Quote: (07-06-2012 01:24 AM)JoyStick Wrote:
i read online that doing too much cardio lower your metabolism and is bad for losing weight. i'm trying to lose 40 pounds as fast as possible. how much cardio should i do without fucking myself over. and how much is too much cardio?
- Cardio burns the most calories while you exercise, but your body downregulates your metabolism after cardio, so you burn less energy sitting at your desk after you leave the gym
- Cardio secretes cortisol and insulin, both of which make you hungry as heck. Your average person will compensate for cardio by eating more afterwards. Some people overcompensate, having intense cravings for carbohydrates, eating more calories than they burnt at the gym. Combined with the lowered metabolism, this combines to cardio = weight gain
- Cardio only helps you lose weight if you force yourself not to eat afterwards. This requires an iron will that most people do not have.
Lifting free weights on the other hand:
- Weightlifting stimulates muscles to grow over a 24-72 hour period, depending on the individual. Your base metabolism is therefore higher over an average 2 day period. You end up burning calories just by sitting at your desk after an intense weightlifting session.
- In my experience people are also not as intensely hungry after weightlifting, and you crave protein rather than carbohydrates. The stuff you eat ends up building muscle, not fat. As you build muscle, your base metabolism increases upwards further, because to maintain muscle you consume more energy than when maintaining fat.
Bear in mind that the only scientifically proven exercise that promotes weight loss is WALKING. No other exercise has been shown to have a strong correlation with weightloss - that's why all those exercise program DVD's always say ''exercise can help lose weight only with a calorie-restricted diet''. It's the dieting and not the exercise that makes you lose weight. Again, do you have the iron will not to eat?
Having a bit of a yo-yo relationship with my gut, I know that weightlifting works the best to keep the gut off and I only veer back into gut territory when I neglect weightlifting. Cardio is unhelpful, but that may just be my individual genetics.
My opinion: Do cardio after lifting weights if you must do it. But it will never be more than a supplement to lifting heavy stuff. You can lose fat just by lifting heavy, you don't need cardio.