In a past life I took a bunch of physiology and advanced physiology courses at uni, as well as epidemiology/ population health focused courses and worked with a lot of people on their overall health and fitness. There are so many good reasons to make time for cardio. Ignoring calories for a minute, it has an overwhelmingly positive effect on mental health and wellbeing as well as significantly reducing disability adjusted life years, maintaining balance and strength into old age and reducing the risk and severity of falls as well as a host of cardiovascular diseases.

Heavy cardio also has a startlingly fast positive impact on the visual appearance of your body even in caloric balance, which can go a long way towards keeping you motivated with any dietary changes you may be making.

Having said all that, I find that for those who are just starting their fitness/weight loss journey cardio exercise can set off an absolute rocket of hunger that can potentially undo a lot of good work. I know for me, that hunger after a really hard run can far outweigh the calories I have just burned on that run.

For sedentary individuals just coming to the table, I had way more success in terms of both results and adherence by using programs where the cardio component kicked off with fast paced walking or hill walking for many months before trying to introduce running, swimming or other forms of higher intensity exercise. All of this backed up by a solid resistance training program.

Once you are starting to see concerete progress towards your goals with something as easy as WALKING and a few weights multiple times per week it's way easier to stay on track once the hunger kicks in after your first few runs.

The battle is real.