Question: I noticed you kinda went overboard on your cardio compared to me. LOL! Do you think this contributed to losing all that weight so fast besides a good eating plan? Some tell me I shouldn't be doing a lot of cardio at my age(50), but I have around 25 to 30 lbs I would like to lose. When I was 45 it seemed to work well.
Answer: NO!!!! (But sort of yes.)
I did 71 hours of cardio (LISS, HIIT, and HFIT) during my 12 week transformation. I probably burned between 100 and 300 calories per hour during my cardio, but let's be ridiculous and say I burned 500 calories per hour.
Here's the math:
71 x 100 = 7,100 calories (That's 2 lbs of fat!)
71 x 500 = 35,500 calories (That's 10 lbs of fat! Over 12 weeks! Less than 1 lb per week!)
Cardio is not a practical way to burn lots of fat!
What you eat, or don't eat, determines how much fat you will lose and how quickly!
However, cardio is great for appetite suppression! That was its main benefit for me. It helped me feel less hungry and avoid temptation during the late evening, which is my weakest time of day!
I agree that us older guys (I'm 51) shouldn't be doing lots of cardio every day! Muscle mass is too important to risk losing it! Our time is much better spent strength training to build or maintain muscle!
I wouldn't avoid cardio altogether. It's important for heart health and stamina. I recommend several short bouts of HIIT (10-25 minutes) or HFIT (5-15 minutes) each week for overall health and conditioning purposes.
For appetite suppression, any type of cardio (LISS, HIIT, or HFIT) will do. One caveat is that HIIT and HFIT should not be done after more than ~4-5 hours of fasting. You could lose muscle mass! LISS cardio is fine fasted or not.
So my original emphatic NO!!!! answer is not quite true. Cardio DID help me lose all that fat so quickly, but mainly because it kept me from eating!
Here's a few relevant links:
I can't say this enough. Don't do what I did during my transformation! I was too aggressive in my calorie deficits during parts of my transformation. I went as low as 800-900 daily for 5 weeks! Although, I did have cheat days during that time.
Also, I didn't learn about Intermittent Fasting until week 9. I would have been much better off doing IF the whole 12 weeks with less of a calorie deficit.
What I recommend now for people wanting to transform is to do Intermittent Fasting with a 500 calorie deficit. And of course lots of protein and strength training!
More links:
Thank you for your question! I hope this is helpful. Feel free to ask any followup questions in the comments below. Have a great day!
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