How much is too much?
RunDoozer
Posts: 1,699 Member
Currently I am doing 2 hours of cardio in the morning and and hour of strength training. And at night I am also doing another 1-2 hours of cardio. I keep upping the intensity on all these exercises and I always feel like I can do more when I'm done. How much is too much I am starting to get worried that I am on the track to hurting myself or not having a social life.
On a side note I have been doing this for about a month now and I have lost noticeable inches on my body. However, the scale is not moving at all. Literally not a pound. I am a 6'0 guy and im eating about 1700 cals a day. And no I havent binged a single time. Completely cut soda and fast food out of my life so not really sure whats going on. Maybe my scales broken
On a side note I have been doing this for about a month now and I have lost noticeable inches on my body. However, the scale is not moving at all. Literally not a pound. I am a 6'0 guy and im eating about 1700 cals a day. And no I havent binged a single time. Completely cut soda and fast food out of my life so not really sure whats going on. Maybe my scales broken
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Replies
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Damn dude, that is a helluva lot of cardio. I'd shoot for no more than an hour a day, so you can keep it up long term without getting burnt out.0
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I personally don't think more than an hour a day is necessary, if you are doing it at the right intensity.
Any more than that and you risk injury or getting burned out.
I've gotten pretty ripped on 5 days a week for an hour; I think any more than that is kind of a waste of time.0 -
You're burning tons of calories working out and only eating 1700? I think that's why the scale's not moving. As far as your workout frequency, it definitely sounds like you're heading towards an injury or burnout. Fitness isn't a race. You'll get to where you want to be, so give your poor body a break and slow down a bit.0
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Sounds like too much. How many days a week are you doing this? Do you eat back your exercise calories?
I'm 5'2" and eat almost 1,800 calories a day...0 -
That's a lot but I think you may get burnt out quick...do you take rest days or anything?0
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I strive for 30 min a day unless I'm doing a class that incorporates strength training, like heavy bag or group power.... and even that I try to keep to 60 minutes.
no need for that much cardio! 0 -
Current;y 7 days a week. I dont feel like I need rest days. I probably just need to make myself take them.0
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Current;y 7 days a week. I dont feel like I need rest days. I probably just need to make myself take them.
I think you may be addicted to working out lol. your body needs time to rest even if you don't "feel the need"0 -
Current;y 7 days a week. I dont feel like I need rest days. I probably just need to make myself take them.
I think you may be addicted to working out lol. your body needs time to rest even if you don't "feel the need"
I think youre right and I just need to back it off before I get hurt. Kinda plainly obvious from everyone posting. Thanks guys.0 -
You're burning tons of calories working out and only eating 1700? I think that's why the scale's not moving. As far as your workout frequency, it definitely sounds like you're heading towards an injury or burnout. Fitness isn't a race. You'll get to where you want to be, so give your poor body a break and slow down a bit.
This ^^^ I eat 1600 a day without exercising... your body needs more if you're going to be burning that much.0 -
Overtraining can hurt you in the long run. One guy that had like three heart surgeries told me not to overtrain or can end up like him, where he had multiple heart attacks.
Do like 20-30 minutes after your workout, do a 10 minute warmup and you should be all set. Don't forget that you're also building muscle so that could also lead to you not losing any weight on the scale but your clothes are fitting better.0 -
I'd cut that in half, at least, and up your calories. I bet your body is in shock! Rest at least one day a week and only work out about an hour a day, please. When I was losing the fastest, I was working out 6 days a week, 45 minutes 4 days and 2 hours 2 days, and the 2 hour days were probably overdoing it. Oh, and at that time, I was eating 1850 and I'm 5'3" and 47 yrs. old. And a girl. Please take better care of yourself and see a professional if you can't make yourself either stop exercising so much or eat more, or both.0
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My first question is: for what purpose are you doing all of this training? Are you training for marathons or just doing it for giggles? It sounds like you're doing up to 5 hours a day of workouts. Do you take any rest days at all? How long have you been doing this? What is your ultimate goal?
Seems to me that you'd need to be eating a whole lot to sustain this level of activity. If you say your goal is 1700, and then factor in a MODERATE 500 calories per hour of cardio (could easily be a lot higher depending on your intensity), you're looking at well over 4000 calories a day you need to be eating. If you're actually only eating 1700 then you're dangerously low, you're looking at serious health problems and/or injuries very soon. The body just can't survive on that kind of deficit with that kind of intense work. Hard to say because you don't have your diary open and you didn't mention what specific workouts you're doing.
Given the very limited info you've provided I'd say at a minimum you'd need to add some rest days and up your food intake by a lot. Perhaps dial back on all the cardio if you're not training for anything specific. An hour a day is plenty.0 -
Current;y 7 days a week. I dont feel like I need rest days. I probably just need to make myself take them.
Your muscles may not be repairing themselves properly because of this, which can lead to water retention. Really depends on how long you've been doing it. Short of that, the only other thing I can think that would cause it is that you are underestimating your intake. If you're certain that you're not, and taking a rest doesn't help, see a doc. There might be an underlying medical issue.
I'm a dancer, and when I'm in the show season, I can dance upwards of 6-8 hours a day, but it's certainly not every day, and it's only for a few months out of the year. I'd slow down a bit. You don't need that much.0 -
I think its alright to do that much cardio if your body isn't responding negatively. You should input it into MFP, and eat back some of those calories... because you must be burning at least 1200 from all that cardio (which means your only getting 500 calories from food/day)...
Just my take0 -
Whew, I do 75 and have been contemplating dropping down to 60. This thread makes me feel better about that.0
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Currently I am doing 2 hours of cardio in the morning and and hour of strength training. And at night I am also doing another 1-2 hours of cardio. I keep upping the intensity on all these exercises and I always feel like I can do more when I'm done. How much is too much I am starting to get worried that I am on the track to hurting myself or not having a social life.
On a side note I have been doing this for about a month now and I have lost noticeable inches on my body. However, the scale is not moving at all. Literally not a pound. I am a 6'0 guy and im eating about 1700 cals a day. And no I havent binged a single time. Completely cut soda and fast food out of my life so not really sure whats going on. Maybe my scales broken
So you're doing 5 hours of exercise a day and eating only 1700 calories? You're WAY overdoing it. Eat a MODEST calorie deficit and do maybe a half hour of cardio followed by an hour of strength training. As Pu 239 mentioned you're putting alot of strain on your endocrine system and eventually you'll lead to overtraining. Speaking as someone who has gone through that it's not a fun scenario.
Find a sustainable approach that you can do your entire life. This isn't it.0 -
Definitely more than you need. Figure about 3 hrs of strength training and 1-2 hrs of cardio per WEEK is PLENTY for strength and fitness.0
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I think its alright to do that much cardio if your body isn't responding negatively. You should input it into MFP, and eat back some of those calories... because you must be burning at least 1200 from all that cardio (which means your only getting 500 calories from food/day)...
Just my take
He's only been doing this for a month. His body will respond negatively. It's just a matter of time.0 -
4 hours of Cardio a day on 1700 kcal for a guy?
You need to cut down your Cardio and up your calories. Your TDEE must be sky high. You need to eat to support your burns. And you need to eat a lot. If you keep doing what you do you will burn out and injure yourself and the scale will not budge.0 -
My first question is: for what purpose are you doing all of this training? Are you training for marathons or just doing it for giggles? It sounds like you're doing up to 5 hours a day of workouts. Do you take any rest days at all? How long have you been doing this? What is your ultimate goal?
Seems to me that you'd need to be eating a whole lot to sustain this level of activity. If you say your goal is 1700, and then factor in a MODERATE 500 calories per hour of cardio (could easily be a lot higher depending on your intensity), you're looking at well over 4000 calories a day you need to be eating. If you're actually only eating 1700 then you're dangerously low, you're looking at serious health problems and/or injuries very soon. The body just can't survive on that kind of deficit with that kind of intense work. Hard to say because you don't have your diary open and you didn't mention what specific workouts you're doing.
Given the very limited info you've provided I'd say at a minimum you'd need to add some rest days and up your food intake by a lot. Perhaps dial back on all the cardio if you're not training for anything specific. An hour a day is plenty.
^^^
If you are not training for something specific you would be better off weight training 3x a week with no cardio that day, and doing cardio on the other days
and eat...way more0 -
My first question is: for what purpose are you doing all of this training? Are you training for marathons or just doing it for giggles? It sounds like you're doing up to 5 hours a day of workouts. Do you take any rest days at all? How long have you been doing this? What is your ultimate goal?
Seems to me that you'd need to be eating a whole lot to sustain this level of activity. If you say your goal is 1700, and then factor in a MODERATE 500 calories per hour of cardio (could easily be a lot higher depending on your intensity), you're looking at well over 4000 calories a day you need to be eating. If you're actually only eating 1700 then you're dangerously low, you're looking at serious health problems and/or injuries very soon. The body just can't survive on that kind of deficit with that kind of intense work. Hard to say because you don't have your diary open and you didn't mention what specific workouts you're doing.
Given the very limited info you've provided I'd say at a minimum you'd need to add some rest days and up your food intake by a lot. Perhaps dial back on all the cardio if you're not training for anything specific. An hour a day is plenty.
Just for fun. I am having fun at the gym and really always have until well I got married and kinda fell out of it.. It's making me feel good when I do it. And Ive always had a problem with moderation. Go big or go home is kinda how ive always lived. but it looks like i should slow down here0 -
How long have you been doing this?
You are eating too little and doing far to much cardio. It is counter productive and may well lead to loss of more LBM than you would otherwise have with a moderate deficit and a moderate amount of cardio.0 -
wow, you are 6' tall and eating 1700 cals a day.. and working out that much.
I'm 5'3" .. working out 3-5 x a week eating 2000 calories -
You might want to re-evaluate your caloric intake.0 -
I think its alright to do that much cardio if your body isn't responding negatively. You should input it into MFP, and eat back some of those calories... because you must be burning at least 1200 from all that cardio (which means your only getting 500 calories from food/day)...
Just my take
But your body will respond negatively - both in a manner that will not be obvious at first when you lose LBM and with hormones getting out of whack.0 -
My first question is: for what purpose are you doing all of this training? Are you training for marathons or just doing it for giggles? It sounds like you're doing up to 5 hours a day of workouts. Do you take any rest days at all? How long have you been doing this? What is your ultimate goal?
Seems to me that you'd need to be eating a whole lot to sustain this level of activity. If you say your goal is 1700, and then factor in a MODERATE 500 calories per hour of cardio (could easily be a lot higher depending on your intensity), you're looking at well over 4000 calories a day you need to be eating. If you're actually only eating 1700 then you're dangerously low, you're looking at serious health problems and/or injuries very soon. The body just can't survive on that kind of deficit with that kind of intense work. Hard to say because you don't have your diary open and you didn't mention what specific workouts you're doing.
Given the very limited info you've provided I'd say at a minimum you'd need to add some rest days and up your food intake by a lot. Perhaps dial back on all the cardio if you're not training for anything specific. An hour a day is plenty.
Just for fun. I am having fun at the gym and really always have until well I got married and kinda fell out of it.. It's making me feel good when I do it. And Ive always had a problem with moderation. Go big or go home is kinda how ive always lived. but it looks like i should slow down here
and SQUAT!!!!0 -
My first question is: for what purpose are you doing all of this training? Are you training for marathons or just doing it for giggles? It sounds like you're doing up to 5 hours a day of workouts. Do you take any rest days at all? How long have you been doing this? What is your ultimate goal?
Seems to me that you'd need to be eating a whole lot to sustain this level of activity. If you say your goal is 1700, and then factor in a MODERATE 500 calories per hour of cardio (could easily be a lot higher depending on your intensity), you're looking at well over 4000 calories a day you need to be eating. If you're actually only eating 1700 then you're dangerously low, you're looking at serious health problems and/or injuries very soon. The body just can't survive on that kind of deficit with that kind of intense work. Hard to say because you don't have your diary open and you didn't mention what specific workouts you're doing.
Given the very limited info you've provided I'd say at a minimum you'd need to add some rest days and up your food intake by a lot. Perhaps dial back on all the cardio if you're not training for anything specific. An hour a day is plenty.
^^^
If you are not training for something specific you would be better off weight training 3x a week with no cardio that day, and doing cardio on the other days
and eat...way more
yes...slow down, and eat more. Before you get sick and/or hurt.0 -
I think i need to look more into what are acceptable calories and eat more of those. In the past I have tended to eat very poorly and eating less was the only way to keep my weight in check. Need to do a lot more research it looks like.0
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Maybe you're gaining muscle. Scales add up everything, not just fat.
It's not good for your body to always be active. Try implementing rest days (since you work out a lot) to let your body completely relax and recover.
Having energy after a workout doesn't necessarily mean that you are ready for more, it could be that your endorphin kicked in to help you out during your workout or for the rest of your day.
If you do intense workouts, you don't need to be working out a lot. Less intense workouts are not bad either, it gets your body working without necessarily pushing it. Pushing your body all the time is the fastest way to breaking yourself.
If you are not eating well, your body could be maintaining the fats that it already has.
Find your balance.0 -
I'm going to go out on a limb and make a few guesses.
With 4-5 hours of intense cardio you are burning 2000-2400 calories on that alone. If I assume that a normal metabolism would have a daily need of 2000 to 3000. Which means that you would be fine somewhere doubling your calorie intake.
That is some significant gap in nutrition which will create issues in short order.
If in the past you ate very little, guess what - looks like you've screwed up your metabolism. This will take time to rebuild.
Reduce some cardio, make sure you get rest days in there. Keep the strength training.
Increase calories by 10-15% and hold for a few weeks before any adjustment. It's likely you can do that a couple of times. expect a small initial gain in weight.
It is also likely that you have water retention due to the high volume exercise. So ... Drink lots of water to reduce retention.0
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