Best Cardio For Fat Loss?
The Study | The Findings | What should you do? | Takeaway
You can’t mention fat loss without talking about cardio. But with so many variations, deciding what to do can get confusing.
Cyclists are lean, footballers are athletic, and the people you see out on morning runs look healthy too. “Go for a jog” was also the most common piece of advice I got when I weighed in at 120kg.
But which method of cardio, if any, is worth investing your effort into?
Today, we’ll look at a study on cardio intensity and fat loss before moving on to my suggestions.
The Study
The study we look at today is called “Effects of active commuting and leisure-time exercise on fat loss in women and men with overweight and obesity”.
Healthy but physically inactive overweight individuals between the ages of 20 and 45 were sorted into 4 groups and prescribed varying levels of exercise.
The control group had nothing changed and remained inactive
The BIKE group was told to cycle to work (no instruction on intensity)
The MOD group did moderate-intensity cardio at a fitness center
The VIG group did vigorous-intensity cardio at a fitness center
Women were instructed to burn 320 calories per day whilst men were instructed to burn 420 calories.
All other factors were held as constant as possible.
The level of fat loss was then measured 3 months later and 6 months later.
The Findings
They lost fat
Unsurprisingly, when exercise is introduced to the life of an inactive, overweight individual, they lose fat (when all other factors are held as constant as possible).
It’s important to note that the selected participants had little fluctuations in weight prior to the study. Therefore they were likely sitting close to maintenance and the addition of exercise resulted in a (slight) caloric deficit.
Calories in doesn’t equal calories out?
Interestingly, even though the calories burnt were the same, participants who exercised vigorously lost more fat than those who exercised at a moderate intensity.
One possibility is that vigorous cardio may have caused some muscle damage (similar to weight training), which would cause the body to use more calories in repairing muscle fibers, resulting in a larger caloric deficit and greater fat loss.
Muscle mass retention
Body weight dropped for all the groups that exercised and there were no changes in fat-free mass. So in other words, all weight lost was from fat, and muscle mass was maintained.
But how did cardio cause both weight and fat loss whilst retaining muscle mass?
Although fat loss was significant, weight loss wasn’t. Suggesting that participants were only in a slight caloric deficit.
As the rate of weight loss was slow, participants didn’t become catabolic. Meaning the body didn’t need to break down muscle mass (which can occur when losing fat at a faster rate).
Short term gains
A noteworthy finding is that all fat loss occurred during the first 3 months.
From 3 to 6 months, participants didn’t lose any more fat but maintained their new body composition.
This suggests adaptations to exercise as the body reaches a new equilibrium.
What Should You Do?
What do you want to do? Do you want to lose fat very slowly, potentially over multiple years, with no care about building muscle?
In that case, spend hours doing cardio, steadily increasing the time you spend as the months roll by.
Or do you want to lose fat at a fast but healthy rate whilst maintaining or even gaining muscle mass?
In that case, you should attack body fat from all angles, including nutrition and resistance training as well as cardio.
In any case, consistency is important. Choose a method of cardio that you enjoy doing, not necessarily what people consider optimal.
In this study, higher-intensity cardio seems to be the best for fat loss. However, the VIG group had the second highest dropout rate, with BIKE having the highest.
All the people who lost fat in the study stuck to their exercise plan. Maybe those who dropped out of the experiment would’ve stayed consistent had they opted for a form of cardio that they actually enjoyed doing.
For more information on cardio and how to build a fat loss plan, read Cutting Concepts.
Takeaway
High-intensity cardio when a person does no other form of exercise is best for fat loss.
But cardio alone isn’t the answer.
Your priorities should go from nutrition to training and then cardio.
For consistency, choose a scalable form of cardio that you enjoy doing.
Source:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330121425_Effects_of_active_commuting_and_leisure-time_exercise_on_appetite_in_individuals_with_overweight_and_obesity
