Does pineapple belong on a pizza? 

If you’re like me that question gets answered with an emphatic “Hell yeah, it does!” 🤤

Or you might let me know you can’t think of anything more disgusting.

Pineapples on a pizza? Really?

YUCK 🤢

What’s my point in saying that?

Everyone’s going to have a pretty strong opinion one way or the other.

And if you ask someone what the best cardio for fat loss is, you’re likely to get the same reaction. 

Your coworker won’t stop talking about how much fat they’ve lost doing fasted cardio.

Then, there’s your neighbor. 

They’re always insisting you try this new HIIT workout they found while scrolling online.

Then, there’s me. 

In my humble opinion, simply walking and getting your daily 7,500-10,000 steps is the best cardio for fat loss.

What about all the different cardio equipment you can use? 

There’s the treadmill, elliptical, StairMaster, etc. 

It can be a lot, and as you can see, there are several factors to consider. 

So, let’s break it all down.  

By the end of this post, you’ll have enough info to decide for yourself what the best cardio for fat loss is.

The fundamental rule of fat loss

Fat loss is like a brainstorming chart.

You have this central, overarching idea in the middle with subcategories that feed into it.

What’s the main idea?

Being in a calorie deficit, which is the fundamental rule of fat loss.

You have to be in one for it to happen.   

If you aren’t in a calorie deficit, fat loss is scientifically impossible.

Just like it’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Go ahead and try, it doesn’t work. 

Here’s a basic outline of some of the bigger pieces that go into maintaining a calorie deficit:

A calorie deficit is like a movie.

You have your main actor/actress and then all the supporting characters.

Can you guess the main character of your calorie deficit movie?

That’d be your nutrition (hence why I made it bold). 

While cardio is tremendous for your health and plays a role in helping you create a deficit, it’s definitely a supporting one.

You can screw around like I did for years and try out-exercising a poor diet or you can take a much easier (and way less frustrating) fat loss road by putting more effort toward your nutrition. 

• Count calories to ensure you’re eating the correct amount of food you should be for weight loss.
• Have a balanced diet where you get a majority of your calories from nutrient-dense whole foods but still sprinkle in some of your favorites like pizza, wings, chips, donuts, etc to make your diet more sustainable (Sustainable eating habits = sustainable results). This weight loss grocery I made will help you find that “happy medium” with your nutrition that’ll lead to lasting results. 
• Consume enough protein: Here are 5 ways to make sure you do that.

I just want to put out there how important the nutrition side of things is in case you’re looking at cardio as some be-all-end-all for fat loss.

Because it’s not.

What cardio burns the most fat?

I’ve broken things out into three main sections. 

We’ll talk about each of them below:

• Fasted vs. non-fasted cardio
• HIIT vs. LISS
• What’s the best piece of cardio equipment?

Should you do cardio fasted or nonfasted?

Fasted cardio simply means doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Nonfasted cardio is exactly how it sounds (You do your cardio after eating). 

Fasted = no food in your belly. 

Nonfasted = food in your belly. 

You’ll hear some people say fasted cardio leads to more fat loss but is that really true? 

Research says “nope.”

It doesn’t really matter whether you do cardio fasted or not, you’re getting the same results either way. 

Here’s what that means for your cardio…

If you like doing cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, feel free.

And if you like having something in your stomach prior to doing cardio, that’s fine too.  

The only thing that matters is that you actually do your cardio. 

Is HIIT or LISS better for fat loss?

Let’s first define what these two are before we get into which is the best cardio for fat loss. 

You’ve probably heard of HIIT but in case you haven’t, it’s an acronym that stands for:

• High
• Intensity
• Interval
• Training

With HIIT, you alternate between periods of short bursts of intense exercise and rest. 

For example, you might do 30 seconds of jumping rope as fast as you can.

You’re going all out and giving 100% maximum effort. 

After the 30 seconds are up, you’d take a minute rest and then repeat for however long your workout is.

LISS cardio stands for:

• Low
• Intensity 
• Steady 
• State.

It’s the coooomplete opposite of HIIT.  

You take things a lot easier when you’re doing LISS. 

One of the most common forms is walking so that’s what I’ll be referring to as we get into comparing the two. 

HIIT burns more calories so shouldn’t you go with that?

I’m sure you’ve heard that HIIT burns a ton of calories and that’s why you should do it.

And objectively speaking, yes, HIIT would be the best cardio for fat loss if we’re operating in the very short term. 

30 minutes of HIIT burns more calories than 30 minutes of LISS cardio.

No rational person can make an argument against that.

BUUUUT…

The mistake a lot of people make (which I don’t want you to) is assuming because HIIT burns more calories in the short term, that just automatically makes it the best cardio to lose fat.

You have to think big picture when we’re talking fat loss so here are a few points to consider…

1. Calories burned don’t mean a whole lot when it comes to fat loss

You’re better served by focusing on improving your strength training workout performance and applying progressive overload to get stronger on your lifts.

That’s a much better indicator you’re building/preserving muscle, which will lead to greater fat loss and you achieving the leaner, fitter-looking, and more defined physique you’re after. 

And just an FYI but you should NOT be eating back calories burned from exercise anyway. 

2. HIIT workouts are INSANELY taxing on your body

The fat loss magic actually happens while you recover from your workouts, not during. 

But when you run yourself into the ground trying to squeeze 5 or 6 HIIT workouts into your week, you’re going to have a hard time recovering in between workouts.

When you can’t recover, it leads to more stress, less sleep, and…

Increased HUNGER.

It’s like having your phone’s brightness up too high.

That drains your battery fast.

And super intense exercise like HIIT drains your ability to recover. 

Not being able to properly recover = being hungrier and your body demanding more food.

Remember how important nutrition is for fat loss and maintaining a calorie deficit though… 

If you burn a bunch of calories doing HIIT but end up eating them all back (which is a very, very, very likely scenario), doesn’t that defeat the purpose of burning so many calories in the first place?

This is why in the beginning I said to think long-term about the best cardio for fat loss. 

Unlike HIIT, which inhibits recovery, LISS cardio like walking actually promotes recovery and it’s something you can (and should) do every single day.

It’s a great stress reliever.

It boosts your metabolism and you burn calories just by walking (in fact, three times the number of calories as your actual workouts). 

And research shows getting between 7,000-10,000 steps every single day reduces your all-cause mortality risk (risk of dying from virtually anything) by 50-70%.

What equipment should you use to do your cardio?

The best cardio for fat loss is going to be anything that’s not crazy taxing or demanding on your body. 

So I would suggest limiting the sprinting, jumping, or anything super high intensity.

Stick to the following cardio workouts:

• Treadmill 
• Elliptical
• Rowing machines
• Assault/stationary bike
• StairMaster (You don’t build glutes on the StairMaster, no matter how many kickbacks you do or bands you place around your legs 🙃)
• Swimming 

Best cardio to lose fat Q&A

Will 30 minutes of cardio a day burn fat?

There’s not some perfect formula where it’s like you do 1 hour of cardio a day to lose weight and you’re guaranteed results from that.

Workouts like 12-3-30 on the treadmill cardio get positioned like they have some magical impact on fat loss but they don’t.

It always comes down to being in a calorie deficit. 

Cardio, no matter what form it is, is just a tool to help you get there.  

How long should I do cardio to burn fat?

The first thing you want to make sure of is that you’re getting 7.5K-10K steps every single day.

You can break those steps up, do them all at one time–it really doesn’t matter. 

You can also add 1-2 LISS cardio sessions per week on top of that (for about 20-30 minutes each) but much more than that really shouldn’t be necessary as long as you’re: 

1. Staying on track with your nutrition.

And…

2. Lifting heavy things and putting them back down 3-4 times per week

What cardio is best for cutting?

No matter whether you’re bulking or cutting, LISS is the best cardio for fat loss, at least in my opinion.

But hopefully, you’ve been able to decide for yourself after reading this article! 

Is cardio good for burning belly fat?

When people post things on social media or you see advertisements like “torch stubborn belly fat” it makes it seem like doing that specific workout will lead to fat loss in the specific area you want no matter what.

But spot-reducing body fat by doing certain workouts or exercises is just a myth.

And the truth about fat loss is that your genetics dictate where on your body you lose fat first.