Working out too much?

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  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,974 Member
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    Exercise won't halt your ability to lose fat - you may have body composition issues and/or appetite/hunger issues if you're not fueling yourself properly. There are plenty of sources for macro breakdowns, but there's also a little bit of what your body wants/needs which the fine tuning can take some experimenting.

    Not eating enough while working out tends to lower your TDEE in small ways, little things that add up over time, which is why people get the impression they aren't "eating enough" to lose weight. Over training without proper fuel means your body and mind start to conserve energy in other ways by reducing tiny, small activities and movements you may not even notice you are no longer doing.

    Chances are you're over estimating your burn or your tracking is off. It's not hard to miss a few hundred calories a day in tracking - a nibble of this, an extra small taste of that, an overflowing teaspoon of those and pretty soon, the small deficit someone your size/activity should have disappears. Add in slightly off burn numbers, and you could easily be at maintenance or just barely in a deficit, which can be VERY hard to track over time without several other tools in your pocket.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    tllincoln wrote: »
    I weigh all my food on a food scale, eat lean meats and complex carbs. I’m 37, 5’2” and 140 pounds. I have an athletic build, trying to get a little leaner while keeping some muscle. I used to strictly run and stayed around 125, then I got injured and started running less and weight lifting more. I know some of my weight is definitely muscle, but Some of it is also stubborn fat. I also have an Apple Watch and track my calories on that. Thanks for replying!

    Remember your watch cannot measure calories.

    It can very roughly estimate energy use by using other metrics and then making a series of assumptions but that rough estimate can be miles away from reality.

    Your routine does sound very hit and miss though - the idea of lifting is not to wear yourself out between lifts, would suggest stop trying to just burn more calories and think of the quality of your training and the return on the effort you put in, that doesn't mean panting for breath all the time!

    Could you be over-training? Maybe.
    (Which can affect your scale weight through water retention, but won't affect your rate of underlying fat loss if your logging is accurate and you are in a true deficit.)
    The way to find out would be to have a couple of easy weeks.

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