Is there a such thing as too much exercise?

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hll2465
hll2465 Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,
This is my first post and I am in need of some help! About two years ago, I was using MFP and exercising three days a week and lost 50 pounds rather quickly. I have a lot to lose and I have always lost rather quickly in the beginning. I got back on the wagon March 17th and was doing really well with my weight loss. I am down 31 pounds and feeling great. The only problem is I have been stuck at the same weight for three weeks now. The only difference is I am working out a lot more than I ever have. I am at the gym 6 days a week usually for about an hour each time. I am mixing up my workouts from Zumba to elliptical and Couch to 5K. I guess I am struggling with the fact that I am burning more calories than I eat, so shouldn't I be losing weight??? How is it possible that I am not? Am I exercising too much? I am beginning to get discouraged and feeling like all this hard work is for nothing! I am very determined to get to my goal, but is already a daunting task with over 100 pounds to lose. This plateau is just not helping matters very much :( I was hoping that someone would have some advice. My diary is open and I do not ever go over my calories. I do not even eat my exercise calories most of the time. What am I doing wrong??? Any help would be appreciated!

Replies

  • elleloch
    elleloch Posts: 739 Member
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    Your diary is not open, at least not to people who aren't your friends.

    I want to see your diary to make sure, but if you are not eating back a good portion of your exercise calories that could be a reason why your loss has stalled. You CAN exercise too much, but I see you are taking one day a week to rest and that is good. An hour a day shouldn't be too much. You do need to eat though. MFP makes this simple. Green calories are go.
  • hll2465
    hll2465 Posts: 31 Member
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    I just made my diary public....thank you for looking, I appreciate it!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    There is such a thing, but more often than not people have problems because they're eating too little for the amount of exercise, not actually working out too much.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    There is such a thing, but more often than not people have problems because they're eating too little for the amount of exercise, not actually working out too much.

    Or, when they fall under the laws of physics, it's because they eat too much to get their "post gainz".

    6 hours a week isn't much in the grand scheme of things.
  • elleloch
    elleloch Posts: 739 Member
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    No problem!

    Okay, from what I can tell, you don't really have a calorie problem. I'm one of those that definitely believes we need to EAT to get to where we are going (cars don't go the full distance if they aren't on a full tank, right?) and that women should definitely never net below 1200 calories. You never do. And you shouldn't have to go too low since you still have more weight to lose.

    What I'd suggest is tweaking WHAT you are eating. I've looked back the past week or so - you're eating waffles and sugar free syrup for breakfast every day. Which, don't get me wrong, girlfriend - I love me some waffles, but stuff from a box and sugar free syrup isn't setting you up for success all day. Syrup is basically all HFCS and when you get sugar free stuff they just replace it with chemicals so it tastes sweet - it doesn't do you favors on the inside. Switch to real maple syrup and measure it out. And make your own waffles! Maybe I'm a geek but this is where I have the most fun; I'm always looking for ways I can MAKE things and make them healthier. If you don't have a waffle iron (I don't, and it's really sad lol) try making your own pancakes. I have a recipe for whole wheat and oat blueberry pancakes, 220 calories per serving, that is to DIE. I'll share it with you if you want.

    But with that said try varying your breakfast choices. Maybe a fruit, plain greek yogurt and homemade granola parfait and drizzle it with some honey or some of that real maple syrup. Get old fashioned oats and add your own toppings instead of going for the pre-packaged stuff - it takes the same amount of time to prepare.

    Make your lunches ahead of time/

    Get away from pre-packaged, process snacks - cut those down to maybe once or twice a week and get in more actual foods. I snack on lots of fruits, diced veggies with hummus, natural yogurts, hard boiled eggs, stuff like that.

    Your dinners seem pretty good; maybe add in a green salad topped with diced veggies. And try making your own salad dressings, I have recipes for those too if you are interested in that.

    You will find that the more natural foods you eat, the more naturally lower in calories they are. So you can actually eat A LOT more food.

    PLUS. Usually the body plateaus when it gets used to what you're doing, whether it be diet or exercise related. Switch up your diet. Try some new things at the gym. When what you're doing ISN'T working, don't keep doing it, ya know?

    Is this helpful?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    There is such a thing, but more often than not people have problems because they're eating too little for the amount of exercise, not actually working out too much.

    Or, when they fall under the laws of physics, it's because they eat too much to get their "post gainz".

    I don't know what that means?
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    There is such a thing, but more often than not people have problems because they're eating too little for the amount of exercise, not actually working out too much.

    Or, when they fall under the laws of physics, it's because they eat too much to get their "post gainz".

    I don't know what that means?

    People under reporting intake.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    No problem!

    Okay, from what I can tell, you don't really have a calorie problem. I'm one of those that definitely believes we need to EAT to get to where we are going (cars don't go the full distance if they aren't on a full tank, right?) and that women should definitely never net below 1200 calories. You never do. And you shouldn't have to go too low since you still have more weight to lose.

    What I'd suggest is tweaking WHAT you are eating. I've looked back the past week or so - you're eating waffles and sugar free syrup for breakfast every day. Which, don't get me wrong, girlfriend - I love me some waffles, but stuff from a box and sugar free syrup isn't setting you up for success all day. Syrup is basically all HFCS and when you get sugar free stuff they just replace it with chemicals so it tastes sweet - it doesn't do you favors on the inside. Switch to real maple syrup and measure it out. And make your own waffles! Maybe I'm a geek but this is where I have the most fun; I'm always looking for ways I can MAKE things and make them healthier. If you don't have a waffle iron (I don't, and it's really sad lol) try making your own pancakes. I have a recipe for whole wheat and oat blueberry pancakes, 220 calories per serving, that is to DIE. I'll share it with you if you want.

    But with that said try varying your breakfast choices. Maybe a fruit, plain greek yogurt and homemade granola parfait and drizzle it with some honey or some of that real maple syrup. Get old fashioned oats and add your own toppings instead of going for the pre-packaged stuff - it takes the same amount of time to prepare.

    Make your lunches ahead of time/

    Get away from pre-packaged, process snacks - cut those down to maybe once or twice a week and get in more actual foods. I snack on lots of fruits, diced veggies with hummus, natural yogurts, hard boiled eggs, stuff like that.

    Your dinners seem pretty good; maybe add in a green salad topped with diced veggies. And try making your own salad dressings, I have recipes for those too if you are interested in that.

    You will find that the more natural foods you eat, the more naturally lower in calories they are. So you can actually eat A LOT more food.

    PLUS. Usually the body plateaus when it gets used to what you're doing, whether it be diet or exercise related. Switch up your diet. Try some new things at the gym. When what you're doing ISN'T working, don't keep doing it, ya know?

    Is this helpful?

    While this isn't necessarily bad advice for making your diet a little healthier, it's not the reason you aren't losing weight. Or at least not a reason that you wouldn't lose fat. A calorie deficit of processed foods will lead to fat loss the same as a deficit of unprocessed foods. But, it may make you retain water and see less results on the scale.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    6 hours a week should be ok. If that level or intensity is new, it can cause a plateau for a while, though. The scale will catch up. You can be burning more than you eat and losing fat but retaining water (or even yes, building some muscle) so the scale is a bad gauge.
  • bloodofareptile
    bloodofareptile Posts: 47 Member
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    I've had a look through your diary and it is full of volume measurements for solid foods, which means you're probably eating more than you think.

    Get a digital food scale and weigh everything instead of measuring it. Calorie counts can be off by hundreds if you measure - especially with calorie dense foods like peanut butter.
  • LexiMelo
    LexiMelo Posts: 203 Member
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    Exactly what bloodofarepti said. You can get a food scale for $20. It actually ends up being easier than using measuring cups because if it has a tare option you just put the bowl on the scale and pour until you get whatever amount of grams/ounces you need.

    Some of the items on your diary, for instance, 1 plate, salad bar Ruby Tuesday's 100 calories, are simply guestimates. Eating out can be a bear when calorie counting. If you do it, don't go for the salad bar, order something where you can find the nutritional info on-line. I usually also only eat 1/2 and save the other 1/2 for lunch the next day.

    Good luck! Keep up w/the good work!
  • hll2465
    hll2465 Posts: 31 Member
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    Yes thank you so much!
  • hll2465
    hll2465 Posts: 31 Member
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    I appreciate all of your advice. It is just strange because this is how I ate when I lost so much weight and the only thing different was less exercise. I will pull out my food scale, I do have one and have not used it yet. Maybe a lot of my calculations are wrong. Thanks everyone for your advice, I will start trying those things and hopefully they work!!!!!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    It is definately possible to exercise to much and through overtraining not get the benefit of the exercise that you would have gotten had you allowed yourself to rest.

    That said from your description of your routines you are not at risk of over training, sounds like you are doing nothing but cardio which you can pretty much do as much as you like provided you fuel your body for your workouts.
  • dmenchac
    dmenchac Posts: 447 Member
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    I appreciate all of your advice. It is just strange because this is how I ate when I lost so much weight and the only thing different was less exercise. I will pull out my food scale, I do have one and have not used it yet. Maybe a lot of my calculations are wrong. Thanks everyone for your advice, I will start trying those things and hopefully they work!!!!!

    Then that's your problem. You are 31 lbs lighter, which means you require less energy to survive. As you lose weight you need to readjust your calorie intake because your body burns less to keep itself rolling.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    You've got a lot of meals out in your diary, which means you're almost certainly underestimating your intake. It's fine to eat out but just realize that they aren't going to meticulously weighing out ingredients in most cases. Also I see a "salad bar plate" from a restaurant for 100 calories. If you put cheese, croutons, or dressing on it I would guess it was definitely more. But even if you didn't use those things, 1 plate isn't a precise unit of measure.

    As for why you could do those things before, it's usually easier to lose in the beginning. I didn't start weighing food until after I had lost my first 20 lbs, but I stalled at that point and had to get more accurate.

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