2 hours of cardio daily?

[myslin]

When I first started trying to lose weight I was able to successfully do 2 hours of cardio a day for a week which resulted in 4 lbs of weight loss. However I'm not quite sure how accurate my weigh-ins are due to the amount of water I drink in a day (Around 5 liters). However there was significant weight loss.

I decided to cut all the junk food out of my diet and focus on low fat/low sugar foods. I also began taking hydroxycut. I was never starving myself when I was dieting/cardio/lifting however I'd sometimes eat more than I know I should have before bed.

I then had a surgery where I had to stay out of the gym for 2 weeks. I gained 7 lbs during this time partly due to the fact that I was only able to eat soft foods (Adenoids and Tonsils removed). After I had healed from my surgery I began going back to the gym. Except this time I was focused on building mass. I stopped taking the hydroxycut and cut the cardio out of my workout. I was able to increase my bicep size by an inch and I was able to actually feel more muscle being developed in the shoulders/upper chest.

With skin fold tests they show me as 12% Body Fat and I'd like to get this down to around 7-8% before I begin weight training/clean bulking again.

Should I follow a reduced calorie diet with light cardio or a normal diet with the higher intensity cardio?

Doing 2 hours of a cardio a day should not be a problem as I work fulltime and the staff at my university is on strike and my gym is right near my workplace I could show up in the morning for 1 hours (550 cal) and 1 hour after work for another 550 calories burned.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Basil08]

this strategy is not optimal in terms of prolonged levels of low BF%

Rethink and attack your goal from a different view point. Life long v.s. short cut

[myslin]

My main goal is to gain muscle mass, I figured that switching back to clean bulking again would allow my body to adjust. What would you recommend I do for lifelong body fat reduction? If it's eating clean then I have already decided to make that choice.

[snorkelman]

Should I follow a reduced calorie diet with light cardio or a normal diet with the higher intensity cardio?

My main goal is to gain muscle mass,

Do not stop your weight training. Even if your goal was fat loss and not muscle gain, you should not cut out weight training

Doing 2 hours of a cardio a day should not be a problem as I work fulltime and the staff at my university is on strike and my gym is right near my workplace I could show up in the morning for 1 hours (550 cal) and 1 hour after work for another 550 calories burned.

That is just fine. It is better to break up the 2 hours into 60 minute blocks as you are considering.

[onimusha]

My main goal is to gain muscle mass, I figured that switching back to clean bulking again would allow my body to adjust. What would you recommend I do for lifelong body fat reduction? If it's eating clean then I have already decided to make that choice.

doing loads of cardio is not always the best answer. A ultra clean cutting diet will do far more than cardio. Check out some of the transformation of the week stories and look at some of the diets of people who lost alot of weight. Even ones who lost 100 pounds werent doing 2 hours of cardio a day. More so they were eating lots of chicken breast and egg whites with little else added.

May I suggest looking through their diets and picking one you feel would best fit your body type and goals for cutting.