how much cardio is to much

danbradley1970
danbradley1970 Posts: 42 Member
edited December 27 in Fitness and Exercise
Good day all

I am 52 lbs of at least a 101 lb journey, i started at 301 lbs and am at 249 now......

I have worked my way up to 52 min M,W F on the elliptical and getting about 705 calories out of the exercise i do the weight loss program on this machine where as i start out 4 min at 4-1 4 min at 10-8, 4 min at 5-3, 4 min at 10-8, 4 min at 5-4 and 4 min at 10-8, then the remainder at 5-5 till the last 5 min where i go to 5-6. Average revoloutions is 156-160 then i do upper body lifting.

on T and t i do 35 min in a tread mill for about 400 call, and do leg weight lifting at setting 4

and going in on saturdays to do a min of 65 min, and hitting about 900 cal. No Lifting

when i get to lifting on the Elliptical days i feel burned when i get to it.....

I do love the cardio activity, I am losing weight steady

should i continue on this path until i get below goal, then increase weight performance or am i over doing the cardio?
btw i am getting to the gym at 5am

Replies

  • danbradley1970
    danbradley1970 Posts: 42 Member
    no comments
  • gxm17
    gxm17 Posts: 374
    My only thought would be to do the cardio after the lifting. Or maybe just about 6 minutes of cardio to warm-up. Then lift. Then do more cardio. IMO, if you are too tired to lift with proper form, then you are leaving yourself open for injury. You've made fantastic progress, so clearly you're doing something right. But on your lifting days, I would suggest making that your focus and cardio as a nice little bonus after you're through with weights.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Dan, you need to help us out. What is your ultimate goal? We can't say if you're on the right path if we don't know your destination.

    Generally speaking, it sounds like what you're doing is working well for you. I'm a big proponent of continuing to do what is still working. If progress stalls, or your goals change, then let's look at it.
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,293 Member
    I'd agree with the poster who said to do the lifting/strength first, before the major part of the cardio. when i used to go to a gym, i did 15-20 minutes warm up low intensity cardio (rowing, stationary bike, etc) then do all the machines and strength that were planned for the day, did my stretching and then i'd go back for 30 or more minutes of cardio. worked wonders for me....

    looking at it now, you might want to do the stretching after warm up, and at the very end.
  • Mighty_Rabite
    Mighty_Rabite Posts: 581 Member
    What the others said - make sure if you are doing cardio and lifting on the same day, you aren't too burned out by the cardio to lift with proper form. Other than that, I'm with DavPul, you've lost 52lbs on what you're doing, and I'd say don't fix what isn't broken!
  • danbradley1970
    danbradley1970 Posts: 42 Member
    thanks.....honestly my ultimate goal is a healthy body.....looking to get under 200Lbs and then reach a BMI between 15 and 18
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    thanks.....honestly my ultimate goal is a healthy body.....looking to get under 200Lbs and then reach a BMI between 15 and 18
    I hope you're talking about a bodyfat percentage of 15-18% rather than a BMI of 15-18 (they're two entirely different things). A BMI of 15-18 would be severely underweight. A bodyfat percentage in that range would be healthy.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    thanks.....honestly my ultimate goal is a healthy body.....looking to get under 200Lbs and then reach a BMI between 15 and 18

    Sounds like you don't have excessively strength or muscular related goals, so it's ok to do as much cardio as you like. I wouldn't worry about until either you're within 10-15 pounds of goal weight, or if you decide you want to add more muscle mass or strength. At that point you'll need to ease back on the cardio. But with 40 pounds to go, keep doing what you're doing.

    And Anvil is right. 15-18 bmi is crazy time. Bmi is also pretty worthless as a measure of fitness. Go for bf% instead. Even better, just use photos and a mirror to gauge how you look.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Just curious, but how much of a deficit are you assuming and what is your recommended TDEE vs current gross intake? If I'm reading correctly, your deficit from exercise alone is 700-900 calories on most days. Typically, the larger the deficit, most of it should come from calorie restriction and not exercise. Considering you are starting out with a lot to lose, it initially wouldn't be much of a concern but I would not recommend that ratio for too long.
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