How much is too much?

How much is too much cardio exercise?

when your caloric deficit is greater than 800 cals, roughly.

Wait. Hold on. I disagree, saro.
My caloric deficit is roughly 1,000 - 1,100 calories, but that's because I'm a BIG guy.

I think it's too much cardio when it's a hassle to maintain. The right amount of cardio is different for each person... maybe you can run 2 hours. Maybe you can walk for half an hour.

Really, I think it's a food thing. If you're burning more calories than you're eating, that's a problem. Otherwise, go nuts. :)

I read somewhere that when you burn more than 3500 calories/week, the benefits to your health cease and the risks increase. I'm not sure if it's true, though. When people train for marathons, I'd imagine that they'd burn way more than that...

Yeah, I don't agree with the 800 either.  I'm regularly over 1000
in deficit.  Too much cardio is too much when you start getting
dizzy or horribly out of breath.  You are doing yourself no good
when that happens.   Cardio is a good thing, its ok to do it in
excess (as long as youre not killing yourself) :-P

Too much cardio for what?

See, the thing is, there isn't one straight answer that works for every body.

I'm fairly active.  I do at least 45 minutes of cardio every day, usually over an hour.  But if my deficit is greater than 800, I stall and don't lose anything.

I learned this by trial and error. It caused me a lot of stress when I was working out and eating right, but not losing.  I enjoy working out and didn't want to cut back, so I started eating more.

That works for me.  But as you see from the posts above, it's not universal.  Try pacing yourself according to what feels comfortable and look for the results.  If it's working *bingo* keep it up.  If it's not, mix up the formula.

eh... i said roughly, folks.  It's all a matter of ballparking.

It definitely depends on the person, but the main thing is that the activity is being adequately fueled by sufficient calories. So a professional athlete is definitely burning more than 800 calories per day, but she will be eating enough to maintain that kind of activity level.

I agree with hkellick, that cardio (or any workout for that matter) shouldn't become a hassle to maintain in your daily life. So, if you work 8 hour days, two hours on the treadmill would be a sacrifice of valuable leisure time (not even touching the even more valuable sleeping time).

The 800 calorie deficit comes into play when you total up a whole day of eating and exercise. For example, today I swam and burned 700 calories. Add that to my maintanence calories and I burned a total of 2700 calories today. So I will eat around 1900-2000 calories! I think cardio becomes too much when you can't eat enough to account for it and keep your body healthy.

ok I'm new to this site. How do you work all this stuff out? I just logged in and put in my actual weight and my ideal weight and when I wanted to reach that and the site told me that I should be aiming for 1500 calories per day. I have no idea how many calories I should eat to maintain my body weight! I exercised this morning and burnt 699 calories what do I do with this information?

I've always heard to keep it under 45 minutes.  Any longer than that and you start to get muscle deterioration (or so I've heard).

Hey, coachdee beat me by 4 minutes and said it much more eloquently than I but at least I wasnt completely in left field :)

When I was younger and had no children, I'd spend Saturday being active.  I would climb a mountain for about an hour, go do aerobics classes (kickboxing & step) at gym for 3 hours.  Then run 1/2 hour.  Then I'd walk downtown with dog for a couple of hours.

So, although I'm doing a lot of cardio, the intensity is varied and the muscles used is varied.  I don't think I was doing anything that would make me.. what did you call it.. catabolic?  But maybe I was.  I thought I was doing a good job!  I did also eat very healthy and drank lots of water.  Then the children come.....

I read a great book which basically said everything Coach Dee mentioned. The book is called Eating For Life by Bill Phillips.

Just wanted to mention something interesting I read in regards to cardio and working out as well: You do not build muscle WHILE you are working out/doing cardio/lifting. You break down the muscles then, and your muscles only get bigger during your rest days. When the muscles heal themselves FROM the workout, that's when they become bigger/stronger.

So make sure you are having your rest days!

Yes... that is a decent book.  I would recommend it as reading for all, but the exercise and diet part I do not for anyone who is currently obese or new to exercise training.  I've read his book, and it is one that I would actually recommend.

:)

I spend a lot of my life doing cardio stuff, but that's because it's my thing it's what I enjoy. I hate weight training and going to the gym BUT I am overweight (not massively but I am bigger than I should be), and when I weight train my excess weight drops off so I reckon that coachdee is talking a lot of sense.

gemini1681 is correct with the quote from the book.  Your muscles are actually torn at the microscopic level during weight training and rebuild themselves during the next day to day and a half of rest and that is when they tone and build.  That is why it is best to only weight train the same muscles every other day but you can do cardio daily.  It is best to consume some easily digestable protein within an hour after a workout to give them the fuel needed to start rebuilding and then some more complex protein later on to continue the build.  Post work-out is actually a good time for some simple carbohydrates (the sin!) because you need to get your blood sugar level back up a bit after working out.  So if you are one that has a weakness for simple carbs (bread, etc) that is the best time to consume some (in moderation of course).

I know this conversation has swayed a bit from the original question about cardio, but it seems to be engrained in the majority of people that cardio is only way to reduce fat/weight.  Yes, you need to do it but you also need to do weight training in addition for the best results.  Most women are also afraid they are going to get "buff" from weight training, but genetically most women cannot get the large muscles without A LOT of hardcore weight training.  Instead, they add lean muscle which makes them look toner while increasing their metabolism at the same time which helps burn the fat even when not working out or doing cardio.