Hey guys, Sean Nalewanyj here of SeanNal.com and BodyTransformationTruth.com and in this
video I want to discuss how performing excessive amounts of cardio can cause your fat loss
to stagnate or even worse how it can actually cause you to gain even more weight over the
long run.
Now it might seem counter-intuitive.
I mean if the ultimate goal of losing fat is to maintain a calorie deficit over time
by consistently burning more calories than you consume, then how can a calorie burning
tool such as cardio end up working against you.
Well it's actually pretty simple.
Although the act of performing cardio does burn calories in the the short term, it also
stimulates your appetite as well.
When you combine this with the fact that the majority of people who are aiming to lose
fat do not track their daily calorie intake with any real accuracy, they usually just
wing their diet and "eat healthy" throughout the day, you have a real potential problem
on your hands.
For example, let's say you performed an hour of cardio 5 days a week, burning 400 calories
per session, that would equal 2000 calories per week.
Now that's all fine and good, but what happens if the appetite stimulating effect of those
same 5 sessions causes you to unknowingly consume, for example an extra 350 calories
per day.
By the end of the week you would have burned 2000 calories from your cardio sessions but
would have also consumed an additional 2,450 calories for a net gain of 450 calories per
week.
Now trust me, this can happen much more easily than you think.
Small dietary choices that you make throughout the day add up very very quickly and 350 calories
really isn't all that much.
A handful of nuts here, a piece of fruit there, a small late night snack.
If you're constantly feeling hungry and you aren't keeping track of your daily calorie
intake, there's an almost certain chance that you're going to end up overeating without
realizing it.
And cardio isn't the only culprit here.
Weight training or any other form of exercise will also have appetite stimulating effects
as well.
And the simple reality is this, it absolutely does not matter how "healthy" your diet is
or whether you eat nothing but plain chicken breast and oatmeal and broccoli all day long.
If the total number of calories that you consume is equal to or greater than the total number
of calories that you burn, you are not going to lose an ounce of fat period.
This is known as the law of energy balance and there's really no way around it.
In order to lose fat you must maintain a calorie deficit over time by consistently burning
more calories than you consume, plain and simple.
So the key here is in finding a proper balance between your training program and your diet
that allows you to remain in a calorie deficit throughout the week without causing you to
feel excessively hungry.
So here are 3 immediate steps that you can follow right away to help you in this process.
First off, stop over emphasizing cardio and treating it as the be all end all of fat loss.
Cardio is simply one tool in your arsenal to help you burn additional calories, and
most people way over value it.
As long as your diet is properly structured then 3 to 4 cardio sessions per week is easily
going to be enough for the vast majority of trainees, and some people can get away just
fine with even less then this.
Secondly, include some high intensity interval based cardio as part of your overall plan.
High intensity interval training sessions or a "hiit" for short, somewhere in the range
of 8 to 20 minutes do not stimulate your appetite to the same degree that traditional slow paced
cardio does, and in some cases it may even blunt your appetite.
And at the same time it helps you burn more total calories in comparison, however, because
this type of cardio is more stressful to your body as a whole, you can only perform so much
of it before you start to feel burned out.
So aim to perform a balanced mix between the two types of cardio.
For example, 1 to 2 aerobic sessions lasting 45 to 60 minutes and 1 to 2 hit sessions.
That would be a good overall approach.
And third, start tracking your total calorie intake in more detail, and this is by far
the most important step of all.
If you're just eating on the fly throughout the day and you don't have a reasonable idea
of how many calories you're consuming in total, your overall progress is definitely going
to be compromised or even eliminated altogether.
You can use my free Macronutrient Calculator in the description box below to get yourself
onto a solid reliable starting plan for your fat loss diet.
Once you have these 3 steps in place you can simply then test and tweak from there in order
to see what works best for you in terms of maintaining a calorie deficit while managing
your overall hunger levels.
Some people prefer to create a larger calorie deficit through their diet by reducing their
overall food intake and scaling back on the cardio, while others prefer to consume more
food throughout the day and burn more of their calories using exercise.
Everyone is a bit different in this area so you'll just have to test it out for yourself
and see what works best for you.
So thanks for watching this video lesson.
I hope you found the information useful here today.
If you did enjoy the video, as always, please make sure to hit the LIKE button, leave a
comment and subscribe to stay up-to-date on future videos.
Also make sure to check out my complete step-by-step muscle building and fat loss programs over
at BodyTransformationTruth.com.
The link for that is in the description box below.
And make sure to join the Facebook page for daily tips and updates, the link for that
is also in the Description box.
Talk to you again soon.