How do you know when you're overtraining?

enyo123
enyo123 Posts: 172 Member
edited December 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I have been working out a fair amount. I do the weight training from ChaLEAN Extreme three days a week. I do the CLX Ab Burner around 4 times a week. I do a Turbo Jam video around 4 times a week, and a Debbie Siebers stretching video (usually Slim and Limber) around 4 times a week. I try to do at least one video a day, and have only missed working out a whole day once due to a migraine keeping me pretty much in bed the whole day.

I take the dogs and/or the kids in the stroller (or the little one in a wrap) on walks through the woods 1-3 times a week, and go to the park with the kids 3-5 times a week.

I didn't think I was overtraining, as I have myself set to sedentary and pretty much eat back my exercise calories... but yesterday, on top of my morning workout, I went shopping with children, and burned about 1000 calories for the day. There was no WAY that I was going to eat back 1000 calories. And I'm not going hungry, either. If I'm hungry, I eat, and I try to make good choices. (Or at least reasonable ones.)

But the scale is yo-yoing, and so are my measurements. Grr. Am I overtraining? Or am I just impatient?

BTW, I'm never actually *sore* after workouts, and even DOM is minimal. I feel good when I work out, and that's why I do it. (The wanting to lose weight is just an aside.) All diaries are open, and I've been pretty sedentary for about 11 months due to pregnancy and recovering from a c-section. My present activity level is right about what it was before I got pregnant with my daughter and had to stop everything because of Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction making it hard to walk. :-P

Thoughts?

Replies

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    If you are feeling good during the workout then you are not overtrained. If you were overtrained then you would feel run down during the workouts and have a general feeling of tiredness the rest of the time.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    I'm not familiar with the workouts on the videos you are referencing and you don't really say how much time this is taking or what the intensity level you are reaching. It seems like a lot though. Symptoms of overtraining don't nessesarily invlove soreness as some of the affect of overtraining has to do with the central nervous system, particularly as it relates to lifting and HIIT.

    Overtraining symptoms can inlcude lethargy and fatigue, reduced resistance to things like colds and allergies. Are you experiencing any of these symptoms?

    Edit to add: Took a quick look at your diary and it looks like you are undereating some days and that you are pretty consistently under your protein goal and over you carb goal. IMHO, your protein macro is the single most important one to hit if very active.
  • kscanuck
    kscanuck Posts: 5
    I agree with Scott. It sure sounds like you are doing lots of exercise, but if you feel generally well, upbeat, and not excessively sore it's probably OK. If you start to feel tired, hopeless or dragged out you are probably overtraining. You should have at least one day a week when you just do "active recovery" such as a walk in the park, bike ride or other non-strenous activity.
  • militarydreams
    militarydreams Posts: 198 Member
    It's a bit like knowing when you're depressed. If you're wondering whether you are or not then you're probably fine :laugh:
  • jenniejengin
    jenniejengin Posts: 784 Member
    bump
  • 202685tracy
    202685tracy Posts: 42 Member
    If you haven't changed your activity level...you need to!

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ Check out this website to make sure you are eating enough cals!
  • enyo123
    enyo123 Posts: 172 Member

    Overtraining symptoms can inlcude lethargy and fatigue, reduced resistance to things like colds and allergies. Are you experiencing any of these symptoms?

    Edit to add: Took a quick look at your diary and it looks like you are undereating some days and that you are pretty consistently under your protein goal and over you carb goal. IMHO, your protein macro is the single most important one to hit if very active.

    Nope, I feel good when I do it, and have been crabby and miserable on the days I don't get an early morning workout in. As for my macros, I adjusted them to 40/30/30 last weekend and am still trying to figure out what to eat to reach those goals. Unfortunately, I'm a carb junkie. ::blushing: I think I just need to live on steak and Brussels sprouts for a couple of days. And figure out how to reduce the carbs in my homemade multigrain bread.

    Thanks, everyone, for the feedback!
  • enyo123
    enyo123 Posts: 172 Member
    If you haven't changed your activity level...you need to!

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ Check out this website to make sure you are eating enough cals!

    According to that site, my BMR is 1440 (100 cal higher than MFP) and my TDEE is 1778, assuming sedentary.

    If I change my activity level, though, does that mean I stop eating back my exercise calories? That's part of the reason that I have it at sedentary: if I have a lazy day and don't get anything done, I am less likely to pig out. And if I have a busy day, I know that I can eat back my calories.

    (Although if I have a day like yesterday and burn off a thousand calories through logged stuff... and I don't log housework since I do that every day... there's no way I'll be able to eat that much back.)
  • 202685tracy
    202685tracy Posts: 42 Member
    O the scooby site, you need to enter your true activity level, so if you workout 5 hours a week you need to use that as your TDEE. In this case you don't eat back your calories. Set you MFP setting to your TDEE minus your 15 or 20%. It doesn't matter if you exercise or not, in theory you should still eat this amount because in the course of the week it all averages out. Meaning one day you may not workout, but on another day, you may burn mega cals, so they average each other.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member

    Overtraining symptoms can inlcude lethargy and fatigue, reduced resistance to things like colds and allergies. Are you experiencing any of these symptoms?

    Edit to add: Took a quick look at your diary and it looks like you are undereating some days and that you are pretty consistently under your protein goal and over you carb goal. IMHO, your protein macro is the single most important one to hit if very active.

    Nope, I feel good when I do it, and have been crabby and miserable on the days I don't get an early morning workout in. As for my macros, I adjusted them to 40/30/30 last weekend and am still trying to figure out what to eat to reach those goals. Unfortunately, I'm a carb junkie. ::blushing: I think I just need to live on steak and Brussels sprouts for a couple of days. And figure out how to reduce the carbs in my homemade multigrain bread.

    Thanks, everyone, for the feedback!

    Hopefully the 40% is protein, if not try something closer to 40/40/20 or 40/35/25. Reducing carbs in your multi-grain bread... As deliscious as your homemade probably is you really need to minimize if not cut-out breads and pasta of any kind. Breads and pasta really are not great carbs. If you like bread then checkout Ezekiel bread.
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