It is Saturday morning, your coffee is brewing, eggs are crackling on the stove and the sun is nearly one hour away from turning your comfortable 75 degree day into an unbearable sauna. Decision time. There is no treadmill or elliptical in sight, but your trainer told you that you have to run at least once this weekend, and you have church tomorrow morning. Hit the road or put it off? Better make the right choice.

Let’s face it, cardiorespiratory training (cardio) can be the most difficult part of the weight loss process. Sure, weight training is tough, but you have your trainer right by your side during your sessions, pushing you forward and motivating you to finish every last exercise with full intensity. Your diet is also challenging, but it is mostly a mental challenge. In order to survive, you have to eat every day, and if you are only buying healthy foods, your options are to either eat the good food you bought, or starve. At least, I hope those are your only options.

But when it comes to cardio, you are somewhat on your own. No trainer yelling (politely, of course) at you. No growl in your stomach begging you for your mid-afternoon yogurt and berries snack. You have to get up on your own and hit the road, jump on the bike, dive in the water or do whatever it is you enjoy for your cardio workouts. The only thing pushing you is your drive for results… and maybe your trainer in the back of your mind riding you on Monday because you haven’t been running on your own. Cardio is a key component of any weight loss program, and cannot be left out.

Basically, weight training builds muscle, lowers body fat and increases metabolism. Sure, calories are burned during weight training sessions, but the idea is to build a base of lean tissue in your body that will constantly burn calories for you. Cardio, on the other hand, burns massive chunks of calories at a time, catapulting you towards your weight loss goal.

One, 30-minute session of jogging can burn roughly 300 to 400 calories, maybe more. Considering that one pound of body weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories, jogging lightly just five times during a week can burn more than half of that. Now, swap two or three of those light jogging sessions with some short duration, high intensity interval training (once your body has been properly conditioned for it), and you can successfully drop one pound, or more, each week from your cardio workouts alone. Combine that with an effective diet and some thorough weight training and you have a lethal combination for weight loss.

Motivating yourself to get out and do some cardio can be difficult, but remember that something is always better than nothing. An extra 45-minute walk around the block can go a long way towards dropping some pounds. Just think what a few short duration, high intensity, interval training cardio sessions on your bike or treadmill can do.

Overall, weight loss is about burning more calories than you intake over time. Simply put, if you want to lose weight, then you had better burn calories. Weight training and diet alone cannot burn the amount of calories necessary to effectively lose weight. Cardio can, and will burn massive amounts of calories and get you to your goal.