In this 2025 YouTube video, fitness coach Eric Roberts draws on nine years of experience coaching over 20,000 clients to explain why most traditional cardio approaches actually impede fat loss and to outline a practical, sustainable cardio system. He begins by debunking the myth that more intense cardio automatically leads to greater fat loss, contrasting high‑intensity cardio (zones 2‑3, >60‑70% max HR, breath‑blocked) with low‑intensity cardio (walking, zone 1). Through client case studies—Victoria (high‑intensity 5+ days → low‑intensity 1‑3 days, 50‑lb loss), Dan (running → walking + lifting, reduced cravings, faster weight loss), Jessica (hated cardio machines → weekend hikes, 15‑lb loss), Pete (cardio before lifts → cardio after lifts, strength gains and weight loss), and Nadia (focused on NEAT, 50‑lb loss)—Roberts illustrates how high‑intensity work spikes stress hormones, hunger, and glycogen depletion, while low‑intensity work is recoverable, appetite‑neutral, and more consistent. He advises that the "best" cardio is simply the activity you dislike the least and can repeat regularly. Timing recommendations: keep cardio sessions to 15‑45 minutes, perform them after strength training or on rest days to protect lifting performance. He then shifts focus to daily non‑exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), noting it accounts for ~15% of total daily energy expenditure versus 5‑10% from dedicated exercise. By increasing daily steps (6,000‑12,000+), clients can boost calorie burn without extra workouts. The video concludes with a call‑to‑action to join his coaching program for a full fat‑loss system.
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What if I told you the cardio you're doing to lose fat is actually slowing down your progress? Well, sadly, this is the case for most people. And in this video, I'm gonna give you my best advice from coaching over 20,000 people with their cardio and fat loss goals in the past 9 years. I'm gonna cover what is the best form of cardio to burn fat, what your weekly cardio routine should look like, why you might wanna stop running, if your goal is fat loss, and some simple hacks to speed up your fat loss in much less time. But before I get into the exact lessons, let's visit the role cardio plays in fat loss. To lose fat, you need to create an energy deficit, AKA a calorie deficit. This means you need to be burning more calories than what you are eating. So it would seem pretty simple that all you need to do is more cardio Especially more intense cardio to crank up the calorie burn side, and that will result in more fat loss, right? Well, unfortunately, it is not that simple, and in fact, that can make things worse for fat loss. That brings us into our first lesson: high-intensity versus low-intensity cardio. I want to make sure you don't fall into the trap that most people make with their cardio when they're trying to lose fat. There are 2 types of cardio you can perform: high-intensity cardio and low-intensity cardio. High-intensity cardio is when you do cardio with a high heart rate. And what is considered high? Usually anything over zone 2 or zone 3 with your heart rate. And that's when your heart rate gets above 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. Or for even simpler terms, when you're doing cardio and you can no longer breathe through your nose and hold a conversation, that is considered high-intensity cardio. This is the most common form of cardio people think about when trying to lose fat because you're sweaty, out of breath, and you feel it burns the most calories, which might be true. But this is also why it can backfire on your journey. As an example, one of our clients, Victoria, came to us doing high-intensity cardio 5+ days a week, but just couldn't seem to drop a damn pound on the scale. Not to mention she was tired, hungry all the time, and just burnt out. When we started coaching her, we changed up her routine, and now she's been able to drop over 50 pounds. So what exactly did we change with her routine? Well, we switched from doing high-intensity cardio 5+ Plus days a week to doing low-intensity cardio 1 to 3 days a week. And that might sound crazy because you think she worked out less and saw more progress, but here's why it worked. High-intensity cardio burns more calories per minute, but it also spikes your stress hormone and your hunger levels. Low-intensity cardio like walking burns fewer calories per minute, but it's easier to recover from and doesn't put as much stress on your body. It reduces your appetite and it lets you stay consistent without getting burnt out. Think of high-intensity cardio like lighting a match. It burns hot but for a short period of time. Think of low-intensity cardio like lighting a candle. The burn is going to be steady, sustainable, and easy to keep going. If your goal is long-term fat loss, you want your cardio to be something you can recover from, stay consistent with for the long run, and not end up burning you out or making you a ton hungrier. And by the way, calories aren't the only thing that high-intensity cardio burns, and that's why we're gonna talk about why you might want to stop running if your goal is fat loss. Lesson number 2: Why you should stop running for fat loss. Most people think if they want to lose fat, they should just start running. And not just run, but run longer distances, run more intense and more often during the week. But here's the problem. Running doesn't burn fat as its primary source of energy. Instead, it burns something called glycogen, aka your stored carbs inside of your body. So what happens when you're doing a lot of running and burning a lot of carbohydrates? Your blood sugar crashes and your cravings and your hunger spike hard, especially your cravings for sugar and junk food, because with your glycogen depleted, your body wants to replenish it as quickly as possible, aka sugary foods. I had a client named Dan who was running in the hopes of losing fat, and he'd finish the run feeling okay, but Later in the day, he was diving into snacks, craving sugar, and found it incredibly difficult to stick to his calorie deficit. Once we swapped out the running for just lifting and getting daily walks, he started noticing less cravings, more energy, and get this—he actually dropped weight quicker without doing anything to his calorie intake. Because when you're doing high-intensity running, you're gonna increase your hunger and your cravings. You're going to increase your stress and your cortisol, which can also mess with your hunger signals and hunger hormones. And even though you might burn more calories running, if you end up eating more calories, then it's not going to be beneficial for fat loss. Walking, on the other hand, uses fat for energy. It keeps your blood sugar levels stable and no crashes, and it does not spike your hunger or cravings. While still burning calories, think of it like this: running is like lighting a fire with lighter fluid. It's fast, it's hot, but it needs constant refueling. Walking is more like a slow-burning log. You stay warm longer with less energy crashes or food cravings. And I promise I'm not a pyromaniac who's obsessed with fire. I just wanted to use these two visuals to help you learn. So if you're running but constantly feeling exhausted and having so much hunger and cravings, try swapping the running for low-intensity walking, and you just might see your fat loss progress speed up without fighting cravings every day of your life. But should you only be doing low-intensity walking as your cardio? Lesson number 3, the best cardio for fat loss. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they're trying to lose fat, Spending hours on the cardio machine that they hate the most, thinking this has to work because I'm sweating buckets, or I saw some Instagram influencer doing this and so I have to as well. But here's the truth: the best cardio for fat loss isn't about how sweaty you get or what some new workout you saw on social media was. It's about what you'll actually keep doing consistently. One of our clients, Jessica, used to try to slave away on cardio machines that she hated, but she just ended up skipping half of it anyway and felt guilty for doing so while not making the progress she wanted to see. We switched her cardio to walking and hiking because that's what she liked to do on the weekends. And guess what? She's lost over 15 pounds with no guilt or no burnout. So let's break this down. Cardio is just a tool to increase your calorie burn. It doesn't matter if it's walking or the elliptical or the bike or swimming or hiking or dancing. What matters is, number one, you can recover from it, usually the low-intensity cardio we've been talking about. Number two, you'll actually do it and stay consistent with it a couple of times a week. And number three, it doesn't make you so hungry that you'll eat it all back. Think of cardio like brushing your teeth. It works if you do it often, not if you do it once super hard and then never again the rest of the week. So the best cardio for fat loss is the one you hate the least and you'll stay the most consistent with. So now that you know you can do any form of cardio, how long should your cardio sessions be and when should you do them? Lesson number 4, when And how long to do cardio. Now, this is the age-old question of should you be doing cardio before you lift weights or after you lift weights? And there's a very common mistake I see people make with this, which is doing long bouts of cardio before your workout, thinking it's going to help you burn more calories and lose more fat. Because in reality, doing long bouts of cardio before a workout is only going to negatively impact your strength training. Because you're already tired and your energy is depleted from doing cardio, which means you get weaker in your workouts. You're not able to push yourself as heavy of weight, and you also increase your risk of injury. One of our clients, Pete, used to do cardio before his workouts, but he found he was never getting stronger. He wasn't losing fat, and he had nagging injuries always popping up. We flipped it for him, and now he does cardio after his workout. Not only did he immediately get stronger, but he also lost a ton of weight, as you can see. And here's why the timing and duration of your cardio matters so much. Lifting is what helps your body build muscle, which is going to increase your metabolism and give you that toned, defined look you're going for. Again, cardio is just a tool to burn calories, and if you do your cardio first, your lifts will suffer. And if you go for too long in your cardio sessions, your hunger and your cravings can spike, leading to some of the issues we referred to earlier. So what is the sweet spot? Try to keep your cardio sessions to 15 to 45 minutes max, and do these sessions after you lift weights Or on rest days. Think of it like this: lifting is the main course, cardio is the side dish. If you fill up on bread before dinner, you won't have room for what actually builds your physique. But if you treat cardio as an add-on, done right with the right amount of time, it helps the whole meal come together. But with all this talk about cardio, we haven't yet spoken about the most important form of cardio for fat loss. Lesson 5, the most important form of cardio for fat loss. We know that cardio is a tool to burn calories, but how does your body actually burn calories in a day? Most people make the mistake thinking that cardio burns a ton of calories throughout your day, but really it's the smallest percentage of your daily calorie burn. This is your TDEE, your total daily energy expenditure, or in simple terms, how many calories your body burns in a day. You can see 5 to 10% comes from something called your EAT, your exercise activity thermogenesis, and all this means is think of it like your cardio or any dedicated exercise that you do. It only takes up 5 to 10% of your daily calorie burn. But there's 15% down below that comes from something else called your NEAT, your non-exercise activity thermogenesis. And that is the most important form of cardio one can do to lose fat. In fact, one of my clients, Nadia, went from not focusing on her NEAT at all to maximizing it on a daily basis and has dropped over 50 pounds. So how do you maximize NEAT? Well, it's actually very simple. You increase your daily steps. If you ever heard you should be walking 10,000 steps a day to lose weight, this is where that comes from. Your daily steps take up 15% of your daily calorie burn. So if you ramp those up, you will also massively ramp up your calorie burn for that day. It also doesn't require a workout. You can do this by parking farther away at your job or at the grocery store. You can take the stairs instead of the elevator. You can walk around your house on work calls, or a lot of our clients invest in a walking pad that can be a total game changer for your daily steps. Think of fat loss like a bank account. Your steps are the automatic savings deposits happening in the background that are small, steady, but add up over time. Try to aim for at least 6,000 steps per day, and you can work your way up to 10,000 to 12,000 per day. And remember, these steps don't have to be done with a dedicated walk. They don't have to be at a certain intensity. Just get more steps. Now that you know exactly what to do with your cardio, what about your workouts and nutrition for fat loss? Well, if you're interested in becoming a client of ours and having us build you a plan that takes out all of the guesswork, you can click the link in the description of this video, or you can watch this video here to follow the exact system we use to help our clients drop 20 pounds in 3 months.
