Cardio question

**Mikey32** · 07-09-2013, 03:14 PM

My current routine is as follows
5 min warm up on elliptical
I do my weightlifting workout with as close to 60 seconds between sets as I can get
Then I do 3.1 miles on the tread mill some times at an incline and I usually do it in about 26 min.
My question is this I want to also ad a run in the morning for an hour on a empty stomach. I am currently trying to lean out but want to eat more calories through out the day. Will this be except able or am I just burning up muscle with all that cardio

**warlockjmr** · 07-10-2013, 02:48 AM

I was told when working on my original diet that it better to be closer to maintenance calories and then make up the deficit with more cardio. Also depends on BF levels. The lower you get the smaller your calorie deficiency.

**Mikey32** · 07-10-2013, 07:53 AM

Thank u
I am at about 16-18% bf
And that was exactly what I was trying to do so that I'm not hungry all day

**Brazensol** · 07-10-2013, 04:13 PM

I've been doing fasted cardio in the mornings for about 5 weeks now. I bike 20-30 miles a day and it takes an hour and a half to two hours to complete. I have lost some lean mass but not a lot and it seems to be going back up again. I am also at ~18% bf and I eat 1800 calories/day (TDEE -450). I was doing cardio after breakfast when the kids were still in school but opted to try fasted cardio while they are on summer break. It seemed to increase my lean tissue loss but like I said above it seems to be reversing now. One thing I recently added back into my diet is creatine (10 grams/day which I was taking before but stopped taking it when I started fasted cardio) and this may be the reason it has reversed but I really don't know.

Also, I am doing austinites fat burn stack and it has made a difference. I've dropped 6.8 pounds and 1.9% bf since 16 June. That's only 25 days. The only other thing I've changed is adding another 10 miles (at a easy/moderate pace) in the evening to keep my metabolism boosted.

As for feeling hungry I get that too sometimes. When I get it I just remember that means I'm burning more fat. If it gets real bad I eat some vegetables like brussel sprouts or cauliflour.