How much is too much exercise?

This year I gave myself the goal of dropping 140 lbs. So far I have dropped 41 lbs but for the last week and a half I seem to be stalling. The only difference in my routine is that I am working out more now. Previously I would work out about 4 times a week. Now I am working out 7 days a week and on M/W/F I do 2-3 workouts instead of one. The CICO formula dictates that I should be losing more weight now that I am expending more calories. My daily calorie intake has not changed at all. Could the extra workouts be stalling my weight loss? Any advice or insight would be appreciated!

Stats:
Weight - 374 lbs
Height - 6'3
Daily Calorie Goal intake - 3000 (Though I rarely ever get that high)

Chart of my Net calories for the past week

hs7lva9al3xz.png

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,889 Member
    You could be retaining water from both the extra workouts and the stress of your severe undereating. Please eat more.

    Be patient about weight loss - you didn't gain it all in a year and losing 140 pounds in a year is a very aggressive goal that will cause you to lose too much muscle in addition to fat.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Two separate issues:

    1. No weight loss for a week and a half is completely normal when losing weight. For men, no scale loss after 3-4 weeks indicates a need to drop calories. Before that point, short periods of no weight loss (even gains) should be expected from time to time.

    2. Here's an article on overtraining: http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/rest-recovery-overtraining/
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    please slow down a bit,undereating and excessive exercise is a recipe for disaster for sure. eat more and slow down on the workouts, once a day is more than enough although you can do it twice,bu 3 times isnt needed,

    you need some rest days too to make sure your muscle can repair themselves.you are looking at possible injuries the rate you are going,possibly leading to worse issues. weight loss is not meant to be fast. slow and steady is best for most of the population.

    I know what its like to want to get the fat and weight off, but think of it as a marathon and not a sprint.
  • king_laceyii
    king_laceyii Posts: 28 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    You could be retaining water from both the extra workouts and the stress of your severe undereating. Please eat more.

    Be patient about weight loss - you didn't gain it all in a year and losing 140 pounds in a year is a very aggressive goal that will cause you to lose too much muscle in addition to fat.

    Never thought I'd see the day when I needed to eat more :smile:
    jemhh wrote: »
    Two separate issues:

    1. No weight loss for a week and a half is completely normal when losing weight. For men, no scale loss after 3-4 weeks indicates a need to drop calories. Before that point, short periods of no weight loss (even gains) should be expected from time to time.

    2. Here's an article on overtraining: http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/rest-recovery-overtraining/

    I will give this a read. Thanks!
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I don't think that your current rate of loss has been overly aggressive. I just wouldn't try to speed it up at all. You're doing really well.

    Also, just beware of going too crazy with exercise. It can be really tempting to think that more is better, especially when you are starting to feel so much better after a long time of being out of shape/sedentary. You do need some rest in there and keep in mind that it's better to hold back a bit on exercise and avoid injury than to get injured and have to refrain from exercise at all while you heal. A lot of people have trouble getting back into it when that happens. It's not as exciting but I take the tortoise route rather than the hare route for this reason.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
    Having lost 140lbs myself (regained a few due to illness but heading back there again now) I'd say a year is definitely too tight a timescale. You'll feel healthier doing it more slowly and the time passing helps you to adjust to new portion sizes and a new way of eating/exercising. Doesn't sound like you needed to ramp up your exercise sessions. I'd recommend setting them at the rate you see yourself able to do forever and getting used to what is now your new life (rather than just a year of your life) as to maintain your loss you are going to need to be a different person to the one you were when you were gaining.
  • Sheisinlove109
    Sheisinlove109 Posts: 516 Member
    My nutritionist told me to eat more carbs! I about fell out of my chair. It did the trick in one stall I had!

    I started at 354, now 283. I exercise daily one hour on the elliptical and lift 3 x's a week. I have mfp set to 1700, exercise about 800 and try to go go to bed with not eating my exercise calories. I've stalled the last week I. Weight loss but I've eat more high salt foods so that should go away in a few days if I stop that. I still stay within cico.

    Friend me and we can chat more if you'd like.
  • floridamike99
    floridamike99 Posts: 35 Member
    How is your sleep? I am really into cycling and I find when I ride too many miles too many days in a row, I can't get to sleep like I normally do. Maybe that is just me, but it is a measure I use to know I am overdoing it.
  • king_laceyii
    king_laceyii Posts: 28 Member
    How is your sleep? I am really into cycling and I find when I ride too many miles too many days in a row, I can't get to sleep like I normally do. Maybe that is just me, but it is a measure I use to know I am overdoing it.

    I generally get about 7 hours of sleep a night though the past few days I haven't had any restful sleep if that makes any sense.
    sunsweet77 wrote: »
    My nutritionist told me to eat more carbs! I about fell out of my chair. It did the trick in one stall I had!

    I started at 354, now 283. I exercise daily one hour on the elliptical and lift 3 x's a week. I have mfp set to 1700, exercise about 800 and try to go go to bed with not eating my exercise calories. I've stalled the last week I. Weight loss but I've eat more high salt foods so that should go away in a few days if I stop that. I still stay within cico.

    Friend me and we can chat more if you'd like.

    I can give that a try as well since I have been trying to keep my carbs low.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    edited April 2017
    More is better is always a tempting proposition, but generally not advised. If you look at most things in life, moderation tends to be the path to follow. I personally have a history of going overboard and in the long run it hasn't served me very well...nagging overuse injuries the last couple of years...burn out...muscular imbalances and impingement, and increased stress on the body that jacks around with hormones, etc.

    I'm working with my trainer this year to take a more balanced and moderate approach to my fitness...in the past I've trained as if I'm just going to go out any day and race or participate in some event pretty much year around...in the earlier days of my fitness, I felt good and it wasn't a big deal...my fitness was up so I just kept doing more and more and more. This year I'm basically taking the approach of 3x weekly in the weight room with only walking if I'm antsy on those days and 3-4 days of cycling on non lifting days...one sprint interval, one tempo ride, and one long ride...an optional 4th recovery ride, but I've been using that day to do other interesting things like going to the rock climbing gym or swimming, etc.

    I have two primary events scheduled for this year and I will train specifically for those but otherwise I'm looking at 6 days per week of exercise...some weight lifting and moderate cardio on the bike...nothing crazy. I'm already feeling a lot better.

    Keep in mind that rest and recovery is very important to improved fitness...regular exercise is good for you, but it can also be a substantial stress on the body and your body needs rest and recovery.

    ETA: substantially underfeeding and incessant exercise is really going to jack around with your hormones and impede fat loss. I'd take a more moderate approach to things personally...even though that seem counter intuitive.
  • Carillon_Campanello
    Carillon_Campanello Posts: 726 Member
    How is your sleep? Never underestimate the importance of recovery and sleep as these are the times your body does most of its work re-configuring your composition.

    Also I stalled out and hit a plateau as well. It turned out I was exercising TOO MUCH and this was causing an imbalance that was likely related to my cortisol levels. My body was going into a protection mode and trying to store as many of the calories as I was eating. I had to create larger and larger deficits to get more and more results. And the slower and slower my metabolism got.

    Eat a reasonable diet. Get the right amount of exercise. (Not too much. Not too little.) Mind your CICO and work with a deficit that suits you. Sleep/Rest/Recover.

    Most of all be patient. Losing 140 pounds in 1 year is a very aggressive goal. An admirable one, but understand that is a lot of weight to shed over the course of 12 months. Even if your progress slows, but you are still progressing you are heading in the right direction.

    Good luck.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Your net calories are seriously under what they should be. My guess is that they aren't accurate or you'd be headed for malnutrition/injury/worse. Your exercise calories may be severely over-inflated which means your net calories are much higher than you think. Anyway, not enough information to be certain, but your net calories, for a man, should be more than the 600-800 you've shown on the chart above. I realize that's after exercise (net) but it means, that if your calculations are accurate, that you're exercising too much, or not eating enough. Since you say you aren't losing weight as expected I'd suspect that the exercise calories are over inflated. Just a thought.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    Cortisol and stressing your body out with too much exercise can stall weight loss. Also great job on the First 40. :) Losing fat is a much slower process than losing muscle so remember slow and steady wins the race.
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    edited April 2017
    You need "recovery days" otherwise your muscles are always "torn". Over time, you can possibly do some serious injury to yourself. Try to mix in some gentle stretching / yoga if you really feel that you need to exercise every day. Also, try incrementally cutting down by 500 calories by taking 166 calories off meal 1 for week 1; both meal 1 and 2 for week 2; all three meals week 3. You should see some progress. Finally, I can't see your meals, but, try going paleo (low sugar/carb / high protein/unsaturated fat) and see if that helps.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    Sunna_W wrote: »
    You need "recovery days" otherwise your muscles are always "torn". Over time, you can possibly do some serious injury to yourself. Try to mix in some gentle stretching / yoga if you really feel that you need to exercise every day. Also, try incrementally cutting down by 500 calories by taking 166 calories off meal 1 for week 1; both meal 1 and 2 for week 2; all three meals week 3. You should see some progress. Finally, I can't see your meals, but, try going paleo (low sugar/carb / high protein/unsaturated fat) and see if that helps.

    paleo is a way of eating but if you arent in a deficit you wont lose weight,no matter how you eat.as for lowering calories,there is no need to keep cutting calories off meals. as long as he is in a deficit, he can have one high calorie meal and several small,a few high and one small,or one big high calorie meal or a variation of any of those things. as long as he hits his calorie goal at the end of the day and is in a deficit. you dont have to even eat 3 meals a day. meal timing is irrelevant.