Is Cardio Necessary to Burn Fat & Lose Weight?

Are you currently doing all your daily cardio workouts for weight loss but not getting the results you desire? Well, you might not be alone. Is cardio necessary to lose weight? Can cardio burn fat? We answered these globally frequently asked questions in this article.

Does cardio burn fat?

People who are trying to burn fat and lose weight often think that cardio doesn’t really work.

This might be partially true because when it’s done solely, it only helps you burn calories during the exercise itself, but doesn’t provide any calorie burn after the workout. So cardio isn’t enough to help you burn fat and get slimmer. However, it’s definitely necessary when combined with other elements of fat burning.

Cardio but no fat loss? Here’s what to do

Doing only cardio means burning not many calories and is not enough for fat loss. If you’re aiming to burn fat, you have to build muscle too, as greater muscle mass will help you boost your metabolism and burn the stored fat.

In addition to doing cardio, these tips will help you burn more fat and lose weight:

Add strength training

To build more muscle mass and burn fat, add strength training to your workout schedule. Strength workouts are just as vital as high-intensity cardio workouts.

For strength training, you can do bodyweight exercises, do weight lifting with dumbbells or barbells or you can use resistance bands.

You can get Fitness Kompanion for bodyweight exercises without needing any equipment.

Mix up your workouts

Don’t do different kinds of workouts on the same day, as they will exhaust you and you will end up abandoning your workout schedule. Instead, do strength training and high-intensity cardio workouts on separate days.

Note: If you easily get bored while doing your exercises, listen to a killer music playlist. This 80s workout music playlist can fire you up in minutes:

Create a calorie deficit

The physics of losing weight is quite simple: you need to burn more calories than you take in during the day.

Most people who can’t lose weight by exercising fall into the trap of eating more and failing to limit their calorie intake.

One of the best ways of creating a calorie deficit is by doing intermittent fasting, as it allows you to eat whatever you want simply by limiting your eating period.

Fasting Kompanion offers the best suitable intermittent fasting plan for you, motivates you, and tracks your progress.

Avoid junk food

Greasy, salty, and sugary junk foods are your worst enemies, both for weight loss as they are extremely high in calories, and also for your overall health.

And secret junk foods like diet sodas, fruit juices, and many more can also be the reason you’re not losing weight.

Quit sedentary lifestyle

The importance of being active on a daily basis is easy to forget. In addition to working out, all the physical activities you do like gardening, walking, grocery shopping, doing the household chores, etc. all contribute to burning excess calories.

Next time you plan to buy your groceries online by sitting on your couch, consider heading to the nearest supermarket, and having a quick walk as you shop.

To sum up

You probably can’t reach your target weight by simply running on the treadmill for hours.

You should also apply our other tips, like creating a calorie deficit and combining different workouts to burn fat.