Hi @josephz2va. I think the elliptical machine offers an excellent workout. But if you do the same acivity 7 days a week, your body has gotten used to this kind of regimen by now and you are likely to get the weight loss benefit that you hope for. My advice is to try to vary your activities. Incorporating a bit of resistance training will give your leg and shoulder muscles used in your elliptical workouts a well-deserved break. But any other type of cardio would work too, if you don't like weights and resistance bands. Swimming, walking, running, punching bag, rowing ... you name it. Just a one-hour walk on your elliptical off-days, using an interval scheme (two minutes fast walk, followed by a two minute jog) would keep your metabolism challenged and foster a faster burn rate. As for losing muscle mass, I would not worry too much about it - this is more of a myth than anything else in my humble opinion. When doing cardio, your body burns carbs first, then fat, and then protein (which could lead to muscle loss.) This means that in order for your muscle mass to be adversely impacted, you would not only have to do your cardio workouts on an empty stomach, but you would also have to have completely depleted your fat reserves. This is tantamount to having reached a state of near-starvation. So unless someone does cardio to excess, like running 30 miles a day, 7 days a week, with no rest, losing muscle mass shouldn't be an issue as long as your diet is well balanced, tailored to your exercise regimen, with the proper mix of carbs, healthy fats and protein. Professional athletes and olympians are rightfully concerned with this, as they often over-train. But by and large, for most of us, I don't think cardio in moderation is a concern. You don't burn muscle when doing cardio - your burn carbs, fat reserves, and protein. I don't mean to minimize the importance for strength training, far from it. As a rule, muscle mass starts declining from age 40. So the older we get, the more important it is to incorporate strength training in our exercise regimen, making sure that our diet is rich enough in protein to meet the demand. Instead of just doing cardio or strength training, I personally prefer to do a workout that includes both at the same time, using 4-8 pounds free weights. TW
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