Cardio for Fat Loss?

 

Cardiovascular or aerobic training is often advertised as the #1 way to lose fat. While it is true that while performing cardiovascular exercise you can expend many calories quite quickly and that the body does use fatty acids as fuel during cardiovascular training, it is simply not the most important component of a nutrition or training program for fat loss. Considering that at rest the body's preferred source of energy is fat, clearly cardio is not the only way for the body to burn fat.

In order to lose fat you need to create a caloric deficit. Creating a caloric deficit can be done through exercise, through diet or through a combination of the two. Also, the metabolic rate is an extremely important factor in fat loss. The amount of muscle that you have has an impact on the metabolic rate with an increase of muscle mass raising the metabolism and a decrease in muscle mass lowering the metabolism. When large amounts (more than 1 1/2 hrs weekly) of cardio are performed and when the diet does not support the amount of calories or macronutrients being used for that exercise it can result in the body burning muscle for energy which will result in a lowered metabolic rate. Other factors that can cause the metabolism to be lowered, which will result in slower or stalled fat loss, are a prolonged period of a caloric deficit without including regular higher calorie or refeed days or by creating too large of a caloric deficit, which will basically put the body in starvation mode. The body naturally has defense mechanisms and if it feels that there is a threat of malnutrition or starvation then it regulates the hormones in the body such as leptin to prevent starvation from occurring. For all of these reasons nutrition is the most important factor in fat loss with strength training coming second. A diet which creates a small caloric deficit while including all of the nutrients and macronutrients to keep the body in a healthy state and also includes regular higher calorie days to prevent the body from adjusting the hormones to a level which will be detrimental to fat loss efforts is the foundation of a fat loss program. Strength training comes second to nutrition in importance to reaching lasting fat loss goals because it not only burns calories, but when combined with a good nutrition program will help to increase muscle mass which will raise the metabolism and aid fat loss efforts.

 

 

 

The best approach to reach fat loss goals is to create a program which includes a solid nutrition plan, regular strength training to maintain and increase the amount of muscle mass and also some cardiovascular exercise. It is important not to rush the fat loss process as your goal to achieving lasting results will be a slow rate of fat loss which will allow you to maintain as much muscle as possible to increase and not lower the metabolic rate while losing fat.