Burning calories through exercise can lead to weight loss. So if you’re trying to avoid getting too thin, it’s natural to assume that it would be a good idea to cut out extra exercise, especially activities like running that burn a high number of calories.
The problem is, cardio workouts aren’t only about burning calories. Cardio activities like walking, running, cycling and doing aerobic dance are fabulous fatburners, but they do much, much more!
Cardio strengthens your heart and lungs, improving your maximal oxygen capacity (known as your VO2 max). It also fine-tunes many of the hormonal systems in your body, making you more resilient in stressful situations. It improves your insulin sensitivity, and allows you to better utilize your body fat for energy. Cardio exercise reduces blood pressure, provides a boost in “good” HDL cholesterol, and helps you develop muscle stamina and overall endurance.
If your goal is permanent fat loss, you need to burn enough calories to make a significant impact. Here's why: In order to lose a pound in one week, you need to create a 3,500-calorie deficit; in other words, you need to burn off 3,500 more calories than you eat. A 30-minute power walk on flat ground burns about 120 calories. So, to burn off 1 pound of fat by walking, you'd have to hoof it for more than 2 hours a day.
Don't worry — no one should suggest that you exercise two hours every day! The best way to lose fat is to create a calorie deficit by burning calories through exercise and cutting calories you eat. For example, over the course of a week, you may cut 250 calories per day by switching from mayo to mustard on your sandwich at lunch and snacking on light yogurt instead of Fruit-on-the-Bottom. Meanwhile, you could burn an extra 250 calories a day by taking a one-hour walk or a half-hour jog.
Not only that, you can achieve a stress-reducing, calming effect from cardio workouts, and you may even experience an euphoric aerobic high from longer, high-intensity sessions.
Depending on how you weight-train, you may be able to attain some of these benefits. People that do high-intensity circuit training—where they lift heavy weights in an explosive way with short rest periods in between exercises and sets—or who include aerobic intervals like jogging in place for a minute or two in between weight exercises, can improve their cardiovascular system.
How long your workouts should last for weight loss?
Here's another dose of reality: You should aim for at least 45 minutes of exercise, a mix of cardio and strength training, six days per week. Again, you don't need to do all this sweating at once, but for the pounds to come off, the calories you burn need to add up.
How hard you need to push for weight loss?
To make a serious dent in your fat-loss program, work out in your target zone most of the time. But keep in mind: If you're pretty darned "deconditioned," as the politically correct like to say, even exercising at 50 percent of your maximum heart rate can help build up your fitness level.
You may have heard that exercising at a slow pace is more effective for weight loss than working out more intensely. In fact, many cardio machines have "fat burning" programs that keep you at a slow pace. But this is misleading. As it turns out, the concept of a fat-burning zone is no more real than the Twilight Zone.
During low-intensity aerobic exercise, your body does use fat as its primary fuel source. As you get closer to your breaking point, your body starts using a smaller percentage of fat and a larger percentage of carbohydrates, another fuel source. However, picking up the pace allows you to burn more total calories, as well as more fat calories. Of course, going faster and harder is not always better. If you're just starting out, you probably can't sustain a faster pace long enough to make it worth it your while. If you go slower, you may be able to exercise a lot longer, so you'll end up burning more calories and fat that way.
Sex ‘not the equivalent of a cardio workout’
A steamy sex session is not the same as an intense workout at the gym, says a "health expert".
"You're not going to get the same [physical health] benefit as going out for a 2-mile jog," Jamie Feldman, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, told ABC News. "Sexual activity provides some degree of modest exercise. But it's not the same as getting moderate exercise for 30 minutes a day."
Sex, however, can lower the blood pressure over time, says Israel Helfand, sex therapist and marriage counselor, reports The New York Daily News.
"But for this to happen, it must be done vigorously," he adds lol.
Sex also increases the body's "happy" hormones such as dopamine and cortisol, Helfand says.
"And it counteracts depression, improves energy and improves people's mood," he adds.
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