Vote in This Week's Poll: How many minutes of cardio exercise do you get a week?
Monday February 12, 2007
How much cardio exercise do we really need to lose weight? I'm sure that's a question many of us would love to answer but, what most of us know is that we all have different needs when it comes to changing our bodies. Science is trying to answer this question and the latest recommendations, courtesy of the American College of Sports Medicine, suggest that we work up to 200-300 minutes of cardio a week or about 3.5-5 hours to lose weight and/or maintain weight loss.
I'm always curious to know what other people are doing in their workouts because, no matter how many studies we have, none of us will ever really know how much exercise we need (and can handle) until we try it. So, what about you? Get out your calculator and then vote in this week's poll and tell us how much cardio you get each week.
Poll: How many minutes of cardio exercise do you get a week?
1. None
2. Up to 30 minutes
3. 30-60 minutes
4. 60-90 minutes
5. 90-120 minutes
6. 120-160 minutes
7. 160-200 minutes
8. More than 200 minutes
Comments
150
i have worked up to 90min a day 7 days a week over the last 8 months, and have not lost a single pound, why?
I had the same problem until I changed what I ate. From fast foods, heavy fats, cakes, cookies etc and double servings, I went to vegetables, fruits and fish. I watched out for fattening salad dressings, butter, mayo, cheeses. For health reasons I gave up beef and pork.
I did this over time so as not to shock my system and I didn’t portion out the fruits and vegetables when I was hungry I ate but what I ate changed. I refused to eat anything that was ‘healthy’ but that tasted like crap.
This has to be done in conjuction with exercise for it all to work…
Becky:9 calories equels 1 gram of fat.3500 calories is 1 pound of fat.”NOT TO PREJUDGE”eat less caloris than u can eat.
Becky:P.S.Different cardio exercises burn different amount of calories.Swimming is less than bikeing as to running as to running an icline compared to a flat level………
Becky-you could be training your body to store fat by doing too much cardio and not enough resistance/weight training. Before women started strength training they were doing aerobic dance, running and still not get smaller or building decent tone. Then there was a landmark YMCE study where half the group did just cardio for 30 mins 4xs a week and half did 15 mins strength and 15 mins cardio. The latter group lost an average of 10 lbs of body fat and the cardio only actually gained body fat and lost little weight. You may also want to try wearing higher waisted jeans and tighter clothing which is always a good incentive.
I rely on my dance classes for most of my cardio. 2 times a week, 2 hours a night back to back. Out of curiosity, is it better to break the cardio up over the course of 4 or 5 days? Or would it matter if you crammed 4 hours into 2 days?
I do 685 minutes per week plus alternate upper and lower body weights. I have lost over 90 lbs. Note to Becky, try adding some strength training to your cardio, also cut out sugar and alcohol.
have been doing a combo of circuit training, step bench, latin dances and kick boxing 4 times a week. cardio built-in each of these sessions for 25 mins. 3 months now with a restrained diet and havent budged a kilo weightwise…hmmmmphhh
I walk two hours a day six days a week and that keeps me physically, mentally and spiritually fit. I was a long distance runner for many years but with a hole in my heart I had to switch to walking because as I have gotten older the heart problem has begun to bother me. I miss running but the walking is a good subsitute. The good news is it only takes a good pair of shoes and proper clothing.
Sorry I forgot to mention that what I weigh is not the issue it is being fit that is at issue. I also do some yoga and some weight work but as a single working mom my time is limited to picking what I can and cannot do one day at a time.
i do about 40 minutes a day; off on saturday. what’s really helped me is interval training. i’ll run for 30 minutes; run 2 minutes, jog 2 minutes. not only does it increase endurance, but i burn alot more calories. when i can’t make it out to run, i do different tapes to switch it up
actually, i have a question. i haven’t been doing strength training since i have a physical aliement in my left arm (so i can’t use weights heavier than 5 pounds on my left arm) and the last time i lifted (an hour a day/ 3 days a week), i couldn’t keep it up and i gained 80 pounds (which i recently lost… yay). i find that with this weight loss, i’m leaner (and a smaller size) than when i was strength training at the same size. any suggestions to a strength training program i could try.
I get plenty of cardio, however I would really like to know how many calories are burned during my dvd workouts. Especially when they’re combined with weight training. Anyone know?
how do u gain 80 pounds from an arm injury?
how do u gain 80 pounds from an arm injury? u ever heard of cardio?
What works best for me is a vigorous cardio workout every other day. Lately I’ve been doing appx. 40-45 min. on elliptical, then 20 min. running on treadmill (for ~ 1 hour total), & I’m in my target heart rate range for 50+ minutes. It would be counterproductive, at least for me, to do this every day due to muscle fatigue, but it seems to work well for every other day. Resting HR is down, & weight’s in check…
I found for me the killer to my weight loss was drinking alcohol almost every day. I didn’t even realize how many calories there were in those drinks! Since I stopped drinking, with nothing else changed, I have lost about 3 pounds per week for the past three weeks. My routine is pretty simple. I eat about 1500 calories per day of healthy low fat/low GI foods (Nutrition shakes, grilled chicken, brown rice, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.) and I eat five small meals of about 300 calories each. I do about 1 hour of moderate cardio per day six days per week and lift weights three days per week. I am 5′ 11″ and weighed 180 – I’m down to 169 now (three 1/2 weeks later). Starting to see my abs!
The truth about exercise and weight loss are simple. burn more calories then you consume. how ever muscle and fat are two different biological things. fat is not active and muscles are and actively burn fat. build the muscle through weight training and you will burn more fat,then do at least sixty minutes of cardio daily. leave out sugar and refined carbs and the weight will melt off good luck…
If u r trying to loose a lot of weight,try crash diet the first 2-3 months, 40 min a day cardio plus weight training ,try to get 5 days a week work out,and one or two days off, eat healthy(low carb diet) lots of greens,vegetables, lean meats like chicken breast, grilled tilapia, try to eat at least 3 times a day,dont eat after 8pm.Drink a lot of water.At first maybe u will gain instead of loosing weight,dont freak out,its absolutely normal,u r gaining muscle mass,keep up with working out and eating healthy and u will see results in 3 months,once u lost the weight u needed, come down to 30min workout daily 5 days a week,eat healthy,that will allow u to maintain the weight.
Also by splurging one day a week (i do it on weekends) u r shocking your body,which makes it loose even more weight.Dont over eat tho.
Please feel free to contact me by e mail,ask any questions.I would be more than happy to help anyone who needs support.
Good Luck to everybody,dont give up, being healthy makes your desire for life a lot stronger and greater!!
Hi,
Over the past 6 years I’ve slowly been putting on the pounds: I started at 120 and now I weigh 135. I’m 20 years old. I want to lose 10 pounds, so I just started working out, doing cardio 6+ days a week for 50 minutes at a heart rate of at least 155, and four days a week I do very intensive weight lifting for ~2 hours. The last two weeks I gained 2 pounds, and I think it’s muscle. However, I don’t want to bulk up.. anyone have any suggestions for how much weight lifting I should do each week to allow my body to LOSE weight instead of GAIN it?
Weightwatchers coupled with alternate cardio and weights has helped me see instant results. People are really noticing how much more toned I am.
However, I have one rant about a couple of postings in this thread: Why do so many people write in text speak? It’s really annoying, ignorant and downright lazy to replace “you” with “u” and “are” with “r”.
OK, rant over.
umm if i’m 172 lbs with 29% body fat, looking to get down to about 10% body fat over the next 6 – 7 months. i’m also 15 yrs old, and my estimated rmr is roughly 1700 calories, but that might not be right cuz i take in about 2100 cals everyday for the past i dont know year or so an havent really moved, only about 1-2 lbs up and down. if i cut my cals to about 1300 and do about 60 mins of cardio in target heart range and lift weight to build some muscle, does anyone think ill be to my goal in about 6-7 months???
Hi
I am trying to loose weight (surprise, surprise) I have been doing weightwatchers for 8 weeks with sport in between: I play action netball and tennis ranging from 1 to 4 times a week. sometimes I’ll play squash inbetween. The weeks that I have done the most of the above exercise I have gained weight. and the weeks I have done 1/2 days execise was the weeks I lost the weight! It is really not motivating me to do exercise. I know by doing execise you are toning more than loosing weight, but I have to weigh less than I do now! I can’t stay the same. I weigh 70 kg and am 1.68 m tall. I want to loose about 8 kg. HELP please! Jo
I see you people who claim to be doing “90 minutes” of supposed cardio at the gym everyday when I go. Theres a difference between keeping your heart rate elevated for 90 minutes and walking on the treadmill. One is a cardio workout, the other is a sloppy eyesore. Oh and until your belly is gone theres no need for you to do a brutal ab workout like I see most of you doing. The point being your going to be pushing yourself to do a whole 5 crunches and after 8 months you’re not going to see results because you haven’t lost the whale blub. thank you.
I am 5′8″, 160 lb, and I think I have 25% body fat. I am a size 7/8 and my goal would love to get into a size 4. I have the caloric content/intake under wraps but I hoped some models/fitness trainers had any info in how much cardio I need a week. I do the p90x, hip hop abs, treadmill, advanced taebo, yoga-I try to keep it as unexpected as possible to achieve the muscle confusion. I am just a bit down because my progress is a bit slow. I would like to loose like 1-3 lbs a week. My problem area is my hips and thighs. I want that leg magic machine so bad, I think it would really help my inner thigh.