Looking to Lose Weight? Say NO to Cardio!

     Throughout a three-month period, scientists in Australia did an analysis of 58 obese males and females who performed cardiovascular exercises. Each person in the study burnt 500 calories per session, five times a week. The weight loss results were totally unexpected. Overall, the group lost an average of 7 pounds below the expected weight loss! Even though they had been working out for close to 60 hours, 26 of the 58 total participants only saw a reduction in weight of 2 pounds in the 12 week period.
From this, we can surmise that there needs to be less importance placed on cardio exercise for the purpose of losing weight.
Please do not think that I am de-emphasizing the importance of cardiovascular exercise. We all recognize that cardiovascular exercise is good for you. Stress-relief, stronger stamina, lower cholesterol and blood pressure are some of it's benefits. If combined with a smart, nutritious diet, you will see even greater results. But research has shown that "From a public health perspective, cardiovascular exercise should be encouraged and the emphasis on weight loss reduced."
Personal trainers, periodicals and fitness clubs are guilty of presenting cardiovascular exercise as the magic pill for losing weight, when this is clearly not the case at all. Do not give in to the cardiovascular trap. If you depend on the calorie burning counters on cardiovascular machines, you are falling for the biggest fraud in fat loss today.
A treadmill run won't burn a big meal. Just don't eat that second serving of lasagna and instead build your body's metabolism through strength training. Instead of tiring your body out with constant, repetitive cardiovascular exercises, simply say NO to cardio!
After you understand and believe just how hard it is to burn fat with only cardiovascular exercise, you'll find the whole process of weight loss to be very easy. What you need to do is to plan your meals in advance, prepare for your strength training workouts so that you don't just "hang around not knowing what to do next" at the gym, set up social support or a buddy system, and recognize solutions for all of the obstacles in your life.
Let's look at another study that shows the power of the diet. As part of the study, men and women who were overweight went on a 12 week reduced calorie diet. In the end, they lost 36 pounds - which translates to 18 times the weight lost by most of the participants in the aforementioned cardiovascular study. So you can see that you'll reduce more effectively by dieting than with cardiovascular exercise alone. However, there was a second part to the study worth noting.
The participants were split into two groups. For one year, a group of participants ate a high-protein diet while another group at a high-carbohydrate diet. When the year was over, both groups had put back on four pounds on average. Here's my point: both groups accumulated the same amount of weight. People were able to retain a large portion of their original weight loss on both of the diets. However, only 47% of the total number of subjects who started the study (180 in all) completed both parts. Which is really a high number of dropouts.
Conclusion: dieting is not the challenge, it's getting people to stick with it that's hard. That's why it's important to plan, find the right diet that works for you, and have good social support.
The adage "diets don't work" is merely an excuse which enables people to avoid dieting outright. The truth is, diets DO work, its the people that don't. Find the right diet for you. Remember that even when you find the right diet, it will still take hard work and tenacity on your part.
Combine that with short well balanced workouts, (a combination strength training, cardiovascular and stretching). Avoid monotonous, dull, continuous cardiovascular exercises and, then the results that you deserve will be a reality.
1 Br J Sports Med. 2009 Sep 29. Beneficial effects of exercise: shifting the focus from body weight to other markers of health. King N, Hopkins M, Caudwell P, Stubbs J, Blundell J.
2 Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Sep 30. One-year weight maintenance after significant weight loss in healthy overweight and obese subjects: does diet composition matter? Delbridge EA, Prendergast LA, Pritchard JE, Proietto J.

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