You will naturally lose centimeters when you eat in a calorie deficit. Exercise is for your heart, mind health and for building muscle. Cardio is for heart&mind health and gets the heart pumping which helps clear all your arteries from any fat that might be building up in them. And you get this rush of endorphins that truly helps against depression. Strength and weight training is great for building muscle and you actually burn more fat that way too. I use to do a lot of cardio but weights make me put up a good sweat just as cardio does and I do active rest in between sets to get my heart pumping. I’m into weights and resistance training. The closest to cardio I get, is just walking. And sometimes fast pace walking. Nothing to strenuous.