Can you exercise too much?

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just wondering, if it is possible to exercise enough to maintain a negative number of calories daily, I am a stay at home mom with a LOT of time on my hands LOL, I have already done my wii zumba, biggest loser challenge, and am thinking about doing mari winsor pilates burn in a few minutes and maybe jillian 30 day shred later on today.....I have currently consumed 435 calories today and burned 564 giving me a -129 is this okay, or will I go into starvation mode I still have 1 more snack, probiotic and dinner to eat today, so I am sure I will get to my 1200 for the day, or at least really close to it....just not sure how it all works....I just feel so good after exercising that once the burn from the 1st workout subsides I wanna do it again and again LOL Would appreciate any advise, and am new here so feel free to add me if you would like :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
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    You need to be netting 1200 minimum, so no that is not even close to ok.

    Too much exercise can cause injury and become an obsessive habit so yes, you can exercise too much.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    How many miles do you think you could get out of your car if you only put $5 worth of gas in the tank?

    Remember that your body is constantly burning calories. You likely burn significantly more than 1200 even if you were in a coma. Add a pile of exercise on top of that, and you're asking your car to drive cross country on a quarter tank of gas.

    Overtraining isn't good for you. And the desire to burn off every single calorie you eat is a kind of eating disorder. http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/exercisebulimia.htm
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    "Too much" is any amount you can't recover from.

    So if you're doing X amount of exercise per day, and you begin to feel "run down" and can't complete the same amount of exercise, or can't complete it with the same or intensity, then you're doing to much.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    You need to be netting 1200 minimum, so no that is not even close to ok.

    Too much exercise can cause injury and become an obsessive habit so yes, you can exercise too much.

    Yes you an over exercise. Yes you are not eating enough. Food is fuel, so when you don't eat enough, your body will conserve body fat and the only weight you will lose is lean muscle mass. So eat up and lose more.
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
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    just wondering, if it is possible to exercise enough to maintain a negative number of calories daily, I am a stay at home mom with a LOT of time on my hands LOL, I have already done my wii zumba, biggest loser challenge, and am thinking about doing mari winsor pilates burn in a few minutes and maybe jillian 30 day shred later on today.....I have currently consumed 435 calories today and burned 564 giving me a -129 is this okay, or will I go into starvation mode I still have 1 more snack, probiotic and dinner to eat today, so I am sure I will get to my 1200 for the day, or at least really close to it....just not sure how it all works....I just feel so good after exercising that once the burn from the 1st workout subsides I wanna do it again and again LOL Would appreciate any advise, and am new here so feel free to add me if you would like :flowerforyou:

    my rule of thumb for most people
    3x week weight lifting..takes about 35mins.hour tops.
    2x week 30mins cardio.

    weight lifting is to maintain lean mass.
    cardio is for cardiovasular health. not "calorie burning"


    anything beyond that is just an extra waste of time. you wont lose any faster, and your body takes longer to recover. you have less time to live a life and do something else... etc..

    the other 80% is diet.
  • Stinalynn121
    Stinalynn121 Posts: 42 Member
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    I haven't done the additional exercises, I just started diet/exercise yesterday, which was why I wanted to ask before I did it to see if it would be okay or not from ya'll that have been doing this for a while already, sorry if I gave them impression that I was already overindulging, it was not intentional, basically my body just feels so good from what I did this morning that I was wanting to do more, but concerned if it would be the right thing to do or not was all. Thank you all very much for letting me know not to :flowerforyou:
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    You need to be netting 1200 minimum, so no that is not even close to ok.

    Too much exercise can cause injury and become an obsessive habit so yes, you can exercise too much.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    If you only started yesterday - don't do any more today, you will feel it tomorrow if you can't walk or is so sore and miserable that you don't want to do anything but lie on the couch and eat,,,,
    Go for a walk if you have to much energy, or come over to my place and reorganize my cupboards!:flowerforyou:
    Good luck on your journey!
  • SimplyShanRunning
    SimplyShanRunning Posts: 885 Member
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    You need to be netting 1200 minimum, so no that is not even close to ok.

    Too much exercise can cause injury and become an obsessive habit so yes, you can exercise too much.


    !!!!!
  • leanmachinedream
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    How many miles do you think you could get out of your car if you only put $5 worth of gas in the tank?

    Remember that your body is constantly burning calories. You likely burn significantly more than 1200 even if you were in a coma. Add a pile of exercise on top of that, and you're asking your car to drive cross country on a quarter tank of gas.

    Overtraining isn't good for you. And the desire to burn off every single calorie you eat is a kind of eating disorder. http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/exercisebulimia.htm

    Good analogy.

    If you want to exercise a lot you need to continue to fuel your body. I don't think there is such a thing as "too much" exercise. It's important to have a rest day or two and it's important to eat - and if you can manage all that, go for it. But if you're exercising and not eating you need to stop and come up with a new game plan.
  • leanmachinedream
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    I haven't done the additional exercises, I just started diet/exercise yesterday, which was why I wanted to ask before I did it to see if it would be okay or not from ya'll that have been doing this for a while already, sorry if I gave them impression that I was already overindulging, it was not intentional, basically my body just feels so good from what I did this morning that I was wanting to do more, but concerned if it would be the right thing to do or not was all. Thank you all very much for letting me know not to :flowerforyou:

    Exercise is good for you. I feel amazing after exercising and it definitely gives me an invincible "let's do this again" feeling. If you want to continue to work out go for it - but do it right, eat good, nutritious food, and don't overexert yourself.
  • Chagama
    Chagama Posts: 543 Member
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    "Too much" is any amount you can't recover from.

    So if you're doing X amount of exercise per day, and you begin to feel "run down" and can't complete the same amount of exercise, or can't complete it with the same or intensity, then you're doing to much.
    This one! Listen to your body, it will tell you if you are doing too much.
  • killagb
    killagb Posts: 3,280 Member
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    You need to meet your calorie goals....eat AT them...not below them. Include the extra calories that exercise gives. Netting a negative number is NOT good.
  • gritsinct
    gritsinct Posts: 14 Member
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    If you feel like you want to exercise more, and you have the time and aren't giving up other aspects of life in order to do it - then you should go for it! Just make sure you up the amount of good, nutritious food you eat so that your net for the day is 1200 (or whatever your number is).

    But I would say that if you are just starting to exercise, you might want to see how you feel tomorrow with what you've done today. If you feel OK and still want to do more exercise tomorrow or the next day then do it!

    The main thing to remember is that it is a balancing act. You want to net enough less calories so that you lose weight but not to the point that your body goes into starvation mode.

    Good luck in your journey! :-)

    ETA: looks like several of us were saying the same thing at the same time.
  • Stinalynn121
    Stinalynn121 Posts: 42 Member
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    If you only started yesterday - don't do any more today, you will feel it tomorrow if you can't walk or is so sore and miserable that you don't want to do anything but lie on the couch and eat,,,,
    Go for a walk if you have to much energy, or come over to my place and reorganize my cupboards!:flowerforyou:
    Good luck on your journey!


    I think that may be what is going on, is I am eating, but everything I am eating is healthy, and not junk so I don't wanna just sit on my butt on the couch anymore LOL, I actually want to be up and doing things... unfortunately 2 year old is sleeping, so I will just sit here going stir crazy for now..... :bigsmile:
  • leanmachinedream
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    I think that may be what is going on, is I am eating, but everything I am eating is healthy, and not junk so I don't wanna just sit on my butt on the couch anymore LOL, I actually want to be up and doing things... unfortunately 2 year old is sleeping, so I will just sit here going stir crazy for now..... :bigsmile:

    You're better than I am. My 22 month old has been sleeping for 2 hours and my *kitten* has been on the couch the entire time. I usually exercise at night. :P