Amount of exercise per week?

Definitely cut back to lifting 3 days a week with a program like Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Also make sure you're fueling your workouts. 1200 calories is VERY low for your stats.

NotBearyFit wrote: »

Thanks for the tips everyone. I alternate between different muscle groups to let them rest and repair. I’m thinking it’s just like some said that it’s difficult from going to zero to balls to the wall lol Some days I eat quite a bit less than usual because I’ll be exhausted and just sleep until the next day without eating dinner. Most days I try and eat around 1500-1700 but some days it does go well below that. I’ll try lifting 3x a week for now and see how I feel! Once I can get through that, I’ll increase it as I go!

Phasing in exercise more gradually would be a better strategy, then . . . and might even help with weight loss.

One of the risks of over-fatigue is that we drag through our day, doing less of everything. We put off home chores, walk less on shopping trips, fix simpler meals (or skip them, like you're doing), play with the kids or dog less, etc., etc., all day long. You mention sleeping more: While sleeping enough is important for weight loss, exercising so much you only want to sit/sleep excessively is a bad sign (we don't burn a bunch of calories while sleeping, obviously).

For most of us, the biggest source of calorie burn is our basal metabolic rate (BMR - basically the calories we'd burn in a coma to keep the body running). Second biggest is daily activity (called NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis in technical terms). Intentional exercise is usually third in magnitude.

So, if one overdoes the exercise, netting that 350 calories, but drags through the rest of the day, you can be reducing the NEAT component by a decent-sized chunk of what you burn during exercise, offsetting the caloric value of that exercise. Furthermore, as time goes on, the exercise intensity can suffer because of fatigue, reducing burn further.

Underfueling the excessive exercise (say, by skipping meals) only makes the fatigue deepen, and makes the overall situation worse.

This sort of thing isn't likely to prevent weight loss, but it can for sure slow it down (alongside your just feeling worse). You may actually get a better combination of weight loss rate and feeling good by exercising a bit less, at least until your body adapts and can handle more exercise without excessive fatigue. If you feel better, you're more likely to be able to keep losing weight slowly for the long haul, and the long haul is what's required. Fast weight loss is a bad plan.

Exercise should be fun. If it's fun, we're more likely to do it. Other than maybe a short period of "whew!" right after the session, routine daily exercise should leave us feeling energized for the rest of our day, not exhausted and dragged out.

There's no specific amount of exercise that's always too much for anyone and everyone. But any of us who are new to it should ideally be ramping up gradually. "Too much" exercise is any amount that leaves you too tired for daily life, that doesn't allow you overall life balance (enough time/energy for family, job, friends, home chores, other hobbies, etc.), or that impairs rather than improves overall health or fitness. How much this is differs for every individual.