How to Burn Fat with Cardio
If your goal is to burn fat, remember: it’s all about the calories!
For our bodies to burn fat, we need to be in a calorie deficit—meaning our bodies are burning more calories than we take in through the food that we eat.
A great way to get your body burning tons of calories is to do cardiovascular exercise in your weekly workout routine.
Cardiovascular exercise (or “cardio” for short) is any activity that gets your heart rate up for an extended period of time.
This includes things like power walking, jogging, swimming, biking, and circuit training.
Different activities burn different amounts of calories—depending on how quickly you move, how many muscles you use, and the amount of resistance you move with.
In general, the main principle with cardio for fat is: the more you move, the more calories you burn.
How Often Should You Do Cardio?
The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio total each week (300 minutes of moderate intensity cardio for fat loss).
To reach the minimum, many people do 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio on 5 days each, whereas others prefer to do cardio 3 times per week for 50 minutes.
You can cut some of your cardio workouts in half the time by getting your heart rate into a high intensity zone. Each minute of high intensity cardio counts as 2 minutes of moderate intensity cardio. Experts don’t recommend doing high intensity cardio more than 2 times per week to avoid overtraining, burnout, or overuse injuries.
Cardio Intensity Levels
How can you tell if you’re working at a moderate or high intensity? You can check your exercise intensity by monitoring your heart rate while you exercise. You can calculate your target heart rate zones by using an online calculator like this one (click here).
The Moderate Intensity Zone is between 64% and 76% of your Max Heart Rate.
The High Intensity Zone is between 77% and 95% of your Max Heart Rate.
Monitor your heart rate manually or by wearing a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker (like a FitBit or Apple Watch).
Another easy way to test your cardio intensity is by doing the Talking Test:
If you can speak comfortably, you're at a low intensity and need to bump up the pace!
If you can talk in a few words at a time, you’re at a moderate intensity.
If you can speak only a word or two at a time you’re at a high intensity.
Make sure to pay attention to how hard you’re working throughout your cardio workout to make sure you’re in the right intensity zone.
Types of Cardio Workouts
There are tons of different ways to get in cardiovascular exercise!
The most common types of cardio that you’ll see in the gym are Steady State or Circuit Training.
Steady State Cardio is any repetitive exercise that allows you to control your pace and keep your heart rate at about the same level for an extended period of time (20-50 minutes). This includes power walking, jogging, jumping rope, swimming, biking, or using a cardio machine like an elliptical or stair climber.
Circuit Training is a kind of workout where you alternate between many different exercises (usually at least 3 exercises per circuit). Many people find Circuit Training to be more fun than Steady State Cardio. This kind of cardio also allows you to vary your heart rate between high and moderate intensity zones, depending on the exercises you use and the pace you move.
You can do Circuits based on timed intervals (30 seconds of jumping jacks, 30 seconds of jump squats, etc) or based on repetitions for each exercise (50 jumping jacks, 15 jump squats, etc).
Many of my clients also enjoy playing sports as part of their weekly cardio routine--volleyball, soccer, tennis, pickle ball, and basketball are all great ways to have fun while you stay moving! Google “recreational sports in [your local area]” and check out what organizations you can join.
You can see a more comprehensive list of different types of cardiovascular exercise and the amount of calories they burn on average by clicking here.
Manage Your Calories
Remember, if your goal is to burn fat, you’ll need to make sure that you are in a calorie deficit. You can’t just rely on cardio to reach your fat loss goals—you also need to pay attention to what you eat. You can’t out-train a bad diet!
To make the most of your training, you’ll need to manage your calorie intake either through tracking what you eat every day or through meal planning.
To make your diet effective, you’ll first need to figure out how many calories your body burns on an average day. Do this by calculating your Total Daily Calorie Expenditure (TDEE).
Your TDEE will give you an idea of how many calories your body burns each day—however keep in mind that this number is just an estimate! To find your true TDEE, you would need to test your calorie intake on a weekly basis to find your maintenance level (that is, the amount of calories you need to eat to not burn or store fat).
In order to burn 1 pound of fat every week, you’ll need to aim to eat 500 calories below your maintenance level of calories. To burn 1/2 pound of fat each week, you’ll need to eat 250 calories below your maintenance level.
You can track your daily calorie intake using a food tracking app like MyFitnessPal (download for iOS or Android).
If tracking your food every day is too tedious, you can also manage your daily calorie intake by meal planning. This involves planning what you will eat every day around how many calories you aim to eat as well as your macronutrients like protein. Choose recipes and snacks based on their calorie and macronutrient content to make sure they fit into your goals.
You can download tons of sample meal prep weekly plans from my Meal Plans collection.
Many people find it simplest to Meal Prep every few days or at the beginning of each week. Meal Prep involves preparing your meals and snacks ahead of time so that you can grab-and-go throughout the week.
Take the stress out of meal planning with this Trainer’s Guide to Meal Prep! This ebook features step-by-step guidance and templates to help you reach your fitness goals through healthy eating. It’s also packed with over 150 easy-to-make recipes to minimize your time in the kitchen and maximize your gains. Recipes include vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian options. Get started today!
Written by certified personal trainer & nutrition coach Jayd Harrison.
Give it Time
Once you get started in your new workout and diet plan, give it at least a week or two before making any other changes. You can measure your fat loss progress by stepping on the scale once per week or by taking your body measurements.
Don’t panic if you see the scale go up and down over the course of a few days. Fat loss is not linear for most people! Our body weight can fluctuate within 1 to 5 pounds even within the same day, depending on the water we’re storing.
You’ll want to look for an overall trend of decreasing weight or inches (or cm) over the course of a few weeks to know if your plan is effective.
If you’re not seeing the progress you want, make adjustments to your plan every 7 to 14 days (either by adding more cardio or decreasing calories). You won’t be able to know the effectiveness of each adjustment you make in your workout routine or diet plan for at least a week (usually two weeks), so try not to change too many things at once.
Just remember—sustainable fat loss is a marathon, not a sprint!
Connect & Share
What’s your plan for getting your body burning fat? Are you going to incorporate cardiovascular exercise into your weekly training routine? Let me know in the comments below.
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Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains)
Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains) is a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and fitness influencer. She has been an active trainer since 2014 and now specializes in comprehensive weight loss coaching. Check out some of Jayd’s coaching videos on Youtube, or join Jayd live on Twitch on Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am EST for a Fit Q&A session.
