HIIT Cardio Or Steps For Fat Loss - Which is better?

What will burn the most fat for YOU?

Let's use two examples here:

When people are first getting into fitness, they're always torn between which forms of exercise will burn the most fat for them. A lot of people are under the impression that they have to do crazy HIIT cardio classes, just because someone else does it and gets good results.

Graph of daily the calorie burn of walking vs HIIT class.
  • Nicola loves her boot camp classes. Let's say she smashes 1 class every morning before work. Once she's finished, and burned around 400 calories, she heads to work and doesn't move for the rest of the day.

 

  • Steph doesn't feel confident enough to attend a HIIT class, so instead she works on hitting 10,000 steps throughout the whole day. Steph will actually burn MORE than Nicola, due to her overall activity level across the day making her calorie expenditure higher than Nicola's (which is what we teach on the Life Plan).

 

If Nicola did her HIIT cardio on a morning, but continued to do steps throughout the day, she would lose the same amount as Steph.


Is walking better than a HIIT workout for fat loss?

It's calories in vs calories out. You have to work out what works best for you and we need to stop saying one is better than the other.

  • If you're too insecure to attend a class or don't enjoy HIIT cardio, then getting steps in is definitely the best for you. You can even get your steps in at home on YouTube. I've also created a blog on my top tips for hitting steps at home.
  • If you're time restricted and like something different, then you'll likely prefer to do a HIIT, as it burns a good amount of calories in a shorter space of time.


Key Points:

  • In our opinion, walking is the best option for the MAJORITY of people who want to lose weight.
  • You need to do what works for YOU, and YOUR lifestyle - this is how our members achieve sustainable weight loss for life on our LifePlan.
  • Exercise is just a form of calorie burn. It all comes back down to calories in VS calories out.
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After losing more than 6 stone on a GLP-1 medication I was nervous about getting my appetite back and struggling to maintain my weight. Team RH is a great tool to help you achieve this, it is not just for achieving weight loss. I am learning so much about what I should be doing and eating to remain at my weight and have a much healthier outlook in the process. I definitely recommend.
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Anonymous, UK
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