When it comes to fat loss, the internet is saturated with supposed tips, tricks and hacks – most of which have little scientific substance. Hoping to debunk some of these myths, personal trainer, yoga teacher and nutrition coach Stacey Jones recently shared her own fitness journey and the exact combination of cardio, weights and Pilates that helped her lose 25kg.
What she changed about her routine1. She reduced the intensity and amount of cardio she was doing
‘When I was trying to lose weight, I was doing two hours of sweaty cardio a night,’ says Jones. But after her progress plateaued, she started questioning the approach, which is when she began learning about what she calls ‘the cardio fitness penalty’.
In other words, ‘the more cardio you do, the fitter you become, the less calories you burn per workout,’ she says.
‘Over a couple of months, as your muscles become more efficient and coordinated, you can burn 10% fewer calories in the exact same workout,’ explains Jones. ‘So to keep getting results, you would have to keep doing more and more cardio.’
Additionally, Jones says the hunger and fatigue she experienced from doing excessive cardio meant her ‘motivation to do anything tanked’ and left her ‘in a battle with carb cravings’, making it harder to stick to the calorie deficit needed for weight loss.
While Jones stresses that cardio is still ‘so important for your cardiovascular health’, and that people should stick to whatever keeps them consistent, she believes that too much intense cardio can backfire if sustainable fat loss is the goal.
2. She added more LISS
Instead, Jones found that swapping intense cardio sessions for LISS – low-intensity steady-state cardio – particularly brisk walking, was much more effective and sustainable.
‘I could have burned the exact same calories just from getting 10,000 steps a day and wouldn’t have felt as tired or hungry,’ she says.
3. She started weight training
But changing her cardio routine wasn’t the only part of the puzzle – strength training played a major role too.
‘Muscle is your metabolic engine – lose muscle and your metabolism slows down,’ says Jones. Unlike cardio, she explains, ‘you actually do burn more calories the better you get at [weight training]’.
She’s referring to the fact that muscle is highly metabolically active tissue. In other words, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn – both during workouts and at rest.
‘Using the precious time you do have on the treadmill trying to burn calories rather than in the weights section trying to build muscle is a bit of a waste of your time,’ says Jones.
She adds that focusing on compound movements – exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once – and using progressive overload (gradually increasing weight or reps over time) has been instrumental to her progress.
‘Not using progressive overload will be the reason that you feel like weights are a waste of time.’
YouTube / Stacey Jones
Focusing on compound moves – like squats – helped Jones stay consistent and make progress
4. She used Pilates to support her training
‘If weight loss is your goal, you don’t want to be swapping all your cardio and weights just for Pilates,’ says Jones. ‘It doesn’t quite challenge your muscles in the same way or use progressive overload to the extent needed to create muscle growth.’
In other words, on its own, Pilates isn’t ‘a great weight loss tool’.
Instead, Jones views it as ‘a supporting role in my weekly training plan’ because ‘it’s amazing for body awareness, mobility, flexibility, core strength and posture’.
The formula that works
And there’s another vital part of the fat-loss puzzle too: nutrition.
‘When it comes to weight loss, exercise isn’t even the biggest tool that you have in your toolbox – nutrition is,’ says Jones. ‘Exercise is more like the cherry on top. It’s supposed to feel doable and leave you energised.’
With this in mind, when building a weekly routine, she recommends:
- Aiming for 8-10,000 steps a day
- Three 30-45-minute weights sessions per week
- Pilates, yoga or sports you genuinely enjoy
- Some cardio that you enjoy, ‘even if that’s just tagging 15-20 minutes onto the end of your weight sessions’
Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women’s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity. A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.