cardio for weight loss

[tjcny]

I am just getting back into the game after several years off. I need advice on how to shed the fat I've put on. My stats: 58yo, 265lbs, 6'4", bf of 32%. I have cleaned up my diet, but I need to know how much cardio I should be doing along with weight training. I do cardio on the eliptical cross trainer and generally get my heart rate up to 120 bpm and will go for anywhere between 45 mins. to 1 hour. Let me know what I should be doing.

Thanks

 

[thelion2005]

I can only speak to my own experience.

I believe that diet is much more important that cardio for fat reduction. Yes ... lots of cardio will effect your number on the scale. But for me, that meant a loss of muscle and fat.

I do cardio first as a warm-up and some fat burning. My feet are pretty beat up so I do the reclining bike at high resistance for 15-20 minutes ... about 110-120 beats. Then I go into my routine.

When I pull fast, simple carbs from my diet, fat is burned and water released to a dramatic extent. It hits my waist and face first.

These carbs include all sugars and flours ... no exceptions including pasta and fruit. In their place goes more animal flesh and more colorful veggies. Like magic, the fat comes off!

I'm a stubborn person and have posted diet, HRT and exercise in this area of the board. Just scan down and take a look. You can be down to 230 and under 20% in 6-9 months with extra muscle. People will be shocked at the change.

 

[HiDnGoD]

Are you diabetic? If you are, good fuggin luck.
I do 30 min on a cross trainer 3 X weekly. Gets my H.R. up to 140-150 bpm.
I weight train 2-3 times weekly.
I'm not losing any weight, but I am gaining muscle, getting more defined.
The way it's going, I'm gonna be the fittest fat guy on the planet.

 

[temetrepo]

I have to agree with Lion, diet is #1 cardio surely helps but if you eat shitty you will look and feel shitty. Here is my experience with this:
I used to run for 1/2 hour every other day thinking I was going to get thinner. Instead I was just burning muscle and not replacing it with proper nutrition. End of story, I looked and felt like shit. Needless to say that I started to hate cardio.

Then, I met with a personal trainer who also had a 5 year degree in nutrition. Note that she was not a nutritionist as any one can be. This person completed a series of tests on me, we went over nutritional contents of the food I was eating, amount of excercise, etc. We found out that I was not only wasting my time with the cardio I was doing, but my fat intake was way too low.

Make a story short, we found out my target rate for cardio where I burn the most amount of fat (not muscle), adjusted my diet and the rest is history. I can see an improvement within 1 month. and now I can adjust my diet to bulk or to loose fat.

Hope it helps.

 

[Lifterforlife]

Agreed with the lion on this one also. Better part of the last 30 yrs. doing this, competitions, etc. and still do. Diet is key....I preach this all the time, use cardio as an "extension" of your diet, not the other way around. That is you are trying to create a caloric deficit with your diet, use your cardio as a tool to achieve this. First off, if you jump right into cardio, and do too much, you really have no place to turn but cutting more food calories. At some point this becomes unfeasible, and will most certainly backfire on you. Your body is smart, and will indeed learn to store fat...it will slow metabolic rate and thus thyroid output, hormones effected, as a defense mechanism. Our bodies are programmed fromn early days(being chased by predators, running through endless fields, etc.) to preserve life(by keeping an adequate fat store. The body does not care about looking good at the beach!

So use cardio as a tool to continue your caloric deficit, not the other way around.

 

[tjcny]

I can only speak to my own experience.

I believe that diet is much more important that cardio for fat reduction. Yes ... lots of cardio will effect your number on the scale. But for me, that meant a loss of muscle and fat.

I do cardio first as a warm-up and some fat burning. My feet are pretty beat up so I do the reclining bike at high resistance for 15-20 minutes ... about 110-120 beats. Then I go into my routine.

When I pull fast, simple carbs from my diet, fat is burned and water released to a dramatic extent. It hits my waist and face first.

These carbs include all sugars and flours ... no exceptions including pasta and fruit. In their place goes more animal flesh and more colorful veggies. Like magic, the fat comes off!

I'm a stubborn person and have posted diet, HRT and exercise in this area of the board. Just scan down and take a look. You can be down to 230 and under 20% in 6-9 months with extra muscle. People will be shocked at the change.

Thanks Lion for the advice. Would you tell me how old you are and how long you've been training? I am asking so I can guage how well this will work for me based on my age and my training expereince.

Many thanks for the help.

 

[tjcny]

Agreed with the lion on this one also. Better part of the last 30 yrs. doing this, competitions, etc. and still do. Diet is key....I preach this all the time, use cardio as an "extension" of your diet, not the other way around. That is you are trying to create a caloric deficit with your diet, use your cardio as a tool to achieve this. First off, if you jump right into cardio, and do too much, you really have no place to turn but cutting more food calories. At some point this becomes unfeasible, and will most certainly backfire on you. Your body is smart, and will indeed learn to store fat...it will slow metabolic rate and thus thyroid output, hormones effected, as a defense mechanism. Our bodies are programmed fromn early days(being chased by predators, running through endless fields, etc.) to preserve life(by keeping an adequate fat store. The body does not care about looking good at the beach!

So use cardio as a tool to continue your caloric deficit, not the other way around.

Thanks. I guess what I find confusing is how much of a caloric deficiet I should be maintaining and how many calories do I need to grow new muscle. It seems like a catch 22 situation.

 

[Lifterforlife]

Thanks. I guess what I find confusing is how much of a caloric deficiet I should be maintaining and how many calories do I need to grow new muscle. It seems like a catch 22 situation.

Slow loss is the best. I find it best to do 250 calorie per week increments. This I normally do the first few weeks from diet alone, as calories are at maintenance(if done right), and this will induce a nice, slow change with no "trauma" to the body(big strength loss, etc.). If you cut too many calories in the beginning, you are asking for an immediate muscle loss.

Then about 3 calorie cuts in, I start to add in cardio slowly to make it a blend of calories and cardio to make this deficit. (250) If you start cardio too soon, you leave yourself no room but to cut more calories.

After a few weeks of this, around 7 is a good number, as your body will start to "catch on" to what you ared doing and slow metabolic rate to compensate, stay there and bump the calories up a bit, about 250, with a minimum of 100 gr. of carbs per day(shown to be an optimal amount to reset metabolism), then resume dieting. Sometimes at this point, carb cycling works well. Lots to put in a small post, hope this made some sense.

 

[tjcny]

Slow loss is the best. I find it best to do 250 calorie per week increments. This I normally do the first few weeks from diet alone, as calories are at maintenance(if done right), and this will induce a nice, slow change with no "trauma" to the body(big strength loss, etc.). If you cut too many calories in the beginning, you are asking for an immediate muscle loss.

Then about 3 calorie cuts in, I start to add in cardio slowly to make it a blend of calories and cardio to make this deficit. (250) If you start cardio too soon, you leave yourself no room but to cut more calories.

After a few weeks of this, around 7 is a good number, as your body will start to "catch on" to what you ared doing and slow metabolic rate to compensate, stay there and bump the calories up a bit, about 250, with a minimum of 100 gr. of carbs per day(shown to be an optimal amount to reset metabolism), then resume dieting. Sometimes at this point, carb cycling works well. Lots to put in a small post, hope this made some sense.

Thanks. I think I get it, but what do you do about carbs? I know I should stay away from the simple kind, but how do you handle them?

 

[Lifterforlife]

Thanks. I think I get it, but what do you do about carbs? I know I should stay away from the simple kind, but how do you handle them?

Carbs are your freind. It is a matter of timing and type. I would begin by structuring my starchy type carbs(sweet potatoes, oats and such) around your workout. That is, to give you some fuel for workouts and some recovery abilities. The rest of the time I would keep my carbs very fibrous in nature, something like beans as your main "hard" carb, and tons of veggies.

When dieting, it is key to look toward nutrient dense foods rather than calorie dense. This will allow you to eat a higher volume of food, thus feeling more satiated.