Still kind of lost on getting to a "good" level of cardio

So... I've still been doing about 3 hours a day of cardio. Comes out to around 2,100 calories burned. Also do weight training every day.

I've kept my eating incredibly strict, and I consume 2,030 calories a day. I've held this rate by eating the same foods for the past.. four months or so? No change to diet.

8 months ago I was 9.9% body fat, at 180 pounds. I got it tested again around four months ago, and I was 8.7% body fat, at 172~ pounds.

I still hover around 172 pounds. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The fluctuations scare me.

I want things to be stable and consistent, but these last couple weeks I've gained 6 pounds.

Is it possible to gain because of undereating? Or overdoing cardio?

I'm just scared to do less, but at the same time everything tells me that I'm already way overdoing things.

In the back of my mind, though, I feel like my body's never been normal, and maybe it's just my bad luck that I have to do so much to stay even.

I guess I'm a bit freaked out at a sudden gain over two weeks. Also, my cat chewed through the cable of my elliptical machine, the little jerk, so I don't have my most reliable form of cardio on hand and it bothers me. Guess both of those things combined just kind of came together to make me freak out a bit, and now I'm feeling lost when I think about what I've been doing.

Replies

  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
    Sounds like you're overdoing it. 3 hours is a ton of cardio for a day especially if you are doing weight training as well. Usually 30 minutes-1 hour is plenty. I doubt you are gaining because of too much cardio. If anything too much cardio would just cause injury and not weight gain. It could be possible that some of the weight is muscle but 6 pounds in a couple weeks sounds like at least half of that is fat. That means something needs to change with your nutrition. If I can see your food diary I can get a good idea of what might be going on.
  • kshadows
    kshadows Posts: 1,315 Member
    Um ok wait. You're eating 2,030 calories a day, and burning 2,100 calories a day doing cardio.,...meaning you are netting -70 calories every day???
  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
    Yeah I was actually thinking the same thing just now as well....which is definitely overdoing it on the cardio.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Sounds like gymorexic, gymnasia, or whatever they call it. And the "feel like my body's never been normal" kinda raises a flag to me. Get some pro help, dude.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    OP you should probably be eating 2030 plus the 2100 cals you burn, or just stop it with the cardio, which gets my vote in your case
  • davemunger
    davemunger Posts: 1,139 Member
    You are probably not tracking your eating accurately, or not tracking your cardio accurately. I have found that for me, MFP overestimates my burn by about 30-40 percent, so I created my own exercises with more-accurate burns. Once you track your food as accurately as possible, the next thing to do would be to just decrease what you eat gradually until you start losing again.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
  • formerfatboy1
    formerfatboy1 Posts: 76 Member
    to much cardio my friend! bring your cardio down to 30-45 min a day after your weight training of course. You want enough energy to get you thru your weight training that way you wont be bummed out if you do cardio before hand. also check your sodium intake if its to high that's where your extra pounds are coming from. Water retention from the sodium. Try a cyclical ketogenic diet. you low carb highfats and protein for 6 days then have a high carb day on the 7th. This really gets the fat off quick.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
    OP, you've lost something like 250 pounds already. That's commendable, and I can only imagine the work and dedication you've put into losing all that weight. Now, you have to learn how to maintain a healthy weight. Believe it or not, you can maintain while doing much less exercise than you say you're doing now - even doing zero exercise. With such a low BF%, you no longer have excess body fat to fuel your workouts; all of your energy must come from food. So you need to find your TDEE and eat at that level.
  • sadmaker
    sadmaker Posts: 19 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
    I easily burn 700+ calories doing and hour of plyometerics, kenpo x(maybe closer to 600), or an hour of insanity.
  • Abbdul
    Abbdul Posts: 103 Member
    ur 172 lbs now . what you want to vanish ? get a grip
  • You don't have to do that much cardio, especially for your weight. It is very possible to overdo cardio, and you're definitely on the verge. I would suggest doing cardio, but make sure you're not getting tired, or run-down. When you do, it's time to stop. Also, you're body can go into "starvation mode" if you're not eating enough calories, because it thinks it isn't getting the proper nutrtion. Take it easy, the scale will follow, take it a day at a time, and just make sure you're burning more than you're taking in. Now, that doesn't mean exercise all the food off, because you burn calories every second from breathing, etc.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
    I easily burn 700+ calories doing and hour of plyometerics, kenpo x(maybe closer to 600), or an hour of insanity.

    Yeah, but do you do 3 hours in a row?
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
    Unless you are doing a submersion body fat analysis or something at specialized clinics, fat% is a close guess with calipers and flat out wrong with the electronics. Those things should be "for entertainment purposes only".

    Given how lean you say you are, you should just accept yourself in the mirror and your clothes. It's a slippery slope to an eating disorder when you are pushing certain boundaries.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
    I easily burn 700+ calories doing and hour of plyometerics, kenpo x(maybe closer to 600), or an hour of insanity.

    Yeah, but do you do 3 hours in a row?

    I mean, maybe you do! I would be totally jealous of that burn if so!
  • sigalsirkin
    sigalsirkin Posts: 59 Member
    You are under eating and over exercising. You cannot continue like this forever. Not a lifestyle change.
  • vmclach
    vmclach Posts: 670 Member
    Why do 3 hours of cardio a day? Are you training for and ironman or ultra marathon? I don't understand. Doesn't not compute.
  • vmclach
    vmclach Posts: 670 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
    I easily burn 700+ calories doing and hour of plyometerics, kenpo x(maybe closer to 600), or an hour of insanity.

    Yeah, but do you do 3 hours in a row?

    I mean, maybe you do! I would be totally jealous of that burn if so!

    I agree. Even if I ran for 3 hours straight, I don't think I would hit 2100.. And that's running at 7.5-8.0 miles per hour
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio
    I easily burn 700+ calories doing and hour of plyometerics, kenpo x(maybe closer to 600), or an hour of insanity.

    Yeah, but do you do 3 hours in a row?

    I mean, maybe you do! I would be totally jealous of that burn if so!

    I agree. Even if I ran for 3 hours straight, I don't think I would hit 2100.. And that's running at 7.5-8.0 miles per hour

    Right. So now I'm curious. Let's say she's NOT burning 2100, maybe more like 1000-1500 (this is a horrible guess, I hate cardio). She's eating x amount of calories (forget the exact amount)...Then what is the stall coming from? I think she say she's eating 2200 ish calories, so is she over eating? Not eating enough? Annoying her body with too much cardio?
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    "Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
    However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity.
    To maintain your weight: work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week."
    (The page explains moderate & vigorous.)
    http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html
    I've still been doing about 3 hours a day of cardio. Comes out to around 2,100 calories burned. Also do weight training every day.
    Don't do weights every day, or rather don't exercise the same muscle groups every day.
    Allow at least 1 day in between for your muscles to heal. 2 would be better.
    I've kept my eating incredibly strict, and I consume 2,030 calories a day.
    I've held this rate by eating the same foods for the past... four months or so? No change to diet.
    Sounds incredibly boring & restrictive.
    8 months ago I was 9.9% body fat, at 180 pounds. I got it tested again around four months ago, and I was 8.7% body fat, at 172~ pounds.
    I still hover around 172 pounds. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The fluctuations scare me.
    So you're doing very restricted eating, massive over-exercising, you're at an extremely low body fat, and you're scared of weight fluctuations.
    Sounds like an eating disorder.
    Have you talked with your doctor or counsellor?
    Is it possible to gain because of undereating? Or overdoing cardio?
    No.
    You gain weight because you're eating more calories than you burn (which does not sound like your situation, at all),
    or because of water retention (which is most likely with this sudden small gain - check if you've had something with extra sodium lately).
    I'm just scared to do less, but at the same time everything tells me that I'm already way overdoing things.
    Counselling. You know you're harming yourself, yet you're scared not to.
    I guess I'm a bit freaked out at a sudden gain over two weeks.
    6 lb in 2 weeks is almost certain to be water, not muscle or fat.
    MFP overestimates my burn by about 30-40 percent
    Yes.
    Yesterday MFP says I burned 667 cal on the elliptical (when it only knows my body weight & the time, not the speed),
    yet the machine (which knows weight, time, and speed) says I burned 471.
  • jsilky
    jsilky Posts: 21 Member
    If it takes 3 hours of cardio a day to get fit I'm throwing in the towel right now... :noway: I don't have the time, energy, motovation, or the want for that...
  • lmr0528
    lmr0528 Posts: 427 Member
    Way too much cardio. How on earth do you find the time to do all that? I'm lucky if I can squeeze in 30-45 minutes a day.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    So now I'm curious. Let's say she's NOT burning 2100, maybe more like 1000-1500 (this is a horrible guess, I hate cardio). She's eating x amount of calories (forget the exact amount)... Then what is the stall coming from? I think she say she's eating 2200 ish calories, so is she over eating? Not eating enough? Annoying her body with too much cardio?
    Profile says young male, claims 2030 cal per day.

    Harvard Medical School says that to maintain weight when moderately active (30 min per day) we need 15 cal / lb.
    http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/HB_web/calorie-counting-made-easy.htm

    2030 / 15 = 135 lb
    170 lb x 15 = 2550 cal / day

    My doctor & dietician say that to lose weight, to get to a certain weight, eat 10x that in calories & ignore exercise calories burned.

    Maybe he's tall enough (over 5'10") so 170 is a healthy weight, and the body wants to stay there, no matter how it's abused.
    Or maybe, like most people, he's actually eating more than he thinks & burning off less (several people have already addressed that part).
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    If it takes 3 hours of cardio a day to get fit I'm throwing in the towel right now... :noway:
    I don't have the time, energy, motovation, or the want for that...
    It doesn't.
    The CDC says 30 min per day to maintain weight, maybe twice that to lose.

    "To maintain your weight: work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week."
    (The page explains moderate & vigorous.)
    http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html
  • Runcakes
    Runcakes Posts: 92 Member
    It sounds like you're over-exercising. 3 hours of cardio + weights is not only difficult to maintain long-term, but over-exercising can mess with your metabolism and actually lower it. When you're expending this much energy and not taking in enough through calories your body goes into starvation mode and will try to hold onto whatever energy it has available, and this is why fat loss slows down. I would recommend doing an hour of intense exercise vs. multiple hours at a steady-state pace.
  • HOLY WOW - like seriously where do you FIND 3 hrs to do cardio?! ;)

    It kind of sounds to me as if you may have hit a plateau of sorts and despite what logic may lead you to think - 'hey I need to do MORE cardio' what you may want to do is to rev up the intensity in a MUCH MUCH shorter duration.

    When I hit a plateau I kept extending how long I was doing cardio. At one point, being a full time working mother of 2 I simply couldn't afford more time in the gym. My friend who had just received her masters in nutrition and is a personal trainer suggested that I reduce the amount of time but rev up the intensity which I did; I had nothing to lose at that point because I was SO frustrated with the lack of progress.

    And wouldn't you know it ... in a matter of a week I broke through the plateau that I was stuck at for over 2 months!

    Also as many of the other posters have mentioned, if you over exercise your body will revolt because it thinks it's going into starvation mode.

    Additionally, because you are exercising SO much, what sort of calories are you consuming post workout? We can't out gym poor eating choices - no matter how frequent or the extent the duration we invest at the gym.

    This lifestyle change should be about finding balance in how much you consume and how much you exercise. From my experience an extreme in either or never seems to have the desired results we are all ultimately wanting.

    Best of luck to you.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    I'm sorry dear, I don't think you're burring 2100 calories a day doing 3 hours of cardio

    I would agree with this. You would be losing quite rapidly, I would imagine, if you were truly only netting in the negative. You would also have burnt out totally, especially if the activity was intense, speaking from experience.
    Heck, I lose doing 60-90 minutes combined cardio and weights 5x per week, and eating 2000 + calories as a female.
    Regardless, your post shows evidence you have an issue and have or are developing a psychological issue relating to your weight/food/activity. It would be seriously damaging to your body to be eating that low of an amount while doing so much exercise.
    I suggest you seek the help of a psychologist and also discuss this with your doctor.