How to tell if you're exercising too much?

Hi everyone,

I posted on a different thread yesterday about how much I'm eating/exercising and when I reread it, I started to wonder if I was over-exercising.  I don't even know if there is such a thing, but since I'm not an expert, I thought it might be wise to ask before I potentially did some damage to myself.  It's probably silly but oh well, I guess I'd rather ask a dumb question than be in the dark.

I'm in college so I typically walk at least a half hour a day going to classes.  Other days, I try to walk more, sometimes an hour - usually at a fairly moderate/leisurely pace.

Almost every day I do a Turbo Jam video; cardio (45 mins) probably 3-4, sometimes 5, times a week and sculpting (40 mins) 2 days a week.  I also do a short abs video (20 mins) almost every day.

I occasionally - maybe 2, 3 times tops a week - run on an elliptical machine/treadmill/bike combination for 30-45 mins in lieu of the cardio video that day.

I'm 22 years old, currently at 152 pounds; I feel healthy when I do these exercises and I don't feel completely wiped out ever, even when I'm a little tired that day.  I'm on a 1200 calorie diet a day, which I stick to very closely because I'm so afraid of accidentally starving myself.  I guess I'm freaked out about possibly compulsively exercising or something, I guess because since so few of my friends exercise at all, I see such a huge gap between them and my own push to exercise almost every day (I take rest days maybe once a week if I need it, I don't kill myself).  I don't have any other friends doing this like me for me to judge my actions off of.

Do I need to worry about working myself too hard, or am I just being silly?  Is that possible?  I know that since I feel good about it maybe I shouldn't worry about it, but I know sometimes a bad habit can only cause problems a long time down the road.

Am I worrying for nothing?

I hope I put this in the right forum; I thought about sticking this in Fitness but since the purpose of my exercise is weight loss I thought it would fit better here.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I'd say that your exercise levels are fine (I work out about 60 min every morning, then sometimes more when i get home from work).  I am also a die hard Turbo Jam fan :) Have you tried Fat Blaster????? If not--you've absolutely got to! It's interval training--it has 4 turbos done once at low intensity so you learn it, then once at the regular high intensity. SO MUCH FUN!  My one recommendation would be to cut down the amt you do the Ab Jam--you shouldn't strength train ANY muscle group every day.  So just do it every other day, or four times a week.

As for your eating--it's way too low.  Given the amount that you're exercising, you should be consuming another 400-500 calories every day.  Sounds scary, I know, but you're worried about starving your body and you probably are.  I'm guessing you're going to burn about 300 calories every time you do a Cardio Party (I'm pretty close to your stats, same age, similar weight, but I don't know your height).  Since I exercise every day, I usually try to eat about 1700-1800 calories.  And I have a desk job--so during the day, I don't move a whole lot.  But 1200 is the minimum number of calories you should have AFTER you subtract the number of calories you burned through exercise.

So try to think about how much exercise you generally do, figure out the burned calorie totals, and add that to 1200.  That'll give you a better idea of how much you should be eating.

Hi Archesophos,

Are those 1200 calories before or after the exercise.  The reason I ask is that a sedentary female should be getting a minimum of 1200 calories per day.  If you are exercising this much, you will probably need to adjust your caloric intake to account for the exercise output.  You don't want to be working with more than a 500 to 700 calorie deficit, or you might end up inexplicably plateauing or gaining weight.  There are a lot of posts about "starvation mode" on these boards that will tell you what can happen if you don't take in enough calories.  Believe me, I know it seems confusing to think that eating too little could sabotage your weight loss, but it definitely happens.

If you haven't done so already, take a few minutes to use the tools on this site.  They can explain to you how to best calculate the number of calories you need per day for your personal activity level.  There is nothing wrong with getting plenty of exercise.  It can be really good for you.  But you need to combine that exercise with proper nutrition to both see results and stay healthy.

Wow, thanks so much for the advice so far.  I didn't realize I was undereating; I guess I misunderstood what I read....

I'll definitely have to readjust so I am eating more, I just hope I don't gain back what I've lost.

I'm really glad I asked.  Thanks so much for your input, guys!

And kiigan, I'll have to find a copy of that Fat Blaster, it does sound like fun and it's probably about time I started changing up my videos anyway!

You shouldn?t gain back what you?ve lost. In fact, if you?re currently stuck, you should find that your weight loss resumes after a little while.

How to tell if you?re exercising too much? Here are some signs:

• your joints hurt a lot, and this doesn?t get better a day or two after a hard session


• your tendons hurt a lot, and this doesn?t get better a day or two after a hard session


• you start to dread working out, and feel like you have to force yourself to do it


• you start sleeping poorly


• you get irritable


• your resting pulse rate begins to climb


• you are tired all the time, and just dread facing each day

These are all signs that you are working your body too hard, while not giving it enough rest. You derive the benefits from exercise (the rebuilding phase) by allowing your body to rest between hard efforts. Rest doesn't have to mean ?complete cessation of exercise,? but it does mean that you can?t go all-out every single day. Some days, you go hard, but then you plan at least one easy day before your next gonzo-hard workout.

If you find yourself really hating your regimen, then BLOW IT OFF FOR JUST ONE DAY AND GO TO BED EARLY. I guarantee you that you will feel better the next day, and you?ll find yourself looking forward to your workout instead of dreading it. On this day, you might take a look at your overall workout schedule, and plan for hard days and easy days, so that you don?t start to burn out again. You might even want to plan to take one day completely OFF each week.

behanna, thank you for this post. i think i have been over-exercising because i can answer yes to nearly every one of those signs.

Today I DID completely blow off my workout because i just couldn't bear to go... but then because i felt so crappy about NOT going, i went totally downhill and just had a 1000+ calorie binge (and i had already over-eaten by 500 calories today, which i earlier thought "aw no big deal since i'm going to the gym later".... but since i didn't go, that's even more excess calories!) This is really making me feel awful, because i've never been a binge eater. I overeat sometimes, but it always feels okay since I know that I have probably worked it off in my workouts. But i've never just sat down and ate until i felt sick! so now i don't know what to do! i feel horrible! but it's too late now to go to the gym tonight! What should i do to get back on track?? Overall i've been needing to make some adjustments anyway because i've been noticing a pattern of eating too many calories by lunch time, and consequently overeating for the day because i've always felt like it would be unhealthy to just blow off dinner to keep within a calorie limit. So basically i see tonight as my body's cry for help... it's telling me i need to get back on track... to eating a comfortable 1400-1900 calories per day... instead of 1900 calories of nutritious foods plus another 1000 calories of junk to top it off (which is what i did today). But i have no idea how to get back on track! My stomach hurts so bad from stuffing myself just now, and i can't get past how awful i feel. Help please...

sorry archesophos... i didn't mean to hijack your thread. your post just helped me to realize that perhaps i've been overworking myself and my body is starving because of it. I'm a college student too, so i can relate.

As I've mentioned in another post, I think I've been having the same problem.  My calorie intake has been too low and my workouts have been too tough.  I need 2000 cal to maintain my current weight (for my age, muscle weight, etc., I really "do" need 2000 cal per day where as some people need less and others need more) and use my workouts to burn up 300 of those cal.  For a while, it was working and I dropped 6 kg (13.2 lbs), but for the last two weeks of the same exact efforts, I've lost nothing... actually, I've gained a little (0.5 kg).  So, I'm going to eat more and aim for a 300 cal deficit per day as opposed to the 500-600 cal deficit I've been hitting.  I hope it works. 

behanna is right -- you can suffer burnout and/or injuries from too much exercise.

and you also have to consider -- can I maintain this exercise level for the long-term?  If you have to slow down quite a bit, you are going to see some weight gain, simply because you will not be burning nearly as much doing exercise.

I think it's reasonable to look to the long-term and ask, what can I reasonably expect to maintain throughout my life.   It's better to do less for the long-term, than to do more and burn out.  it's the tortoise that won the race, not the hare. 

You may want to keep the intensity level in your workouts, just give yourself a day off in between.  that will give your muscles and joints a chance to rest. 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone again for all the input.

I'm certain that I'm not overexercising; I usually feel really good about exercising and when I'm totally whooped, I give myself some time off.  I'm sort of learning that more than exercise, I need to watch my caloric intake, so I suppose we each have something to work on!

behanna and manewell -  thanks so much for those tips.  That's something really good I can think about when I might want to get a little overzealous.  :)

awigen, it's all good.  It's sort of nice to know that there are others in the same boat, you know?  Sometimes I'm shocked at how much I don't know about this stuff, and when I find out others are dealing with it too, it really helps.  Makes me feel better and helps me stay motivated - cause you know, if you can do it, then I can too!

dj_sardaukar - I started a thread about this today actually, and bigtwinky offered some helpful advice if you're trying to figure out the balance between calories in and out - it helped me, maybe it will help you!  :)  http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/2828 7.html

You need to work out more, not less.  You're in college for crying out loud.  Try for 1.5 hours of rigorous activity a day, 5 to 6 days a week.  Crunching abs doesn't count... find an exercise that crunches abs and somthing else.  If you weight train... train standing up.

You are going to look awesome in a wedding dress.

legaleli, she's already doing 45 minutes of cardio per day. That's plenty for someone who isn't training for some kind of competition.

awigen, don't beat yourself up too much. You went overboard by 1500 calories on one particular day. Big deal. Get back on the horse the next day and don't look back.

Some days, I plan for a two-hour bike ride (that burns 1500-1800 calories, depending upon intensity), and I eat accordingly, then for some reason, I end up not doing it (get stuck at work, decide to spend some extra time with my son and then it's dark outside and I just can't *STAND* to ride indoors on the trainer one more day that week, etc.). It happens. I'm not happy about it, but I don't let it become a pattern.

On the average, over the long haul, you'll get there. Don't give up on yourself.

legaleli, on an average day I work out between 45-60 mins, but never less than 30 mins unless it's a rest day.  I'd love to work out more, but between my classes, getting ready for a wedding, extracurriculars, and two jobs, I just can't fit in an hour an a half of exercise a day, unless I skip out on sleeping, which isn't a good idea at all!

Hopefully when I graduate and start a new job, I will have more time and then I can take your advice!  :)