How Much Cardio Is Too Much For Weight Loss (Explained)

How much cardio is too much for weight loss?

Are you too dependent on cardio for burning body fat?

Over doing only cardio will not result in burning fat but it can certainly be harmful for your heart!

Too much cardio tends to kill your well-built body muscles and this can slow your metabolism, workout longer than 40 minutes means your body gets in a catabolic state which starts burning the gained muscles.

As a result your body strength decreases and it reduces chances of losing weight.

Now, let’s dive deep into what cardio really is!

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Cardio Exercise

It is also known as aerobic exercises as mostly you take more air or oxygen while performing cardio.

An exercise that is beneficial for overall health and helps to strengthen your lungs and pumps blood faster.

Cardiovascular exercise heslp to strengthen many body parts like-

Your large muscles like legs, upper body parts.
Cardio increases your heart rate for a fixed set of duration.
It also increases your breathing and your body receives maximum oxygen during this time.

If you are continuously doing cardio it will help in losing weight, improves sleep, concentration and reduces the risk of other harmful diseases.

Are You Overdoing Cardio For Weight Loss

This exercise is very easy to perform and has many different sets of workouts which makes it a joy to workout.

Aerobic exercise improves your immune system, strengthens your lungs, and increases the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Though when your goal is to lose weight and you are also doing strength training, it’s best to never overdo cardio!

According to experts overdoing cardio can hamper your weight loss regime by-

Rate of metabolism decreases which slows the weight loss process.
Excess cardio increases the risk of reducing lean muscle tissue and body fat.
Increases risk of weak immune systems and developing risk of chronic disease.

Harvard medical school suggests performing maximum 150 minutes of moderate intensity workout for all age groups, even for disabled people.

Related: Effects of doing cardio daily

Signs You Are Overdoing Cardio

When you love doing any workout and overdo that, it can hamper your weight loss process.

There are many instances when you overdo cardio and some physical or mental changes will occur.

Here are some signs that shows you are doing excess cardio-

Your muscles remain sore most of the time.
Excess stress on joints and you are experiencing pain in performing any exercise.
Feeling overworked and not able to perform at maximum intensity.
Workouts feel like a job or you don’t get excited about exercise anymore.
Overdoing exercise leads to less sleep at night, because body temperature is high.

Does Cardio Helps In Weight Loss

Cardio is known to be a simple and effective workout that works your whole body.

Weight loss is possible only when your diet, workout, cardio are all in sync with each other.

Can cardio help lose belly fat?

According to various health organizations, you need around 150 minutes of cardio each week to attain a fit & healthy body.

Instead people tend to do overdo cardio only and this slows down your weight loss.

So, how can you make cardio more effective for weight loss?

Try to combine weight training with cardio.
Never perform cardio before weight training.
Don’t do cardio every day, you can go for 3 days per week.
20-25 minutes of cardio 3-4 times a week is enough for your weight loss goal.
Cardio helps to burn more calories than weight training.
So combine these two together for losing fat in a healthy way.

How Much Cardio Should I Do To Lose Body Fat

The best thing about cardio is that it is very easy to start doing it without any training.

It takes very less time to put on weight but it takes so much effort to burn calories!

And you must be wondering! How much cardio should I do to lose fat and keep muscle?

When you have decided to include cardio in your weight loss regime, you have to keep some important things in mind before starting-

You have to consume fewer calories in order to lose weight.
Weight loss also depends on how much workout you are doing in a week.
Don’t overdo cardio to lose weight, because it can derail your weight loss regime.

But, there are many factors which decides how fast you will lose weight like-

Age: As you get old it becomes difficult to burn more calories.
Body Weight: If your weight is high then you will burn more calories than others.
Workout Intensity: When your workout intensity is high, it increases the chances of burning more calories.
Physical Activity: The more active you are throughout the day, it increases chances of burning more fat.

How Much Cardio Do You Actually Need

This is very hard to determine, though there is a number derived by medical experts, as to how much cardio is really needed?

Experts suggests 150-200 minutes or cardio per week is enough for most people.

But still, it depends on a lot of factors, some people will be able to lose weight b doing 150 minutes of cardio, while others overdoing it never lose a single pound.

So, above example shows us that, it depends on many factors as how much weight you will lose.

All in all, whether you perform 150 minutes or more, you have to do strength and weight training with cardio.

This will result in weight loss much faster than any other weight loss regimes.

Here are some cardio exercise which are fun and easy to perform for weight loss-

Walking: It is very easy and anyone can do it, you just need a good pair of shoes and just walk for 20-30 minutes daily.
Dancing: Again like walking, burns maximum calories as you are using the whole body, which increases power and flexibility also.
Bicycling: Very powerful and improves power, endurance, strength, and overall body flexibility.
Swimming: Great for your improving overall flexibility and increases your breathing capacity.
Running: An advanced form of brisk walking, but it can be very effective for losing body fat fast.

Final Thoughts

The best way to lose weight is to perform cardio and weight training simultaneously.

You can’t overdo cardio or any other workout as it will never result in fat loss.

I hope you are more aware of how much cardio is actually needed for weight loss!

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Cheers!