How much cardio is too much cardio?
newengland11
Posts: 27 Member
I started going to the gym and eating right at the beginning of October, I would do 30-45 minutes on the elliptical six days a week. It was working, I lost 10lbs but lately I've been noticing that I can barely make it 20 minutes now, I feel so tired and sluggish. I was trying to research if maybe I'm doing TOO much cardio but I can't find very good info. Can anyone here help me out? And does anyone know how much I should be doing? I'm 159lbs, 5'2" and I'm trying to get down to at least 135lbs...or wherever I feel comfortable, whether it be higher or lower.
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Replies
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You started about a month ago, I wonder if you hit the the cardio part too hard. Also how's your eating? Are you doing other exercises? Any strength training?0
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I wouldn't consider that anywhere near too much.
What is your calorie intake like?0 -
desiresdestiny wrote: »You started about a month ago, I wonder if you hit the the cardio part too hard. Also how's your eating? Are you doing other exercises? Any strength training?
Thanks for replying! That's what I'm wondering as well. I stay below 1340 a day, at the beginning I was doing really well with eating great but will admit I have slacked off in the past week, I still stay within my calorie limit but the foods I'm eating aren't all that healthy, I ran out of healthy food and didn't have the money for groceries so I kinda had to eat what we had but I made sure to not eat anything like chocolate, ice cream, burgers, etc. I do strength training, I haven't setup a routine just yet but on some days I'll do legs and abs, the next will be legs and back, etc. But I do cardio all 6 days I work out.0 -
newengland11 wrote: »desiresdestiny wrote: »You started about a month ago, I wonder if you hit the the cardio part too hard. Also how's your eating? Are you doing other exercises? Any strength training?
Thanks for replying! That's what I'm wondering as well. I stay below 1340 a day, at the beginning I was doing really well with eating great but will admit I have slacked off in the past week, I still stay within my calorie limit but the foods I'm eating aren't all that healthy, I ran out of healthy food and didn't have the money for groceries so I kinda had to eat what we had but I made sure to not eat anything like chocolate, ice cream, burgers, etc. I do strength training, I haven't setup a routine just yet but on some days I'll do legs and abs, the next will be legs and back, etc. But I do cardio all 6 days I work out.
How did you calculate your calories? On MFP or are you following TDEE?0 -
desiresdestiny wrote: »newengland11 wrote: »desiresdestiny wrote: »You started about a month ago, I wonder if you hit the the cardio part too hard. Also how's your eating? Are you doing other exercises? Any strength training?
Thanks for replying! That's what I'm wondering as well. I stay below 1340 a day, at the beginning I was doing really well with eating great but will admit I have slacked off in the past week, I still stay within my calorie limit but the foods I'm eating aren't all that healthy, I ran out of healthy food and didn't have the money for groceries so I kinda had to eat what we had but I made sure to not eat anything like chocolate, ice cream, burgers, etc. I do strength training, I haven't setup a routine just yet but on some days I'll do legs and abs, the next will be legs and back, etc. But I do cardio all 6 days I work out.
How did you calculate your calories? On MFP or are you following TDEE?
MFP.0 -
3dogsrunning wrote: »I wouldn't consider that anywhere near too much.
What is your calorie intake like?
I do 1340 or below.0 -
Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.0
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arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?0 -
newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
The number of calories MFP gives you already has a deficit. For example, I'd you entered that you want to lose 1# a week, MFP tells you to eat 500 calories LESS each day than you need to maintain your current weight. The deficit is built in. It's designed to have you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. Adding exercise just increases your deficit if you don't eat back exercise calories.
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newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
MFP gives you a calorie goal to lose weight without exercise, so if you exercise, you eat some of the calories back and you are still in the same deficit. It's a beautiful thing. You can eat more.
I hate cardio so just don't do it and eat less-ish.0 -
newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
The number of calories MFP gives you already has a deficit. For example, I'd you entered that you want to lose 1# a week, MFP tells you to eat 500 calories LESS each day than you need to maintain your current weight. The deficit is built in. It's designed to have you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. Adding exercise just increases your deficit if you don't eat back exercise calories.
This+1
Or to make it easier you can calculate your TDEE as long as you are consistent with your workouts0 -
If you're exercising to increase your burn vs intake, you can get the same effect by skipping the exercise and not eating however much you'd typically burn from exercise. But, if you're exercising for fitness, then you should be fueling your efforts properly. Not fueling your exercise will fatigue you and make it less likely you'll want to continue exercising0
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newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
The number of calories MFP gives you already has a deficit. For example, I'd you entered that you want to lose 1# a week, MFP tells you to eat 500 calories LESS each day than you need to maintain your current weight. The deficit is built in. It's designed to have you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. Adding exercise just increases your deficit if you don't eat back exercise calories.
So that's why I lost 10lbs so quickly. I was working out and eating way less. Thanks, that actually makes sense now.0 -
Protranser wrote: »If you're exercising to increase your burn vs intake, you can get the same effect by skipping the exercise and not eating however much you'd typically burn from exercise. But, if you're exercising for fitness, then you should be fueling your efforts properly. Not fueling your exercise will fatigue you and make it less likely you'll want to continue exercising
Thanks, I think that's exactly what I was doing.0 -
newengland11 wrote: »newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
The number of calories MFP gives you already has a deficit. For example, I'd you entered that you want to lose 1# a week, MFP tells you to eat 500 calories LESS each day than you need to maintain your current weight. The deficit is built in. It's designed to have you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. Adding exercise just increases your deficit if you don't eat back exercise calories.
So that's why I lost 10lbs so quickly. I was working out and eating way less. Thanks, that actually makes sense now.
Have some dessert tonight.0 -
Your BMR is: 1431 Calories/Day
Your TDEE is: 2560 Calories/Day
That's what I got when I did TDEE...so does that mean I burn that many a day or I can eat that many a day?0 -
arditarose wrote: »newengland11 wrote: »newengland11 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
This will probably sound VERY stupid but I'm new to this so bare with me! Eating back the calories you burn...I thought that was like defeating the purpose. You're supposed to burn more calories than you lose, right? So how can I do that if I'm just eating whatever I burn?
The number of calories MFP gives you already has a deficit. For example, I'd you entered that you want to lose 1# a week, MFP tells you to eat 500 calories LESS each day than you need to maintain your current weight. The deficit is built in. It's designed to have you lose weight WITHOUT exercise. Adding exercise just increases your deficit if you don't eat back exercise calories.
So that's why I lost 10lbs so quickly. I was working out and eating way less. Thanks, that actually makes sense now.
Have some dessert tonight.
Thanks! I just might. 0 -
newengland11 wrote: »Your BMR is: 1431 Calories/Day
Your TDEE is: 2560 Calories/Day
That's what I got when I did TDEE...so does that mean I burn that many a day or I can eat that many a day?
Tdee is what you burn in a day. Eating at tdee will maintain your weight. Eating less than tdee will cause you to use more of your stored body fat to fuel your activity. This is the way to lose weight.
Bmr is base metabolic rate, which is the calories you burn being sedentary and laying down sleeping/comatose. Eating that little will fatigue you if you typically burn 2560.0 -
I do 50 60 mins of cardio so ur def not doing near to much but I. Wondering if your not getting enough water? Or food? When I eat less or drink less I feel terribly sluggish or like the elliptical is super heavy but all in all it's my eating0
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arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
Y'all beat me to it.
@newengland11 - just to complicate things, many consider the exercise burns to be inflated so recommend only eating back around 50% of them. You can manually change the number given in the calories box.
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Protranser wrote: »newengland11 wrote: »Your BMR is: 1431 Calories/Day
Your TDEE is: 2560 Calories/Day
That's what I got when I did TDEE...so does that mean I burn that many a day or I can eat that many a day?
Tdee is what you burn in a day. Eating at tdee will maintain your weight. Eating less than tdee will cause you to use more of your stored body fat to fuel your activity. This is the way to lose weight.
Bmr is base metabolic rate, which is the calories you burn being sedentary and laying down sleeping/comatose. Eating that little will fatigue you if you typically burn 2560.
Ohh, I see! Thanks, that makes more sense now.0 -
casandra_zamarripa wrote: »I do 50 60 mins of cardio so ur def not doing near to much but I. Wondering if your not getting enough water? Or food? When I eat less or drink less I feel terribly sluggish or like the elliptical is super heavy but all in all it's my eating
50 -60 minutes daily? Wow, go you! Now that you mention it and I really think about it, I have been slacking on my water. I usually drink at least 1 gallon a day but the past few days I've been maybe getting 1/2 a gallon.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Yeah. You're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. If you're not, no wonder you're tired.
Y'all beat me to it.
@newengland11 - just to complicate things, many consider the exercise burns to be inflated so recommend only eating back around 50% of them. You can manually change the number given in the calories box.
Thanks! What should I change it to?
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