What's The Best Cardio Exercise To Lose Weight?

Cardio has generally been the go-to method for many people when they want to burn fat. People spend hours and hours on the treadmill, hoping to tone up. While some succeed, others...not so much. 

However, there are a ton of different types of cardio exercises that might be better for you. This begs the question: Which cardio exercise is the best for burning fat? This article will help you figure out the best form of cardio exercises to help you burn fat the fastest, so you stop wasting time.

How Does Cardio Help Burn Fat?

Consistent cardio has many health benefits that are crucial for longevity and health. This includes things like;

• Improve cardiovascular 
• Maintain healthy metabolism 
• Increase mental mood and wellness

However, one of the main reasons people engage in cardio is to lose fat. Therefore, exactly how does cardio exercise help you lose weight?

This is crucial to understand to help you understand which form of cardio is best.

Cardio Helps Lose Fat By Burning Calories 

As the headline suggests, cardio exercise essentially helps burn fat by increasing the total amount of calories burned throughout the day.

While there's nuance to address, fat loss basically occurs when one burns more calories they consume.

Therefore, to burn more fat, one would attempt to;

• Lower the amount of calories they consume 
• Increase the amount of calories they burn

The only way you can consume less calories is by controlling your diet. However, you actually have several ways to increase the calories you burn. This includes things like¹;

• Eating more protein as it has higher TEF
• Maintaining muscle to keep your BMR high
• Increase basic activity levels

In addition to these, you can also increase the amount of cardio you do. Cardio is basically an activity performed for an extended duration at moderate intensity.

How Many Calories Does Cardio Burn?

Before we go further, we want to reiterate when we are talking about cardio, we're talking about moderately intense activity; we are not speaking about increasing physical activity, i.e., steps.

The total amount of calories that will be burned is significantly dependent on;

• A person's weight
• Intensity level
• Duration of exercise
• Type of exercise

For this reason, just because someone tells you a certain program will burn X amount of calories, there's no way it will be true for everybody. 

While some people are able to burn 1,000+ calories, most people probably burn around 400-600 calories per hour of continuous cardio, with an emphasis on continuous. 

Regardless, unless you do cardio daily, the impact across the week becomes even less. For example, let's pretend you have five hour-long sessions and burn 500 calories each hour. In reality, that only equates to about 350 calories daily during the entire week.

While 350 calories burned is awesome, keep in mind it would take you 10 days of doing that just to burn 1 pound of fat. For most people, they only burn around 5-10% of calories through all exercise. 

Now, don't let this get you down, as it still plays a massive role, which we'll get into below!! We just want to keep things in perspective.

Does Cardio Burn Fat?

Yes and no. Well, it depends.

Let's keep in mind that when you perform cardio, your body draws energy from several sources through different metabolic systems.² These sources can include;

• Carbs (blood glucose and muscle glycogen)
• Fat (stored fatty acids)
• Protein (amino acids in muscle)

When it comes to using these fuels for energy, there's a misunderstanding that your body will only use one source at a time – your body uses blood glucose then flips a switch and uses fat.

This is not the case. In reality, your body is drawing from all sources, albeit to different degrees.

For example, while relaxing, your body may get 70% of its energy from fat stores and 30% from carbs. However, during high-intensity training, your body may get 60% of its energy from carbs and 40% from fat.

Therefore, the extent by which cardio uses fat will depend on your diet, time of exercise as well as exercise intensity.

Regardless, you need to understand this next part….

Burning Fat DOES NOT Equal Losing Fat

One more small detail: cardio-burning fat does not necessarily mean you'll lose fat.

Remember that your body is always burning fat. However, plenty of people are still gaining fat!

This simply calls back to calories. You'll only lose fat through cardio by forcing your body to consume fat stores without replacing the fat.

Consider these two scenarios.

Scenario 1: For example, let's say you fast for 12+ hours and then go on a run. As your body's glycogen levels will be largely depleted, you'll heavily rely on your fat stores for fuel. However, let's say throughout the day, if you eat a 500-calorie surplus, you're still going to gain fat.

Scenario 2: Let's pretend you carb load for three days before a 5k and eat carbs throughout the race. In this situation, you will rely on fat significantly less than in the first example. However, let's pretend you eat in a 500-calorie deficit throughout the day. In this situation, you're going to lose fat.

The main point is that when using cardio for fat loss, it doesn't really matter if you utilize fat or glucose for energy. What ultimately matters is the amount of calories you burn throughout the day.

Cardio merely increases the total amount of calories burned throughout the day.

How Much Cardio To Lose Weight?

So, how much cardio do you need to lose weight?

As losing weight is dependent on how many calories you eat, your diet would determine how many calories you need to burn.

You'll also need to decide how fast you want to lose weight.

That said, it's generally suggested that you enter a 500-calorie daily caloric deficit to lose weight at a manageable pace—on the upper end, you may hear 1,000.

However, this deficit can occur in several ways. Remember that your diet will play a huge role. The more calories you eat, the more you'll need to burn to lose fat. On the contrary, the fewer calories you eat, the less you'll need to burn.

Look at these different scenarios on how to reach a 500 caloric deficit.

1. You eat at maintenance. Therefore, you need to burn 500 calories through cardio
2. You eat in a 250-caloric deficit. Therefore, you need to burn 250 calories through cardio
3. You eat in a 300-caloric surplus. Therefore, you need to burn 800 calories through cardio.

As you can see, the amount of cardio you need to do to lose weight largely depends on your calorie intake.

This is what we meant above when we said it still plays a big role. If you burned an extra 350 calories daily with cardio, you would only need to cut 150 calories from your diet!

The Best Cardio Exercise To Lose Fat

Now, let's examine the specifics of what type of cardio is best for losing fat.

The boring but true answer will be whatever exercise you can do consistently. Consistent activity will always win in the end. Always. Research shows those individuals who maintain high levels of energy expenditure are much more successful with weight loss and weight maintenance long-term.³

Further, when we look at calories burned, we find that all cardio exercises burn similar amounts of calories. There's no single form of cardio that is so good that we would encourage you to do it even if you hate it.

Also consider you don't need to burn thousands of calories. You're looking to increase activity in addition to decreasing calories with your nutrition.

With that said, let's examine the best cardio workouts for losing weight. We'll examine various forms of cardio, including their benefits and drawbacks.

If you want specific numbers, check out this calorie calculator from ACE Fitness. It can give you a better estimate of your specific situation.

With that said, we'll list the calories burned during 1 hour of the following exercises for a 180 lb person.

Running (825 - 1,000 Calories)

In general, running is considered an exercise that burns the most calories.

The problem for most people is they simply can't run consistently for very long. So even though you may burn more calories running an hour, you need the ability to do so.

Plus, of all cardio exercises, running is the most likely to cause overuse injuries.⁴  This doesn't mean it's dangerous, it just means it has a limiting factor.

So, while running is an amazing form of cardio exercise, new runners need to be prepared to take time to increase their ability.

Cycling (660-800 calories)

Cycling, or spinning, is a great cardio form and is often neglected. It has numerous benefits compared to running, such as;

• Low impact on your joints
• Easier to maintain for longer durations
• Less risk of injury
• Easier to perform correctly

I'll give you an example: If someone has little exercise experience, would it be easier to jog for an hour or cycle for an hour? Obviously, cycle!

Further, as you're sitting, it's much more forgiving on your joints, especially for overweight 

individuals. In addition, it's easier to use higher intensities. 

In fact, the first Tabata protocol was performed on a cycle ergometer as you ultimately perform one long continuous repetition – there are no jerky movements or pauses such as running or jump rope.⁵

Perhaps the most common issue people face when cycling is simply not cycling at a hard enough intensity. If you think about it, many people you see on stationary bikes in the gym are chillin'.

For this, spinning classes can be a great option, as they can motivate you to keep your intensity levels up.

Swimming (550-600 Calories)

Swimming is one of the best forms of cardio, yet it also has the highest learning curve. It's definitely one of the hardest forms of cardio to burn significant amounts of calories for several reasons, including;

• Proper swimming form takes some practice
• Building your endurance to where you can swim for an hour takes significant time.
• Need access to a pool.
• Some may find swimming laps in the pool boring.

This is why we don't usually recommend it to the general population: It's difficult to build the fitness and ability to burn a significant amount of calories – but it always makes a great form of active recovery.

However, if you want to learn, we highly recommend it. Not only will you burn calories, but you'll also get a pretty awesome back workout!

It can be a nice switch-up in your training.

Brisk Walking (350-450 Calories)

Brisk walking is the most neglected form of cardio. We'll be honest; this borders on the definition of "cardio," but we think it applies here as it can safely burn a significant amount of calories.

Walking 10,000 steps daily will burn around 400-600 calories, depending on weight. If you remember above, 400-600 calories burnt through cardio and a 300 caloric deficit with your nutrition equals a ton of calories!

One reason we really push walking is you can do it every day. We often see people make posts about having to sit at home on rest days — no you don't!

Get outside! Go to the park or the beach – even going to a museum would be awesome. 

We have never met someone who has stayed consistent with walking 10,000+ steps daily and didn't lose weight. Research shows that the relationship between daily steps and weight loss is dose-response.⁶

Rucking (450-550 Calories)

Rucking is a relatively new form of cardio taken from the military. It consists of putting on a weighted backpack and walking, preferably on trails through hilly terrain.

It combines the benefits of walking but increases the intensity through the added weight. 

You can still get overuse injuries due to the weight, so it still takes time to build your body. 

However, if you have the ability, this is one of our favorite forms of cardio to burn fat;

• It has low skill level
• Low-impact, so it can be done often
• Adds an aspect of resistance training

Treadmill/Incline Treadmills (N/A)

Treadmills are awesome forms of machine-based cardio. While you can technically run anywhere, treadmills offer a padded track that can take stress off your joints.

Further, you can set the treadmill on an incline and get an awesome workout.

For an interesting workout, use intervals of jogging/running mixed with intervals of steep incline walking.

Stairclimber (600-700 Calories)

If you want to hate cardio, do an hour on the stair climber!

This machine is simple yet brutal, and to be honest, people rarely spend an hour on it. After 20 minutes, most people, even trained individuals, will feel it. 

However, it's one of the best pieces of cardio to burn calories while simultaneously getting a leg and glute workout. You're essentially doing step-ups the whole time!

If you want to work out for an hour, we advise you to mix the stair climber with another form of cardio, such as the treadmill.

Regardless, if you want a great glute workout while you do your cardio, the stair climber is an awesome choice.

Rower (500-600 Calories)

Rowers have become very popular over the last decade, largely thanks to Crossfit.

It's one of the few types of cardio that's actually focused on the upper body. This makes it unique because it's an awesome form of training for your entire back.

At the same time, similar to the stairclimber, rowers are rarely used for long durations. In fact, they're most often used in interval-style Training.

Still, adding some HIIT at the end of your workout is a great way to end the day!

Circuit/HIIT/Intervals (N/A)

We will include these here, even though they're not necessarily cardio in the sense many people think. However, if structured correctly, they will definitely provide cardio benefits and burn a lot of calories.

The main issue is you simply can't do these for an hour. While you may be able to burn more calories in 20 minutes, in the long run, you won't be able to.

For example, while you may be able to burn a significant amount of calories quickly with HIIT, in 

In the long run, you'll burn more calories running for an hour.

But this doesn't matter. HIIT provides a different set of physiological benefits regardless so we always like to recommend trainees to have at least a single session of high-intensity during the week.

Aerobic Class/Dance (500-800 Calories)

Get your dancing shoes on!

Back in the day, things like Zumba and Boxercise were extremely popular and they still are. They have been laughed at by some but this is silly.

In reality, this highlights an important issue we try to make when talking about burning calories – it doesn't matter what you do as long as you do it!

Dancing can be fun, a hobby to improve, and provide a social outlet. Plus, research shows that these classes provide cardiovascular benefits if performed at a high enough frequency.⁷

Tips On Using Cardio For Fat Loss

We went over some great forms of cardio exercise for weight loss above. Now, I want to give you some tips on how to optimize the above cardio exercise.

1. Get Involved In Cross Training. One of the best ways to keep things interesting is to get involved in cross-training. Forget about burning the maximum calories every session, and switch your exercises up. For example, cycle through running, cycling, rucking.

2. Alter Intensity And Duration. Similar to the above, alter the duration and intensity of your exercise. This will help keep things interesting and allow for recovery. For example, you can use an hour of cycling daily to build up a base of calories. However, you could also throw in some interval training or HIIT training twice a week.

3. Don't Force Training. This one obviously has some nuance. Sometimes, you need to get things done even when you don't necessarily want to. However, don't let this result in you loathing cardio. If you need a day off, do it! Maybe just go for a casual walk at the beach or park!

4. Don't Use Cardio To Fix A Bad Diet. This is crucial. Your cardio should never be a tool to counteract a crappy diet. Once in a while, this can happen, but correcting a night out with cardio on a consecutive basis is a recipe for developing poor eating disorders as well as a poor relationship with food.

5. Start Slow, And Don't Ignore Pain. If you've never been involved in serious cardio, don't start with hour-long sessions daily. Let your body adjust to it, or use low-intensity exercise such as brisk walking. Further, if you feel some joint pain, do not ignore it. Too often, cardio athletes will feel discomfort and think they can just "train through it" – don't do this. Overuse of injuries can not be trained through; in fact, it will just make it worse.

Final Verdict On The Best Form Of Cardio For Losing Weight

As we mentioned above, all forms of cardio are great for helping build a caloric burn. Therefore, your best bet is whatever you enjoy and can do consistently.

However, if we had to pick one form of cardio, it would be something that everyone can do consistently. For this reason, our picks would be using the incline treadmill, rucking, or brisk walking!

Our primary reasoning is, again, that everyone can do these and can do them on a daily basis. There's little risk of overuse injury, and they are great forms of exercise. The primary issue is that you need to walk quickly enough to get your heart rate up to be considered "cardio" but this can easily be done.

Further, these forms make it easier to get up and move. We now know that sitting time and a sedentary lifestyle is an independent risk factor.⁸ Therefore, finding an activity that you can do often is your best choice.

With that said, your best bet is to increase your steps on a daily basis. You can then add in running or cycling sessions throughout the week.

Keep Moving!

So there you have it! In reality, we don't even like getting caught up in these types of debates - What's the best X? - as our answer generally comes back to the same thing: do what you can be consistent with.  While there are differences, many of them equal out over time. 

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