In case you are using the traditional aerobic cardio to lose weight, you must be spending around 30 minutes on the machine to burn certain amount of calories. It is believed that in order to lose 1 pound fat every week, you must lose 500 calories every day or every session.
This is basically a myth that people has been brain washed with. Also, whether this weight loss can be achieved through aerobic cardio is also not clear.
Calorie counting monitor installed on elliptical machines, stairmasters and treadmills is probably one of the worst inventions made ever. You may be one of those persons who have been worried by the slow pace with which the monitor creeps up at your slow cardio-sessions.
Shortcomings in the belief that losing 300-500 calories per session is necessary to lose fat
After the invention of these calorie-counting monitors, people who have been obsessed to lose around 300-500 calories every session needs to understand the loopholes in this approach.
1. Accuracy of calorie counters – Accuracy of calorie counters is something that cannot be commented upon as a CBS news story presented that cardio counters overestimate the calories lost by an individual by around 20%.
2. Slow cardio inefficient for advanced loss of fat – This is because, a study proved that men who depended only on slow cardio for weight loss, has a reduced metabolism. On the other hand, men who combined strength training with slow cardio didn’t face any such problem.
Solution to lose fat
Hence, it is better to burn less calories in less time for exercising by doing interval and strength training with a little intense kind of exercising. The afterburn effect will persist with this kind of exercising. For intervals, you can run for around half a minute, rest for around one minute and repeat this at least 6 times. You can use bike or treadmill if you are acquainted with it.
In these short times of intervals, the metabolic turbulence will cause a lot of calories to be burnt after the exercising so that the body is back to its normal form. Therefore, you will burn more calories and fat after exercising.
You may want to count your calories when consuming your food and it is undoubtedly important as it does make a difference. Consuming junk food would simply nullify your entire workout session of half an hour in a minute.
So, if you do not discipline yourself in terms of nutrition, even these tips would not do any good to you. Hence, interval training and keeping a check on your nutrition habits are the two methods of anti-calorie counting that helps you to reduce fat and thereby get into that perfect shape.
