I came across another terrible internet article today on Yahoo. These articles are so dangerous to training and nutrition novices because they send people down an unsustainable path. The article promotes the same, tired advice to lose fat by upping your cardio while cutting calories. The basis is that there are 3500 calories in one pound of fat, therefore to lose X pounds of fat you need to burn off X multiplied by 3500. Then goes on to explain how many calories various types of cardio will burn off per hour. You can't really out-math your bodyfat. Your body will adapt faster than you will be able to lose all the fat you want to in this manner which renders this approach futile in the long run.
Do this much cardio to lose weight!
This approach can work on the very short term if people go about it very slowly, by only seeking at most a 2 pound deficit. Even that is often too much as the body will adapt and begin slowing down the metabolism. The primary problem with this approach is people NEVER do this slowly. THey think
"So if I do enough cardio to burn 7000 calories AND restrict calories below a few hundred below my maintenance level, I can lose 5+ pounds of fat a week."
DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS SHIT!!!!
Body Adaptation
The body instantly adapts to too large a deficit. Fat loss over the long term does not work this way. This is the exact type of advice that put WAY too many people in TOO heavy of a diet restriction along with way too much cardio piled on. To lose fat by calculating according to this approach always leads to people restricting too many calories to get into a calorie deficit. They may get results the first time by restricting calories plus doing 3 sessions of cardio a week.
Then some of that weight comes back so they restrict the calories a little bit more while now doing 4 days of cardio. This cycle will continue on and on over the years until this unfortunate soul is now only taking in 1200 calories per day, OR LESS!! While doing 5 days, OR MORE, of cardio. Over the course of a few years this will always result in a person being very unhappy with their physique as the metabolism will all but shut down.
THe best advice possible... Eat a calorie amount equal to the average of your recommended maintenance calorie count for your target weight and your current weight, split the difference. YOur target maintenance weight may call for 2000 calories per day, while your current weight maintenance is 2500 calories. Try not to go below 2200 calories.
Do not attempt to out diet your fat loss. It will not work long term. Increase your weight training to 3-4 high intensity sessions per week. Make sure you are eating near maintenance levels. Still do some cardio, but not as a device to outpace your calorie intake. Use cardio as a device to improve overall cardiovascular health, which it still an important piece of overall health.
Simple Cardio Guide
Here is a very simple guide. Unless you are training for a marathon, your cardio per week should be below 2 hours. For a lot of folks who weight train, 2-3 20 minutes sessions per week will do it. If you are doing 5 hours of cardio per week in the hope of losing fat, prepare to be very disappointed.
Eat real food, do not restrict too aggressively and hit the weight room a few times a week. Any article that promotes some version of this statement is an article worth reading.
