Do you need to do cardio to lose weight

When you're hitting the gym to burn extra calories and lose weight, it's good to have a game plan in mind. But if you're trying to figure out how many minutes on the treadmill you'll need to clock before seeing a difference on the scale, you should know that there are a bunch of factors at play here.

However, while it’s tough to give a straight, no-fuss answer, it is possible to come close to nailing down a cardio quota for the week.

Before we get there, remember the golden rule of weight loss: You need to be doing enough cardio to go into a calorie deficit, says Cassandra Forsythe, Ph.D., R.D., C.S.C.S. In other words, you’ve gotta be expending more calories than you’re taking in. So if you’re not already tracking the cals you’re consuming, start doing that with an app like MyFitnessPal, where you can also enter your other personal data (height, weight, goals, etc.) so it can create a calorie plan for you. (Learn how to blast fat with 12 weeks of killer workouts from the Women's Health Woman's Guide to Strength Training!)

Now, cardio. For weight loss, the National Institutes of Health recommends at least 30 to 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise three to five days a week. But you can maximize your sweat sessions for efficiency if you alternate between high- and low-intensity workouts each day, says Forsythe. She suggests aiming to work out five days a week, alternating the intensities each day and working out no more than two consecutive days to allow your body time to recover.

For the record, high-intensity workouts are usually ones where you’re at 70 to 90 percent of your max heart rate, according to the American Heart Association. (That means it feels like you can barely say more than a few words at a time.) Moderate-intensity exercise is at about 50 to 70 percent of your max heart rate, and allows you to say a couple of sentences while you're working.

On days you’re ready for more action (or your schedule is tight), amp the intensity of your cardio workout on a machine by adding in some interval training, says Forsythe. You’ll torch more cals in a shorter amount of time. For example, run (or bike) as fast as you can for one minute, then recover for one minute at a slower pace, and repeat that for about 15 to 20 minutes. You can also step off the machines for some bodyweight circuits. Forsythe suggests exercises like burpees, speed skaters, jumping jacks, plank jacks, and mountain climbers, completing 30 seconds of each consecutively with no breaks, then break for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat the whole sequence a few times until you’ve hit about 20 minutes.

See some of the craziest things women have done to lose weight.

If you've got extra time, aim to fit in some longer, lower-intensity exercises, like walking or jogging, biking, or using the elliptical. Note: You’ll have to do these longer to burn more cals, at least 30 to 45 minutes at a time, says Forsythe. But don’t dismiss these low and slow options. According to The National Weight Control Registry, 94 percent of people who successfully lost and kept off their weight had increased their physical activity, most of them from walking. (And most of them exercise about an hour a day, so if you’re walking, aim for closer to 60 minutes. If you’re jogging or running, you can call it quits sooner.)

Basically, the amount of cardio you have to do to lose weight is super flexible per your schedule and your preferences. No matter which ways you choose, cardio will help you shed pounds and keep them off.

No, you do not. Weight is lost whenever the body consistently brings in fewer calories than it burns. The simple formula needed to lose a pound of fat is to create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. This means that you will need to consumer 3,500 calories less than you burn. To make that goal more manageable, think that you need 500 fewer calories eaten than burned per day. How that deficit is achieved is up to you. You can simply eat 500 calories less a day, but you may get hungry. Or burn 500 extra calories a day. Or you can eat 200 less and burn 300 more. It is generally recommended that you reduce your calories consumed to a comfortable level and that you increase your total daily activity. That activity can come from cardio, weight training, yard work, walking the dog, or simply finding little ways to burn more calories all day long. Simple things like parking farther away, taking the stairs, walking to a co-workers office rather than emailing or using the phone, and standing and pacing in your office rather than sitting at the desk can add up to several hundred extra calories burned over the course of a day.

If losing weight was only about burning as many calories as possible, weight-loss plans would be easy: you'd just do long runs, cardio workouts, or bike rides every single day. It's true that cardio is good for weight loss, but you shouldn't do cardio every day to lose weight. That's because daily cardio can not only be boring, which makes it hard to do consistently, but it's also inefficient compared with more diverse workout routines that include strength training.

In fact, building muscle has more of a positive effect on your metabolism than the walks, runs, and cycling sessions you do for cardio. Ideally, both will be included in your workout routine, which means you don't want to be maxing out on cardio every day. So how much cardio should you do to lose weight, and what is the right ratio of cardio to strength workouts? And why shouldn't you do cardio every day? POPSUGAR talked to two experts to get the answers.

Should You Do Cardio Every Day to Lose Weight?

It's true that the more cardio you do, the more calories you'll burn. That's helpful for that bottom line of exhausting more calories than you consume, which does ultimately lead to weight loss, said Tom Holland, MS, CSCS, an exercise physiologist and Bowflex fitness adviser. So why is it so important to mix in other types of workouts, especially strength training?

• Strength training helps your metabolism. Strength training might not burn as many calories in the moment, but building muscle boosts your metabolism, which means you burn more calories even when you're resting. "Strength training is a powerful and important component of weight loss," Holland told POPSUGAR. "So solely engaging in cardio workouts is not the most effective approach."
• Doing cardio every day can lead to injury. If you only do one kind of exercise, every day, you put your body at risk of overuse injuries. Cardio is a major culprit of this because movements like running and jumping put so much pressure on your joints. Injuring yourself out of your workout routine will definitely be a setback to your weight-loss goals.
• Mixing up your workout routine keeps you engaged and motivated. "The more you mix up your workouts, the greater the physical and mental benefits," Holland told POPSUGAR. A workout routine with plenty of variety is more challenging for your body and engaging for your mind, which will keep you on track and motivated when a more boring routine might burn you out.

"For my clients with weight-loss goals, I want them doing a combination of cardio and resistance training like weightlifting. They are both important to the reduction of body fat," said Austin Johnson, NCSF, a certified personal trainer for Gold's Gym. This four-week workout plan for weight loss, for example, includes a good balance of both.

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You don't necessarily have to go for a run, swim laps, or hit the elliptical for your exercise to qualify as cardio, either. "If there are days when you can't make it to the gym to get in a structured cardio workout, then going for a walk or jog around the neighborhood is certainly better than nothing," Johnson said. As long as you're doing it for long enough — 30 minutes is a good place to start — and getting your heart rate up to at least 60 to 70 percent of your maximum, walks or slow, casual jogs can help you lose weight, Johnson told POPSUGAR.

You can even break that cardio up throughout the day, Holland added. "Research shows that exercise does not have to be done all at the same time," he said. "Breaking it up into shorter, manageable bouts throughout the day is an effective strategy, especially for the time-crunched." Taking three brisk 10-minute walks throughout your day, for example, can get you up to a full half hour of low-intensity cardio. Done consistently, this kind of daily cardio can help you lose weight over time.

Add Intervals to Lose Weight Faster

To up your calorie burn, Holland recommended incorporating intervals into some of your cardio workouts. "For maximum results, your cardio workouts should include a mix of steady-state sessions, interval work, and hills," he said. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Work up to intervals over time. Though it's great for burning fat, "interval training is much more intense and puts a strain on your body," Johnson said. Start with steady-state workouts to build up your cardiovascular endurance. After a few weeks, experiment with adding in short intervals twice a week.
• Keep interval workouts shorter. Interval workouts are perfect for weekday cardio sessions: they should be around 30 minutes long. The shorter time limit is meant to help you maintain your intensity the whole time so you can get the most benefit out of the workout.

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How Often Should I Do Cardio to Lose Weight?

Let's go back to that balance of cardio with strength training. If your goal is to lose weight, you're going to want to include both in your weekly routine. You can do both on the same day or even the same workout, Holland said, with a high-intensity interval circuit, for example. However, combining strength and cardio on the same day definitely isn't mandatory; you can lose weight by splitting them up throughout the week as well. If you're a beginner, Johnson recommended this schedule to help you build up strength and endurance:

• Monday: Resistance training, like this 30-minute dumbbell workout
• Tuesday: Cardio, such as walking, jogging, swimming, or cycling
• Wednesday: Cardio
• Thursday: Resistance training, like this seated upper-body workout
• Friday: Cardio
• Saturday: Rest day
• Sunday: Resistance training, like this low-impact bodyweight workout

That's a mix of three days of steady-state cardio workouts, 30 to 60 minutes long, and three days of full-body resistance training using lighter weights. (Here's a guide to choosing the right weight.) Once you start building strength and endurance, you start doing interval training on one or two of your cardio days. Note, too, that a healthy diet including nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables, lean protein (chicken, fish, and legumes), and whole grains will help you reach your weight-loss goals and help you feel better while you do it.

The bottom line is that you can do cardio every day if you really love it, but don't push yourself so hard that you'll get injured, and definitely don't skimp on resistance training in favor of cardio. A balanced schedule is key for weight loss, not only because building strength helps your metabolism, but also because variation keeps things interesting, which helps you to stay motivated and on track.

"Realize that your goal is to not only lose weight but to create new healthy habits to keep it off long-term," Holland said. "So your plan needs to be fun, manageable, and for a lifetime."

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