Too much exercising?

physically, as long as you are eating enough calories and resting enough, it is OK long term until you start wearing out your joints.

I think the limit really comes as trying to balance everything into your life. Exercise takes time.

I typically burn around 350 per day (6 days a week, 30 mins per day). As much as I believe exercise is essential to staying healty I do not want it to consume a large amount of time in my day. I feel good after the 1/2hr and don't feel as if I spent a ton of time exercising.

I recently purchased the Smart Health heart monitor/pedometer. It takes my heart rate, calculates calories burned, tracks steps, and tells how many miles I have gone. It is worn as a watch and I wear it from the minute I get up in the morning and I reset it everyday. It gives me an accurate account of the calories I burn at rest and during exercise as well. ( I wear it during Zumba classes)

Though I'm not really following the primal diet myself, I think this is a pretty solid article on how much exercising is too much:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-you-shouldnt-burn-more-than-4000-calories-a-week-through-exercise/#axzz2I9OCyLt7

Seems to make sense to me that sure, you could have days with a crazy high number of calories burned, but your body is going to need off days to recover, so that it all averages out to something reasonable. Personally I aim to burn 300ish calories 3+ times a week - more is better, but I've never been in a position where I think I'm doing too much. My body protests long before I'd hit "too much"

Personally, I have to always remind myself to give the body a rest to rebuild. On those days, I try to eat even better. One ongoing challenge is to mix things up so you don't get burn out. I go to a gym, vs. working out a lot at home, so that I have a more dedicated, varied environment...with different people around to make the effort more interesting. I also personally think that it is important to give yourself a timeout ...maybe a week, weight lifters possibly more, to fully recuperate. If you've worked at it for awhile, you quickly get back and often exceed previous levels of fitness or lifting.

I've read so many studies that shorter, more intense workouts are more beneficial than long ones at an even pace. With that in mind, and also the fact that I don't like spending a lot of time working out, I do 30-45 minute workouts most days, and I'll do up to an hour on weekend days. I burn anywhere from 250-550 cals per day, and up to 800 on total blowout days (which happens like once a month). If I tried to burn 1,000+ cals per day I would for sure burn myself out pretty quickly. I know people do it and have great success with it, but it's just not me. I've been able to sustain what I'm doing now for about 7 months now and I feel pretty good.

Bump

I think it's a combination of things. Some people have the time or choose to work out for a couple of hours or more a day. Others do not. As someone mentioned the larger you are the more calories you will burn. You'll see your burns go down as you lose weight and become fitter which has happened with me. There's also the issue of potentially over calculating your burns. Some people have reported that MFP does this for them.

I think too much is dependent on the person and their level of fitness.

I typically burn 300-500 a session depending on if I'm lifting or doing cardio.

I would suggest you putting in your real weight because the calories burned have to do with the weight you are really at and the heart rate it calculates. I wouldn't go with the machine. Try it and see.

Apparently I've been working out "too much" because I didn't get my period for three months! And no, I'm not pregnant. lol

Don't compare yourself to someone else's calorie burn....When I started I weighed 227lbs - I was seriously unfit - would run/walk (slowly) for 30 minutes and burn around 450 calories....
I am now 176 (with 30% less bf) now, and at 44 years the fittest I've ever been in my whole life, and I burn a measly 430 calories doing an hour of Kenpo X (P90X kickboxing/cardio workout)....I might get to 510 calories for the P90X Plyometrics workout, and that when younger/smaller/bigger/less fit/male/lucky brats?:bigsmile: show burns of 700 and higher doing that... it's individual...
It all depends on your size, fitness level, age etc.....

Well said! Your size and Fitness level is key-

I mean, highly competitive athletes might be burning 4000+ a day. There was one summer in college where I rowed 4 hours a day and ran/walked 10 miles Assuming 600 cal/hr for the rowing and 80 cal/mile (reasonable estimates) I was burning 3200 calories a day. I was 21 and 155 lbs and in shape, but I was nowhere near being a highly competitive athlete. I should add that I didn't sustain any injuries that summer. Moral of the story--a lot more is possible if you're young and in decent shape.

Apparently I've been working out "too much" because I didn't get my period for three months! And no, I'm not pregnant. lol

That's not a good thing.

Though I'm not really following the primal diet myself, I think this is a pretty solid article on how much exercising is too much:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-you-shouldnt-burn-more-than-4000-calories-a-week-through-exercise/#axzz2I9OCyLt7

Seems to make sense to me that sure, you could have days with a crazy high number of calories burned, but your body is going to need off days to recover, so that it all averages out to something reasonable. Personally I aim to burn 300ish calories 3+ times a week - more is better, but I've never been in a position where I think I'm doing too much. My body protests long before I'd hit "too much"

That blog is ok but makes some mistakes in the consideration of the type of exercise. Clearly biking 13 miles does not burn 4000 calories. And any cyclist will tell you it is sustainable to burn 5000 plus a week for long periods.

I would also suggest that the intensity of the exercise (physical intensity) not calorie burn intensity is a bigger risk.

Focusing on calories burned during exercise is not looking at the big picture - exercise does burn calories but you are also achieving some sort of training, endurance, flexibility or other goals and personal bests.

I consistently record over 4000 calorie burned during cardio activity a week - but part of that is walking as I have MFP set at a lower activity rating than my actual. Most long distance runners and cyclists train above 4000 calories a week. It's quite a nice round but suspiciously quotable number, I would focus on cardio recovery rate (as measured by HR), effort capacity, swole, soreness and other physio signs. This is why keeping an exercise diary is important...

I recently purchased the Smart Health heart monitor/pedometer. It takes my heart rate, calculates calories burned, tracks steps, and tells how many miles I have gone. It is worn as a watch and I wear it from the minute I get up in the morning and I reset it everyday. It gives me an accurate account of the calories I burn at rest and during exercise as well. ( I wear it during Zumba classes)

^ ^ ^ THANK YOU