Addicted to cardio!

Op you may want to check out this article.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

If you are training for an endurance event, I dont think a couple of hours a day of cardio is excessive, but that also assumes you are eating to fuel those workouts.
For weight loss alone, I really don't believe excessive cardio is the way to go, especially when paired with a lower caloric intake like you are doing.

So yes, I do believe that you can do too much under certain circumstance

You mention it depends on the person and goals - what are your goals?

How much have you lost and how fast??? I guess if it's worth it to you ?? I personally know I can't work out 3-4 hrs a day and maintain that. I work part time and have 2 busy kids. I spend time doing other things. You can come up with a good quality workout in 1 hour. And if I was going to work out for 3 hrs I would not do cardio the whole time. 10 lb weights are ok but I'm guessing you can lift a lot more!!!

Not the best way to lose weight. If your nutrition isn't right with that duration of cardio, then lean muscle will be lost. And that LOWERS your metabolic rate. A lower metabolic rate will happen with weight loss and calorie deficit already, but this would accelerate lowering the rate even more. And with hardly any strength training (5lbs weights aren't really strength training and all those sets are geared towards endurance) lean muscle loss will be also accelerated leaving you with a higher fat/lower muscle ratio composition (also known as skinny/fat).
I've seen this scenario many many times because I've had so many prior clients attempt the same. Unless you're training for an event, or are a competitor for endurance events, there really isn't any reason to do cardio for more than an hour. Yes you'll burn more calories, but there's a line on how the body responds to burning energy based on nutritional intake. And honestly, it doesn't sound like you have that down correctly.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

first of all, if you're doing all that you say you're doing, at your height and weight, I would guess you're burning way more calories than 600-some. I go on a low estimate of calories burnt and I easily burn what 500-600 in a single hour of high-intensity cardio. Second, if you've got that big of a deficit and you're working out three hours, you need to be fueling your body better by eating back calories. How long have you been doing this, and have you seen any results?
Also, cardio alone, let alone that much is NOT the best way to lose weight and get a better body. A few hours of cardio a week is really all you need. Strength training will do more for your weight loss and toning, and if you do it right, it'll still get your heart pumping and the sweat running. There are plenty of studies floating around that show too much cardio can actually hinder your weight loss. I fell into this trap early in my weight loss journey--I was working out 7 days a week, doing 30 day shred, then 20-30 minutes of cardio, then 20-30 minutes of cardio. I lost a lot for a few weeks, then stalled out. Now I run 3 days a week for about 30-35 minutes and doing strength training 3x a week for an hour each, and I'm losing about 1-2.5lb a week.

Thanks for all of the replies to this question, as I'm new to exercising and could use all of the advise I could get. I use the elliptical machine for one hour and thirty minutes, stationary bike for one hour, and treadmill for one hour, seven days a week. I eat fourteen hundred and fifty to fifteen hundred calories on most days; on occasion I may go a little over by one hundred to two hundred calories. I don't believe in dieting, but I believe in everything in moderation and I try to choose healthier food options. I'm 5'4 and 192 pounds. Please keep the advice coming.

Seeing that just leaves me with one word ....

Why?

I had no idea of how much exercise I should be doing, so I'm glad to have a place to ask questions and get good advice.

Step back and figure out what your goals really are then base your nutrition and exercise plans to reach those goals. It takes some homework and thought.

A lot of exercise is not necessarily a bad thing but there needs to be a logic behind it along with proper fueling. Not knowing what or how much to do and jumping straight to doing a lot of everything does not look like a plan.

I've already spoken of what my goals are in one of my post, so I know what my goals are. I would like to be one hundred fifty pounds by September, my caloric intake is fourteen hundred to fifteen hundred calories a day. Do you have any suggestions that I can use to modify the things that I'm already doing?

Yes I do. First, reevaluate your goal. Right now you have an arbitrary number on a scale to reach by an arbitrary date which put you on an unhealthy glidepath. The 3-4 pounds per week required to reach 150 by 1 September simply is not sustainable. Second, run the numbers on your exercise and intake. 3-4 pound per week lost requires in the neighborhood of 1500-2000 worth of deficit per day. Couple that with the 1500 or less you claim as intake and you're drastically undereating. There is no way you're getting the nutrients your body needs with your current course of action. Third, do some homework on exercise and nutrition.

From there you can proceed on a safe, sustainable, healthy loss plan.

There is such a thing as over-training. Additionally, with any exercise you get to a point of diminishing returns on your "investment". To that end, I would also advise balancing out all of that cardio with some actual weight training...like an actual program, not just picking up a couple 5 Lb dumbbells. My wife's purse weighs more than 5 Lbs so give me a break with all of that.

You also have to consider that your fitness needs to be sustainable...it's far more important to maintain your fitness in maintenance than it is for losing weight. You should probably establish some actual fitness goals that go beyond calories and weight loss and what-not...failure to do so is just going to leave you lost when you get to maintenance because you will not have discovered the true benefits of your fitness.

Use your diet for weight control; exercise for fitness.