2 hours of cardio daily.. too much?

Hoping2BThinAgain

Hoping2BThinAgain

New member
I am planning to do two hours of cardio daily.. between trademill, elliptical, and stair machine..

I really need to speed up my weightloss.. Is this a lot to do? I am doing one hour of it.. but now want to stick on 2 non stop hours surely doing 2 types of machines to avoid getting bored..

Has anyone done it and worked successfully??

I really need to lose weight ASAP!
 
I think it depends on how much you eat, personally. (Though I'm not an expert by any means...)

I did two hours of intense cardio today and I usually do about an hour a day. I'm kicking it up to two hours starting this week, but I'm in training for the military, and I make sure to get PLENTY of calories to compensate (probably between 1500-2000).

If you don't get enough calories and work out really hard, it could drive your body into a starvation mode. So just be sure to match your caloric intake with your activity level.
 
But I have reached the point of I dont mind to starve! I have reached a weight that I have never before and I am in a rush to lose this weight :(

I will have to try to do it for a while and see how it goes.

Thanks maverick for your advice! :)
 
its not to much.. just going to be hard to maintain in a lifelong aspect..

do what u can for the rest of ur life
 
But I have reached the point of I dont mind to starve!
Click to expand...

You won't lose weight that way, though. That's what I'm saying. If your body goes into starvation mode, it will hold fast to every calorie it can possibly get, so not only will you not lose weight, but the minute you drop your guard and have a treat, it will come back threefold on you.

So say you do lots of cardio, starve yourself, and lose some weight. When you eat regularly again, you'll not only gain back what you lost, you'll gain even MORE weight. So if you started at, for ex. 220 lbs, you'll end up 250 lbs. from the crash diet.

Better to do it a little more slowly and keep it off, right? What's the rush?
 
Do what you can do for the rest of your life and definitely do not starve yourself. Eating disorders of gluttony or starvation are never acceptable.

It is hard to lose short term weight when you are starving. Even if you lose the weight you will put it back on quickly unless you are planning to starve forever. If you are like other fad and starvation dieters you will give into food as soon as you get to your goal weight if not sooner.
 
My GOD! That's crazy! Don't do anywhere near that much cardio. Sure, you'll be in great cardio-vascular shape, but you'll really be shortchanging yourself in terms of fat loss. You can get better results in less time by doing some resistance training 4 days a week for about 30 minutes a day, and maybe doing cardio 5 days a week, for 1/2 hour in the morning before breakfast.

You sound pretty intense, and often people that jump into fat loss with this kind of intensity will actually under eat, so don't do it. Make sure you're eating enough food if you want your body to maintain it's metabolic rate.

BFL
 
Your best bet is to lose the weight slowly. Losing anything over 1-2 pounds (not including water weight) a week is unhealthy and puts you into starvation mode. This will lead to your body breaking down muscle for energy.

Ever see someone who is ridiculously skinny but still has a pooch or flabby arms? My girlfriend calls them skinny-fat. It's because they do too much cardio and dieting without caring about having muscle or being toned.
 
Too much cardio can be catabolic. I wouldn't suggest it. Losing weight is great and all, but if said weight loss is a bunch of muscle..... guess what?

The new lighter you is going to look just as bad.

Remember, the scale doesn't determine appearance. Body composition does.

More importantly, this short-term mentality you've got going probably isn't the healthiest thing. We see it time and time again and more often than not, it leads to inconsistency and frustration.
 
Not only what Steve said about catabolic but wouldn't you burn out?

The other day I did some cardio in the morning, and after work I did some more (for fun, it was a dance video) and the next morning I was so tired I couldn't work out.

Won't be doing THAT again.
 
busy91 said:
Not only what Steve said about catabolic but wouldn't you burn out?
Click to expand...

Just as managing fatigue is critical to programming for weight lifting, it's just as critical for aerobic exercise. Overtraining is a bitch.
 
OK, I have a question. Is interval training or cardio the most effective way to lose fat?

I'm seeing/reading more and more about interval training, but still hearing everyone say ramp up the cardio and do resistance. So I guess I'm a bit confused.

I'm guessing that your goals would determine if you did interval or cardio. Lose fat = interval, strong cardio fitness = cardio? Correct or not so black and white?

Thanks!
 
nomorefatdad said:
OK, I have a question. Is interval training or cardio the most effective way to lose fat?

I'm seeing/reading more and more about interval training, but still hearing everyone say ramp up the cardio and do resistance. So I guess I'm a bit confused.

I'm guessing that your goals would determine if you did interval or cardio. Lose fat = interval, strong cardio fitness = cardio? Correct or not so black and white?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Not so black and white.

For starters, interval training is merely a form of cardiovascular exercise. And interval training is going to serve different purposes for different people. Take a 275 lb woman for example who has been sedentary for 10 years. She is not going to be able to jog continuously. So we might set up an interval program where she is walking quickly around a track for 1 minute, then walking slowly for 2 minutes. Is this better than steady state cardio? No, not in this particular instance. But interval training serves as a way to maximize the amount of work she does per session.

Ya see, there's a lot of ways to look at interval training. But in it's purest form, it's merely a way of pushing into intensity thresholds you'd otherwise not be able to touch following a steady state protocol. Follow me?

Both steady state cardio and interval training are tools that can be used for fat loss. And you shouldn't think you need to do one or the other.

Now, when you start juicing up the intensity into the sprint range in your interval training, you move away from aerobic and into anaerobic territory, which has different impacts on your body. This is the infamous HIIT.

Take me for another example.

When I diet down to really lean levels, I don't do any HIIT. I might do some tempo runs and a few sessions of moderate intensity, steady state stuff. Reason being is, at that stage I'm well below normal body fat levels and beating my body into submission with high intensity stuff when I don't have the capacity or recoverability at that stage to handle said intensity is a futile process. Especially once you factor strength training into the mix.

So it's all very context dependent.
 
Adding time to cardio isn't going to make you lose weight any faster.....because the more you exercise, the higher the caloric intake. 1 hour should be fine. I guarantee if you just go from nothing to two hour cardio days, it wont last long.
 
Cams Habs said:
Steve is in fact a moderator and is one of the most educated people around these parts; take what he says to heart.
Click to expand...

I hope that people who need Steve's advice do take it to heart and also seek additional insights that those of us who have been doing health and fitness for years can offer.

Good to know that Steve is still here. :party:
 
I know this is an old thread, but last summer I did two hours of cardio per day for two months and lost 20 pounds. My starting weight was 200 pounds and I did stairmaster for two hours a day. Its been a year, I've kept it off and lost another 10 pounds by changing what I ate. Cheers to you all.
 
That's fantastic if the 'works' you're going for is solely dependent on the scale.

Unfortunately that's not the 'works' most are going for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top