Is cardio needed for fat loss?
Many people believe that doing only cardio training is going to help them lose fat. Are you one of them?
In this post I’m going to explain how fat loss occurs, and explain the key factors that contribute to fat loss, including the role cardio plays in this process.
I think you’ll be surprised by the findings!
Fundamentals of fat loss
Simply put, fat loss occurs when you consume less calories than you burn.
So what is a calorie?
A calorie is a unit of energy. It is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. Calories in food provide energy in the form of heat so that our bodies can function even when they are at rest.
The total number of calories you burn each day is called your “total daily energy expenditure” or TDEE. When TDEE is calculated, it includes:
Calories burned through exercise and non-exercise movement
Calories burned during digestion (called the “thermic effect of food” or TEF)
No matter how you burn calories, this process is necessary as it maintains your bodily functions such as breathing, blood circulation and digestion.
By burning more calories than you consume, you force your body into a state of ‘survival’ so it starts looking for any available resources in order to maintain the aforementioned functions. One such resource is body fat, which your body will start converting to energy to sustain itself. This process of burning more calories than you consume is commonly referred to as a caloric deficit.
This conversion of body fat (and other resources) is what causes fat loss.
Five key contributors of fat loss
With the above in mind, let’s look at the five key contributors of fat loss, from most to least important.
Eat less calories
The most important factor in fat loss is restricting your calorie consumption. By reducing what you eat, you put yourself into the caloric deficit state mentioned previously.
This means you don’t even need to do extra activity because you are already in a deficit because you are eating less.
Strength training
Remember I mentioned earlier that your body will look for and convert all available resources in order to keep you alive? While fat is one main source it targets and converts, unfortunately your body will also look for protein and muscle tissue to sustain itself. We don’t want this.
Strength training can prevent muscle loss when you’re on a caloric deficit, keep you strong and make you look lean.
Increase protein intake
Studies have shown that increasing your protein intake (in favour of carbs and fat) can increase the overall calories your body burns. This includes protein such as chicken, nuts, lentils and certain cheeses such as parmesan.
Something interesting to note is that eating in general can boost your metabolism for a short while. This is because your body uses calories to digest and make use of the nutrients in foods. This is referred to as the “thermic effect of food” or TEF. However, not all foods burn calories the same way.
When compared to carbs and fats, proteins have a much higher TEF — 20–35% compared to 5–15% in carbs. This means changing your diet to include more protein and less carbs and fat can help you burn more calories.
NEAT
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not eating, sports-like exercise or sleeping. It includes things like fidgeting, typing, gardening, walking to work, or taking the stairs instead of the lift.
So try and incorporate more general activity in your daily life, as it will help you burn more energy, which will help you burn more fat (if you are consuming less calories).
Cardio
No matter how much cardio you do, if you eat more than you burn, you won’t lose any fat. It’s as simple as that.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a 70kg person can burn anywhere between 140 and 295 calories in 30 minutes doing cardiovascular exercise. Now think about how easy it is to consume the calories this person took 30 minutes to burn. A small pack of fries has approximately 220 calories!
Having said this, I’m not saying cardio is useless. Cardio is awesome for maintaining your cardiovascular fitness and staying healthy.
Also, if you’re following points 1 through to 4, doing cardio will help you burn more! However on its own it won’t help as much.
I hope this blog article has helped you understand some of the basics of fat loss. Get in touch if you want any specialised advice or if you have any thoughts on this topic. I’m keen to hear from you!