as a result) gained weight.  Once I got serious about my cardio (over 30 minutes, intense enough to break a sweat several times a week) and lowered my calories, I could see the results.  Keep doing your cardio workouts, just make sure that your calorie intake matches the amount of cardio that you do.  There are different websites that will tell you exactly how many calories you should eat a day to lose weight based on age, height, sex, and weight.

I would like to punch the author of the TIME article - he was no researcher, just an irresponsible writer.  This is exactly what I feared people would take for it.  The last thing America needed was another excuse not to exercise.

P.S.  The study he references was not a weight loss study, and used 45-75 year old postmenopausal women (a group not known for easy weight loss).  The study itself said it was only useful for that specific group of people.  Furthermore, ALL participants in that group (whether or not they lost weight) reduced their waist circumference.  This is a really great benefit of exercise that wasn't even mentioned in the article, as there are increased health risks with excess abdominal fat. 

I know we're all obsessed with losing weight around here, but it's really important to consider your long term health through proper nutrition and activity. 

I read some more on it after posting this, one "researcher" was saying that burning calories and burning fat are two totally different things. He said cardio burns calories, and weight training builds lean muscle and is what in turns burns fat and boosts the metabolism.  But like others I was taken back because I have always been a cardio girl.What does others think about this??

I have a family to take care of and I get up every morning before my day begins at 5:45am to walk my two miles. And I was like "am I wasting my time walking when I should be spending that 45 minutes weight training?"

Oh, and a little advise or workout tips to slimming up my arms would be appreciated!!! :)

There are so many articles and researchers out there contradicting each other that I just don't pay attention to what they say anymore. I go by what works for me. If you are losing weight with your 2 mile walk/jog then keep doing it. I honestly believe that it is pure B.S that cardio doesn't help you. I lost 30 pounds before doing Tae Bo and thats all cardio. Combined with a healthy low cal diet, cardio will definitely help you lose weight.

It just means that the amount of exercise/cardio that most people normally do (30min to an hour) isn't substantial enough to make you lose weight without changes in your diet. But if you're changing your diet, restricting calories, changing the foods you eat, ect, then exercise will slightly speed up your weight loss.

But you also have to remember that exercise also tones you and makes you lose inches as opposed to pounds.... there is a big difference in how a 5'9" girl who weights 150 and doesn't work looks and one who does work out looks.

Excellent point about losing inches, not just pounds. That is so true.

I am not really sure that I buy the information provided in the article.  When I was younger (age has since hit me hard) I walked 2 miles every single day.  I ate healthy and really did not "diet".   I lost all my baby weight and was in excellent shape at that time.  I can say that without the walking which ceased when I had my second baby I battled the weight gain from the pregnancy and when I had my third baby I ballooned up to the most I had ever weighed.  I have now second and third baby weight with an additional 35 pounds for "good measure".  I am adding walking into my newly found will power.  I will let you know how it goes in a couple of months.

Cardio burn calories, so therefore it does help with weight loss.

Cardio can help you lose weight with healthy eating. But I find that HIIT or circuit training are more effective.
With circuit training you get the best of your time, you have some toning, muscle training, and cardio.

Then again, if you do cardio plus resistance training and strength training you will get the best results.
Don't stop cardio altogether though, as long as you're eating healthy and doing cardio you will see results.

For my entire life I listened to the diet and exercize routine and have struggled with my weight my entire life.  In January I stopped strength training and started losing wieght(40 lbs).  At 5'9" 172 lbs this site says I should be 149, I was figuring 165(my HS weight).  I wanted to get down that low and begin strength to gain muscle to get to about 155-160.  The only thing I have continued to do is walk a lot, but I don't think that had anything to do with the weight loss.

If you walk for 30 minutes at 3mph, you burn 174 calories. And some research shows that if you're not calorie counting, you will sneak those in later.

All cardio does is burn calories, and when it comes to weight loss, if you just want more to eat, it's a good way to go. (and the health benefits, of course).

Interval training and weight training are much more useful when it comes to maintaining muscle mass and metabolism.

I'm working with limited information here, but if you have been working out with a 2 mile walk/jog, for more than a month or two, your body can and will adjust to that walk/jog and find a way to burn as few calories as possible while doing it, leading to less and less benefit with each walk/jog. 

As your health and physical fitness progresses, you need to increase the level of challenge in your workouts to send a clear message to your body that says, " you never know what's coming so get prepared".   Your body can and will adjust to routine.    Add some interval training to that walk/jog alternating running and walking.  Add some weight training or body weight exercises at home like push ups, leg raises, squats, lunges etc. that require no equipment at all.  Push yourself, test your limits and your body will burn more and more calories, you'll feel much better both physically and mentally and you'll lose weight faster.