The amount of cardio you would "actually" have to commit to doing vs. the amount of cardio people "think" they can do to make a dent in your weight is huge.

I'm not bad mouthing basic and traditional "cardio" like walking, treadmill, elliptical etc. (it has some health benefits and it can get the blood flowing and it feels good and it can reduce stress and more) but... 

you need to know its place and how inefficient it is to rely on for fat loss and weight loss. 

Your total caloric intake, the amount of protein you consume daily and your resistance training program are the 3 most important areas to focus on. 

These are all significantly more important than "cardio."

The chart above explains it all.

If the average person burns 5 calories a minute with basic walking, you would need to commit to:

6 sessions a week of 30 minutes... 

which is 24 sessions every 4 weeks of 30 minutes of walking to lose 3,500 calories (which is the equivalent of only 1 lb. of body fat.

So you would need to commit to 30 minutes of basic walking (outside of a busy day) Mon-Sat for 4 straight weeks to "maybe" lose 1 lb. on the scale provided you're not eating over your calorie limit.

To help you understand how much more important your diet and calorie control is over cardio...

If you ate 125 calories a day over what your body requires during the same 4 weeks of all this "walking", you wouldn't lose an ounce. That's right!

The extra 125 calories you would have consumed daily would off-set ALL THAT DAMN CARDIO - and the net effect would be ZERO. 

Math never lies: 125 extra calories eaten daily by mistake X 28 days = 3,500 calories. 

All that cardio would have been (from a weight loss perspective) POINTLESS!

I'm sure you know by now how easy it is to eat an extra 125 calories.

That's the equivalent of 1/2 protein bar in some cases or 2 small fruits or 1 piece of bread with a bit of butter. It's basically a few extra bites of almost anything.

So wouldn't it be easier to just consume 125 calories less than your maintenance level calorie intake to lose 1 lb of body fat per month without doing ANY CARDIO AT ALL?

And furthermore, if you consumed 500 calories under your maintenance level caloric intake, (which I typically set up for all my clients when they get started with any of my programs)...

you would lose 1 lb of body fat per WEEK or 4 lbs. of body-fat per month - WITH CERTAINTY!

By the way, the same science holds true with regards to the bottom part of the graph above.

I won't go into the math there, but it's the same principle. 

If you decided to "run your ass off" like you were being chased by a bear instead of brisk walking and you somehow got your calories burned per minute up to 10...

then you would have to do THREE 30 minute sessions a week (instead of 6) but that's still 12 high intensity cardio sessions every 28 days of 30 minutes with you "running your ass off" and...

sadly, if you consumed 125 calories a day over what your body requires to maintain your current weight, at the end of 28 days and all that running, you wouldn't lose an OUNCE.

So the big takeaway here is...

If your focus is on the scale and weight loss, don't add in any cardio at all until you...

1. First understand, how many calories your body requires to maintain your weight.

2. Then, slash 500 calories off that number daily to ENSURE that you will lose 1 lb. of body-fat per week.

3. Make certain you're eating enough protein daily so your body doesn't eat its own muscle tissue for energy while you're in a slight caloric deficit.

4. Make sure you are involved in a resistance training program several days a week to increase your metabolism, protect the muscle you have and to grow new, lean toned new muscle tissue that will only increase your metabolic rate and have you looking leaner, sculpted and more toned.

5. Then, and ONLY then should you consider "adding in" a bit of cardio to slightly accelerate your weight loss.

Hope that helped!

P.S. If you are ready to add in cardio to your workout program because your nutrition and calories are where they need to be...

and you're performing resistance training several days per week, the following options below will help you lose and additional 1 lb. of body-fat every 4 weeks.

Total Cardio Needed Per Week To Lose An Additional 1 lb. of Body-Fat Every 4 Weeks 

(Based on slow walking and burning about 5 calories per minute) 

About 175 Minutes Weekly:

OPTION 1: 30 min of walking 6 days a week
OPTION 2: 45 min of walking 4 days a week
OPTION 3: 60 min of walking 3 days a week

Total Cardio Needed Per Week To Lose An Additional 1 lb. of Body-Fat Every 4 Weeks 

(Based on faster paced brisk walking, incline walking or light jogging and burning about 7 calories per minute)

About 125 Minutes Weekly:

OPTION 1: 21 min of brisk walking 6 days a week
OPTION 2: 31 min of brisk walking 4 days a week
OPTION 3: 42 min of brisk walking 3 days a week

Total Cardio Needed Per Week To Lose An Additional 1 lb. of Body-Fat Every 4 Weeks

(Based on intense incline walking, HIIT cardio training, sprinting, stair-master or running and burning about 10 calories per minute)

About 88 Minutes Weekly:

OPTION 1: 15 min of intense cardio 6 days a week
OPTION 2: 22 min of intense cardio 4 days a week
OPTION 3: 30 min of intense cardio 3 days a week