Too much cardio, and cardio vs. dieting.

[AnchorNut]

So, I've got a question I'd like some advice on.

1. I'm on a cut, and getting about a 1,000 calorie deficit, which I mostly make by eating less plus a little bit of cardio. On weekdays I typically do 20-30 minutes of cardio, but on weekends I have a ton of spare time, so I'll usually do about 2 hours of cardio and burn about 1,000-1,200 calories, thereby allowing myself to eat about 3,000 calories and still be at a deficit of about 1,000 calories. I do this because I like cardio, and I like to eat, and this gives me an opportunity to do a lot of both.

My question is, to the knowledge / experience of people here, is this excessive or counterproductive in any way? That is, doing a ton of cardio and then eating a bunch more than is typical?

(A friend of mine said that I should just have a cheat day once a week, which is a fine suggestion, but I'm personally not interested in that, so no need to suggest it.)

2. A side note, as this has been asked a ton, but what do you think about doing cardio vs. eating less? Do you find that one helps you maintain strength more, or has a better effect on body composition, or anything else? Or that they're entirely the same?

Thanks, everyone.

AN

[KasaraBrianne]

Technically weight loss ultimately comes down to calories in versus calories out. If you're still at a 1000 calorie deficit then EAT man! If you have that much of a deficit, your body may enter starvation mode and begin maintaining on that level of calories (I was maintaining on 1200, now I'm maintaining on 1800). It doesn't matter how you create the deficit- as long as there is one - but be cautious of how much your deficit is.

[bking10]

the only problem i can see is that you might not be measuring the calories burnt from cardio correctly. cause those machines arent very accurate at all. but if u are still losing the amount you want then its fine. just doing a lot of extra work.

[lee__d]

Technically weight loss ultimately comes down to calories in versus calories out. If you're still at a 1000 calorie deficit then EAT man! If you have that much of a deficit, your body may enter starvation mode and begin maintaining on that level of calories (I was maintaining on 1200, now I'm maintaining on 1800). It doesn't matter how you create the deficit- as long as there is one - but be cautious of how much your deficit is.

1000 calorie deficit will not put anyone into starvation mode

[heytred]

Exactly, it doesn't matter whether your deficit is achieved through lowering caloric intake or performing cardio, as long as you are burning more than you consume. Personally, I'm starting to prefer to eat at or barely under maintenance and perform cardio 2-3 times a week after lifting. The extra calories help fuel my high intensity workouts, keep me a little more sane, and hell... I enjoy cardio.

[msm00b]

I was eating 1500/day and running 20-30 miles a week on top of 3-4 lifting sessions a week.

You're not doing too much cardio. Your body will tell you in very obvious ways if you're overdoing it.

[AnchorNut]

Thanks, everyone.

In that case, I'm gonna continue stuffing my face on weekends and hitting the cardio hard.

Regarding the inaccuracy of machine readouts, I never use those. I use a heart rate monitor and then go by one of those heart rate ---> calories burned formulas.

Hopefully it's more or less accurate.

[KasaraBrianne]

1000 calorie deficit will not put anyone into starvation mode

As I said, it did for me.

[msm00b]

As I said, it did for me.

No ... it did not. You might have been insatiably hungry and it might have felt like crap, but you did not go into starvation mode. Very few people in the western hemisphere have ever experienced "starvation mode". Get the idea of "starvation mode" (in terms of how you're describing it where your body turns down it's metabolic rate to subsist on a very low maintenance) out of your head. That does not happen. Your body is not capable of turning it's metabolic rate low enough to compensate for the legitimate kind of caloric deficit required to push your body to the brink of starvation. "Starvation mode" doesn't really happen if your body has ample fat stores to chew through - ie it doesn't really happen to those trying to cut down from higher BF percentages.

Bad broscience is bad.

For the record, there were isolated days on my cut where I'd be in the -1500 to -2000 range for the day, averaging > -1000/day for the week.