When you want to lose weight or burn fat, cardio training is one of the better ways to achieve this. The amount of calories you can burn through cardio training is significantly higher than with other physical activities in and around the gym. Because you can burn so many calories, the chances are high that you create a negative energy balance. In this article, we will explain how to best approach cardio training for fat burning.
How intense should your training be
One of the main questions is how intense the training should be. After all, this form of training lends itself well to different intensities. In the past, it was believed that you needed to train for at least half an hour on the treadmill. From that moment on, your body would have depleted its energy reserves stored in the liver and muscles (glycogen), after which it would need to look for a new source of energy: fat reserves. Because of this theory, you saw many people spending hours at a low intensity on a treadmill, elliptical, or rowing machine.
Various more recent studies show that this method of training is not the most effective when you want to tap into fat reserves. The University of New South Wales conducted research on this and found that it is actually more effective to train at a higher intensity over a shorter period. The higher intensity leads to a post-exercise oxygen consumption mode of the body, called EPOC, short for Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. These afterburn effects refer to the increased oxygen consumption by the body after a workout. This is accompanied by an increased metabolism after training. This phenomenon is very interesting for athletes who want to burn fat and lose weight. After all, because your body consumes more oxygen after training with a higher metabolism, you burn more calories after training. There are studies claiming that you can burn up to 300 calories because your body is in EPOC mode. According to the studies, this is only achieved when the intensity of the training is high, such as with Tabata and HIIT.
Which type of training should you apply
Alright, now that you know what the intensity should be and what the benefits can be of shorter and more intense workouts, let’s look at the different types of workouts. After all, cardio training is a broad term that encompasses various activities. All these activities, in turn, have different calorie expenditures. The main activities are listed below, along with their corresponding energy expenditures:
900 kcal: 1 hour running at a pace of 12 kilometers per hour
750 kcal: 1 hour running at a pace of 10 kilometers per hour
600 kcal: 1 hour running at a pace of 8 kilometers per hour
550 kcal: 1 hour cycling at a pace of 20 kilometers per hour
525 kcal: 1 hour tennis
400 kcal: 1 hour swimming
As you can see, there are significant differences between the various cardio activities. Are you a beginner and want to gradually improve your fitness before working on fat burning? Then start with 2 hours of gentle swimming per week. While swimming, you use all the muscles in your body and you can determine the intensity yourself. If you’re slightly more advanced, hop on the bike. Again, you have complete control over your pace and intensity. And if you’re already somewhat experienced and want to dive right in: go for a run. This is one of the best ways to burn calories, as you can see from the list above.
How many calories should I burn
Now that you know how intense your training should be and which type of training is best for your personal situation, it’s important to look at your calories. Let’s make one thing clear: your body weight is determined by the amount of calories you consume. If you consume more calories than you need, you will gain weight. This is called a calorie surplus. If you consume fewer calories than you need, you will lose weight. This is called a calorie deficit. Also known as a negative energy balance.
The way you can influence this energy balance is twofold. On the one hand, you can adjust your diet, so eat fewer calories. On the other hand, you can increase your activity level, thereby burning more calories. If you now look back at the above list of cardio activities. Which of the two ways do you think is the easiest way to create a calorie deficit? That’s right, by consciously adjusting your diet.
So, we need to create a calorie deficit. How do you go about it? First of all, it’s important to realize that your body needs a minimum amount of calories to survive. Suppose you were to do nothing all day, your body still needs energy for your circulation, heart rate, breathing, and all other bodily processes. This minimum energy requirement of the body is also called the basal metabolic rate, BMR.
When you know your BMR, you know how much energy you should intake if you were to do nothing all day. But of course, you do something during the day. You wake up, have breakfast, go to work or school, are productive there, and if you go back home then perhaps you’ll go to the gym in the evening. All these activities require energy. To determine your total energy needs, you need to add your BMR to your activity level. You can do this using the formula below.
- Weight (kg)
- Height (cm)
- Age
- Activity level
12345 - Your BMR
- Maintenance
Below you can find the classifications for the activity level. Based on this, you can determine what your maintenance level is. This represents the amount of calories (kcal) you should consume to maintain your weight.
1. No physical activity — x 1.2
2. Exercise 1–3 days per week — x 1.375
3. Exercise 3–5 days per week — x 1.55
4. Exercise 6–7 days per week — x 1.725
5. Train twice a day, training camp — x 1.9
Suppose you want to lose weight now, it is advisable to aim for 400 – 500 calories below your maintenance. This way, you create a responsible calorie deficit, and you can measure its effects based on the scale and your body fat percentage. If your weight decreases or your body fat percentage decreases, you are on the right track. If you don’t see any changes after 2 weeks, increase your deficit. Do this also if your weight increases or your body fat percentage rises.
Burning fat through diet
Finally, the importance of nutrition. As mentioned above, it is quite easy to create a deficit by watching your diet. After all, it takes quite a bit more effort to burn calories through cardio training. One smart tweak you can make when you want to lose weight is to consume more proteins. This has multiple reasons.
Firstly, proteins initially give you a feeling of satiety. Of all macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates), proteins make you feel the fullest. When you’re satiated, you don’t eat and don’t consume extra calories. This is perhaps the easiest tweak you can make.
Another advantage of consuming more protein is that it helps you maintain more muscle and prevent muscle breakdown. This way, you maintain your shape and look ‘in shape’ when you lose weight. The weight you lose will primarily consist of fat.
Finally, the thermic effect of eating proteins is the highest. The thermic effect refers to the energy your body needs to break down and digest the proteins. This is a fairly complex process, and because your body has to work harder to break down the proteins, it results in a higher calorie expenditure. This, in turn, means that your energy expenditure is higher when consuming more proteins.
