Am I working out too much?

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trenzalours
trenzalours Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been working out for the past 10 days straight since the start of my diet. I do yoga every single day(morning and night) and then I also do some dancing/aerobics routines. All together each day I'm burning about 900-1000 calories a day. I'm consuming a little under 1200cal but not on purpose..I generally try to keep my foods hearty and healthy. Eating mostly all vegetables and meat (lean chicken/swai fish/lean pork)

I currently weigh 269lb and my goal is 240lb in 5 weeks or so. My long term goal is to be 200lb or even less! I'm hoping to reach this in a healthy and fun way. I just never know when to rest? I'm VERY new to this kind of lifestyle since I've been living a sedentary lifestyle for almost a year after I moved.
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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    You're eating under 1200 PLUS you're exercising?? Or you're eating 1200 after including exercise calories?
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    edited November 2014
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    yeah, this is what one might call, "Doing it wrong."

    30 pounds in 5 weeks is 6 pounds a week.
    Or a 21,000 calorie deficit per week, 3k per day.

    Sure you can do it. You might even be successful. However, you'll gain it back as you aren't really learning how to lose weight in a healthy manner, nor are you creating healthy nutritional and work out habits.

    I'd say, slow down there turbo, shoot for 1-2 pounds a week, and realize this isn't a sprint. Or, hey, good luck, let us know how you do.

    Keep in mind as well, rest is when your body recovers. Since you're working out a lot, you'll be breaking down your muscles, and they need to repair. Granted, with a 4 pound a week goal, you'll probably lose a good chunk of lean mass too.

    EDIT - to revise math based on looking at the OP again. I see no probability of success here with this approach.
  • trenzalours
    trenzalours Posts: 60
    edited November 2014
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    You're eating under 1200 PLUS you're exercising?? Or you're eating 1200 after including exercise calories?

    I'm eating under 1200 and exercising. I'm just having trouble getting that extra 200 cals to push me into that healthy calorie threshold, my limit is set to 1890 cals though. Like today I finished my food at 1022 calories with 921 in exercise.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    trenzalours wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    You're eating under 1200 PLUS you're exercising?? Or you're eating 1200 after including exercise calories?

    I'm eating under 1200 and exercising. I'm just having trouble getting that extra 200 cals to push me into that healthy calorie threshold, my limit is set to 1890 cals though. Like today I finished my food at 1022 calories with 921 in exercise.

    Okay, first thing is you need to eat more. The person who wins, is the person that eats the most and still loses. The person that learns moderation and sustainability, well thats the person that gets to keep this. The one who "crash" diets-they learn nothing and are the ones that usually put it back on and then some. Can you open your diary?
  • trenzalours
    trenzalours Posts: 60
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Okay, first thing is you need to eat more. The person who wins, is the person that eats the most and still loses. The person that learns moderation and sustainability, well thats the person that gets to keep this. The one who "crash" diets-they learn nothing and are the ones that usually put it back on and then some. Can you open your diary?

    I know I need to eat more I'm finding it hard figure out where I need to eat more so I can reach that healthy spot. Of course you can open my diary! I'm very new to this so let me know if I need to add you as a friend or something else? Thank you for the advice I really need it!

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    go to food, settings, diary at the bottom, make it public.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    How are you determining your burns, because that's a very high amount, and eating less than 1200 doing that is most likely not going to work.
  • trenzalours
    trenzalours Posts: 60
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    Okay done! :)
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    you are going to burn out. You need to find a healthy medium before you body says no more. I don't really know how 1200 is too much for you, I don't really get when people say that. If you are exercising as much as you say you are, your body is telling you it's hungry and you may be ignoring it.

    You need rest days. You need to fuel your workouts. You will burn out at the rate you're going.
  • Mishka1977
    Mishka1977 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hey there, so I am like you in many ways.. full force into the working out and trying to balance my calories at the same time. So when I wasn't working out, the 1200 was deemed acceptable by my nutritionist and now that I am up to the 300-500 burn days I am up to 1400-1500 calories as my minimum each day. Not to sound like a commercial, but the best thing I did was get things going with emeals.com The nutritionist at my doctor's office told me about it. We started with clean eating meal plan and then a low carb one and it actually works for us... we have the whole family eating this way. I also have to start every morning with a protein shake.. the one I do has 160 calories in it and 30g of protein, I have a health issue that makes this like required medication for me, but it gets me going the right way each morning without adding alot of calories of sugars. Be sure you are getting plenty of protein in your diet and not just from shakes- eat red meat, chicken, etc... It's hard to find that right balance, but you will have more success the closer to the balance you get. I am proud of you for wanting to get things changing in your life, just be careful to not burn yourself out or overdo things. Take some time to lose the weight, it didn't all come on overnight so don't try to press too hard to try to lose it so fast. I was up and over 300 pounds when I started a few years ago to lose the weight and then was as low as 165, but then medical garbage happened and I am back at 214 as of today again, with my most recent high having been 232... it's a hard journey but worth it. Let me know if you ever want to chat more.. I am in your corner, you will do great!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Okay here's what you need to do: you have a daily goal of 1800 calories you need to be eating at a minimum. You can add avocados, nut butters, more meat, fruits, veggies. Whatever it is you need to to get to those calories. Do not trust burn calculations, as they are always high. Most people would eat back half to account for miscalculation. Weigh and measure everything, and you will lose weight. As I mentioned earlier, you won't do yourself any favors by eating too little. You want sustainability. YOU can do this!
  • EFMcG
    EFMcG Posts: 23 Member
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    To answer your question, you can do yoga everyday no prob. That's a gentle, low impact exercise. However, what others have stated, you need to have enough calories to fuel your activity (dancing, more calorie burning exercises). Your weight loss goals are a bit too ambitious, and not healthy. You didn't put on the weight overnight, don't expect it to fall off overnight.
  • 33Freya
    33Freya Posts: 468 Member
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    You are most likely losing fat that way, but also, lean mass (muscle). If you keep it up, you will suffer with a lower metabolism, plateaus in losses no matter how you work out, vitamin/mineral deficiencies, and ugly loose skin.

    Maybe you should rethink your goals and the speed at which you attain them. Talk to your doctor and get his/her opinion.
  • trenzalours
    trenzalours Posts: 60
    edited November 2014
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    First of all- Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement! Moving on I'm going to start trying to add protein shakes and more avocados and such. Should I start adding nuts to my diet as a snack? I'm a HUGE fan of fruits also. I'm just so worried now about over eating or even binging since I have had a problem in the past with it. It's causing me to be extra cautious.

    Also my goals are pretty flexible. I've been going by what MPF says when I complete my entries. I know this isn't going to be an overnight thing and I'm in for the long haul. I don't ever want to stop living my life healthy and happy.

    Also my Doctor believes me being on a steady diet and changing my lifestyle to lose weight is what I need. I just need to get my stuff balanced and I'm having some issues. Should I be adding strength to my regime- Just these little things are whats stumping me.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    It doesn't sound sustainable long-term. If you want to get it off and KEEP it off, whatever you do to lose the weight needs to be something you're able and willing to do for the rest of forever. Slow and steady works best. Don't crash and burn! :)

    P.S. I've been maintaining easily at goal weight for over three years now. The key is to look at this as a long-term investment or a permanent lifestyle change. You have all the time in the world to make these changes, so do it gradually and do it right. Aggressive diets and extreme exercise programs tend to be short-term and temporary - and so are the results. Good luck! (*)
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    It's really great that you're starting off super enthusiastic, but when you begin that heavy (and I was heavier, I'm not knocking you!), it's going to take a loooooong time to lose all that fat.

    The fat doesn't come off real fast. It takes a lot of work for a really long time.

    First things first - see your doctor. Get a good target weight, a daily calorie limit, find out what foods you should and shouldn't be eating and get cleared to do exercise. If you're serious about losing weight, do it the right way! And the right way means seeing the doctor first, as every expert will tell you.

    If you don't know anything about eating healthy, get a referral to a dietician. This is something that happens a lot. The doctor will know one, for sure.

    If you don't have a scale that weighs things to the gram, it's off to amazon you should be clicking...or off to Walmart you go, lol. Get the scale. Weigh every pice of food and measure the liquids. This will let you know how much you're eating. When you log, compare the label to the MFP entry to be sure it's correct.

    There's a lot to do and you have a lot to learn as you go. It's kind of fun, IMO. A LOT OF WORK...but fun. And you'll be so proud of yourself, being sensible, following the doctor's instructions - losing weight, being healthier and getting stronger every damn day.

    If you continue the path you're on, you're going to fail and have to come up with a new approach, so just do the smart thing now.

    It's a long, hard road. You can't go on no calories for as long as it will take. Come to terms with it, commit to it and do it right so that you can be a thinner, healthier, happier you. :)

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    You sound like you will burn out. We understand you wnat to get to target, but you are most likely to do that by making it sustainable. id think you cna do yoga every day if you want, but you should have one complete rest day and one mostly rest day a week imo. If you burn out then you wont bedoing any exercise. Looking after yourself is impornat so aboid overdoing it.

    I prefer it if I see people eating more than 1400, 1200 is too low and then you can just use some of your exercise calories if needed. Ecentually you might wnat to shift the exercise to some resistance training as well, to give you strength,tone and to help prevent muscle loss.

    You cna see everyone is saying the same thing and you seem to be listening. If you do then you cna lose the weight safely and hopefully learn to sistain it. good luck.
  • trenzalours
    trenzalours Posts: 60
    edited November 2014
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    Thank you all! I'm going to be adding more to my diet and spreading my meals out so I can eat more without feeling so full so quickly, which is my main issue to why I don't eat as much. It's not to lose weight faster..I'm just full and don't want to feel sick.

    I want to do this properly and I want to do this healthy so I am going to be taking all of your advice and working to integrating it into my life. I've seen a doctor and they agree on my weight loss and that I need to take it slow. I guess I just got excited with all of this and took it a little far. I'll be adding at least one rest day a week to give my muscles a break! I really need to learn more about resistance exercises and strength!

    I have no idea when I'll get to the weight I want to be but I know I can do it!
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
    edited November 2014
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    I started out like you did. It was completely overwhelming to me and I had to learn how to lose weight. 4 months in, and I am down 29lbs. I work out 3 days a week for 1 hour and I eat between 1400-1600 calories a day and i'm short! I eat pretty much what I want, with moderation of course. Like tonight for dinner my family went to a Mexican restaurant, and I got a burrito and I had it on a wheat tortilla, no cheese, chicken and only ate half of it. was it a lot of calories, yes, but I still worked it in and ate it. 4 months ago, I would have felt like a failure for eating that. You have to learn how to eat. learn how to exercise and you will! trust me! it will become natural after awhile. You want to be able to stay fit and healthy for life, and most people cannot exercise every single day for the rest of their life. Most people can't be restrictive the rest of their life.
    You will get the hang of it!

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