is there such thing as too much exercise?

Ignoring the Food side of things 4 hours cardio and maybe the same in weights a week really is not a lot! If it was 4 hours a day then you'd be getting into overtraining territory.

As has been mentioned the people who usually comment that you do too much are the ones who normally need the exercise the most! I have a guy at work who always berates me for doing too much and that I should always have a rest day after a day of exercise but doesn't like it when I mention the fact he has done the C25K program 4 times and never made it past week 3 before giving up claiming its too hard and his body aches all over!

rachylouise87 wrote: »

thank you i think people assume because i havnt lost for a while i am starving myself and my body is clinging onto the fat. not sure i believe that

No, what's more likely happening is that your body has become accustomed to the exercise so you aren't burning as many calories as you used to. Also, as you noticed, your TDEE has dropped because you now have less mass. You can trying changing up your workout regimen either by trying something new or increasing weight or intensity. You may just have to resign yourself to a slower rate of weight loss, though. The closer you get to your goal the slower it will be.

absolutely. overuse injuries are common. if you've never got one you either have impeccable form, superior genes, or your not working out as hard as you think you are.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

rachylouise87 wrote: »

my friend at work said i'm not losing as much because i exercise too much? i do cardio 5 times a week for 30-50 minutes and strength 3-4 times a week... i burn around 400 calories a time and my daily deficit is 520 just on food. to be honest i have cut out alcohol completely this week and upped the intensity of my workouts. i sometimes eat back 50% of my workout calories sometimes dont. the point is my friend thinks im starving myself but i'm 5ft 1 with a TDEE of 1745 and i have a desk job so i dont think i am starving myself of calories or overdoing it?

I ride between 60 - 80 miles per week (more when I'm actively training) and lift 3x weekly. Yes, there is such a thing as too much exercise and over-training...but I doubt that's happening with 30-50 minutes of general cardio 4-5 days per week and some resistance training a few days per week unless you're just crashing your diet or something.

Really, that's where the risk is...not eating enough to support the level of activity...thus you run into recovery issues and over-train injuries and other issues

I agree. From what you posted, I don't think you are over exercising and I'd probably know because several years ago I went WAY over board with cardio. Thankfully I re-evaluated and made drastic changes before I got any overuse injuries. If you are eating enough, feel energetic enough throughout your workouts, then don't bother what other people think of what you're doing. Just make sure to change things up every now and then so that you don't get overuse injuries or boredom sets in.

Not over-exercising, that's a great activity level!
I do think you may be under-eating, though.
If your calorie goal is 1200 it's probably too low. That's the only thing I disagree with MFP about. If you exercise you should be eating back all those calories to hit your 1200. If your total for the day is under 1200 because of the negative exercise calories then you are probably not getting enough calories and weight loss/ muscle building will stall. Try bumping up to 1300 net calories a day and eat back all your exercise calories so you are at a total of 1300 each day. That's still enough of a deficit from your TDEE to see weight loss, but will help you come off of the plateau.