How much exercise is too much or not enough?

Kvose70

I was wondering...I lost 14 pounds fairly quickly...4 weeks... Now I am stalled...I have been using the bowflex treadclimber 6 days a week.. Started at 500 calories...worked up to 1000... after awhile.. I began to get exhausted 20 minutes in...Had to really push myself.. and Now I have plateaued..and the scale has not moved in almost 3 weeks..sometimes even going up then back down again. I have read where over training happens...muscles get used to the exercise and to switch it up.. So I started doing Yoga after the Bowflex..the problem is I have 5 children and cannot work out 2 hours a day or have the energy to do that even if I had the time.... So I have been cutting my bowflex from 75 min to 45 min...then doing Yoga for another 20 working my way up from there, which in turn has cut my calories burned in half.. My calorie intake is roughly around 1300-1400..I am almost 5'9... So I am sitting her thinking I am not working out enough now... I cannot for some reason get the right calorie burned/calorie intake balance right, therefore the scale is not moving..I do feel a difference and see a difference in my clothes...but now worried I am not burning enough calories... Does anybody know what the right amount or average of calories I should be burning? I have 30 pounds to go...
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brower47

I was wondering...I lost 14 pounds fairly quickly...4 weeks... Now I am stalled...I have been using the bowflex treadclimber 6 days a week.. Started at 500 calories...worked up to 1000... after awhile.. I began to get exhausted 20 minutes in...Had to really push myself.. and Now I have plateaued..and the scale has not moved in almost 3 weeks..sometimes even going up then back down again. I have read where over training happens...muscles get used to the exercise and to switch it up.. So I started doing Yoga after the Bowflex..the problem is I have 5 children and cannot work out 2 hours a day or have the energy to do that even if I had the time.... So I have been cutting my bowflex from 75 min to 45 min...then doing Yoga for another 20 working my way up from there, which in turn has cut my calories burned in half.. My calorie intake is roughly around 1300-1400..I am almost 5'9... So I am sitting her thinking I am not working out enough now... I cannot for some reason get the right calorie burned/calorie intake balance right, therefore the scale is not moving..I do feel a difference and see a difference in my clothes...but now worried I am not burning enough calories... Does anybody know what the right amount or average of calories I should be burning? I have 30 pounds to go...
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14 lbs in 4 weeks. Not all of that is fat. A good portion of that is water weight.

1 lb of fat = 3500 cals. In order for all of the weight you lost to be fat loss, you would have had to have a calorie deficit of 49,000 over those 4 weeks or a deficit of 1,750 every day.

The stall you are seeing is likely your body adjusting to your new routine. Do not be surprised to even see marginal gains over the next month as your body regulates it's water retention. Once your body balances that, the losses you see on the scale will be far more accurate (but still not very telling). Use tape measurements over weight measurements to better judge how well you're doing.

Kvose70

Ok ..what about the exercising.. I have read where a 30 min hard workout is better than an 60 min average workout.. Am I burning enough calories now? Its been cut in half since I started yoga...Not sure If I can burn 1000 on the Bowflex..then do Yoga... I might be dead by then.. The treadclimber kicks my butt everytime..and takes an incredible amount of energy and motivation to go for 75 min... Sometimes I feel completely exhausted afterwards.. My body will bounce back after shower etc.. but later on 4 hours later..I have to drink some black coffee to keep me going through dinner time...My energy is gone.. So cutting back to do Yoga, and burning less calories better? or should I stay with what I was doing? and what about the 6 days a week...Should I take off an extra day to let my body heal or 6 days acceptable?

luckydays27

You need to eat more. Burning 1000 cals in a workout but eating only 1300 is not going to get you where you need to be. Eating that low is only allowing you 300 cals for your body to function. That is entirely to low and quite unhealthy.

Your first month loss of 14 lbs is great but you really should be looking at a healthy weight loss of 1 lb a week. This has been shown to be a more sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off.