Q and A: Over Doing it
5 10 2009Hi Kelly,
I need some help. I started about 3 years ago on my weight loss journey. I had never been one to exercise or eat healthy. I found myself the mother of 2 weighing 146lbs at 5′5” tall and miserable.
My husband bought me an elliptical and I started using it. I used it 7 days a week. I initially started at 20mins per day and built up to 30mins/day. I gradually introduced pilates. I would do the Winsor Pilates DVD 3 days a week. By August of that year I was down to 108. I was so excited. I watched what I ate the entire time. I never looked at calories just fat grams. I stop eating fast food, fried foods, dinner rolls, desserts and chips.
I maintained about that weight til around Jan (so approx 1 year after my journey began). At this point I started adding kickboxing in addition to my elliptical. In the Spring of that year I started running. To my dismay the weight started to slowly come back. I did stray from my diet at times. I still don’t eat fast food,fried foods, sodas, etc. I do enjoy an ice cream or dessert with my family on occasion.
Today I weigh 132. I workout hard 6-7 days a week. I run, kickbox, strenght train, cycle, and do pilates. Here is my workout regimine from last week:
Sun: Physique 57- 57 total body workout and ran 4.5 miles
Mon: 45 mins elliptical
Tues: 30min Phys 57 express full body and 60 min kickboxing
Wed: Muscle Pump class (60mins) and 60 min cycle class
Thurs: Phys 57 Arms/Abs booster and 60 min kickboxing class
Friday: Phys 57- 57min workout, ran 4 miles and did 60 min Muscle Pump Class
Sat: Cycle class 60 mins and Phys 57- 57 min DVD
I have calculated my BMR using a calculation on your site. It is 1689.6. If I add in my activity level it comes to 2332 to maintain. So, I guess I need to take in about 18332 to loose 1 lb per week.
Well, I have tried eating more and eating less. I have tried working out more and working out less. I am stumped. I have been platuead at the weight for months. I would like to weigh about 120. I know it is not realistic for me to weigh 108 and be able to maintain it. I am frustrated because on most days I eat extremely healthy and take in around 1700 calories. I jsut don’t know what to do. I have seen a physician and do not have a thyroid issues (I was hopeful), but no easy answere for me.
Do you have any suggestions for me to loose these 10lbs? I enjoy working out and feel bad if I skip a day. My goal is to burn about 500 calories with working out per day; so I generally workout between 1.5-2 hours per day. I need an idea on a workout plan and guidelines for caloric intake? I have increased my protein intake. Is that making me keep the weight on? I know that muscle weighs more than fat, so I am not just going off the scale but my jean size too.
Please help.
thanks,
Jenny
Usually I edit these to make them concise, but i left this one as is, because I think all the parts are important.
The biggest things that stick out to me is unrealistic expectations and over training.
Over training first: you are working out too hard. The only people that need to work out this hard/often are athletes, and even then, their workouts are sports specific. You are pushing your body too hard for too long too often, and its rebelling. Its scared of you, in a sense. When you make your body work that hard, even if you eat enough calories, its not going to respond. You will be able to get through your workouts, but all your processes (metabolism, calorie burn, muscle growth) are going to slow because if it kept up with how hard you were working out, it would lose weight too quickly, causing toxins to build, your muscles and organs would begin to metabolize themselves for fuel (eat themselves) and your bones and connective tissues won’t be strong enough to support your muscle growth. You need to cut it back- especially the cardio. If you drop it down, probably in duration first, you’ll notice a difference.
Expectations: You said you know you dont eat or exercise healthily, and this is pretty apparent. You are as close to being addicted to exercise as you can be (you get nervous when you skip a workout, obsessively cutting out fat grams) 108 is NOT a healthy weight for you. You aren’t going to be able to get to that weight through healthy eating and exercise. 10 pounds is probably doable from where you are now, but it doesn’t sound like you are going to be satisfied when you get there. You CANT workout 7 days a week, your body needs time to rest- especially when you are pushing yourself so hard. Its going to give out on you. You are going to get injuries, and possibly illnesses from it. More is not always better when it comes to your body.
You have to cut yourself a break- working out shouldn’t be your life, and especially not everyday.
Cut back, and you’ll see results, but only as far as is healthy for your body.
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VERY interesting…I’m sure for Jennythis will be hard to do (cut back) when she’s working so hard, but I see your points and it makes sense. How many rest days do you suggest per week, Kelly? Or does it depend?
it depends. I would say to not freak her out, try cutting back to 5 days a week, but if the results dont start showing, maybe cut back to 4. Thats different for everyone, though
Great post, and thank you for addressing this topic. Most of the time we see people not exercising enough, but we often forget about the other side of the spectrum. Here’s some more information about overtraining and exercise addiction: http://www.examiner.com/x-15721-Raleigh-Personal-Training-Examiner~y2009m8d31-Overtraining-are-you-over-doing-it
I’ve seen this happen with some of my friends….they work out ALL the time, yet don’t see results. I used to be a running machine, but now I can’t run and basically just lift and walk. And my body has stayed the same, even gotten a little leaner. It’s amazing how we THINK we need to cardio our hearts out to lose/maintain, but it’s really not true…
“Yikes”
That’s what I said when I read the amount of exercise she’s doing and it’s also probably what her body is saying. If she’s 5′5 and 132 that’s not a bad weight at all….. and a lot of it is probably muscle since she mentioned muscle pump class and pilates.
-A
Hey ! Fellow trainer here. Love your answer and your site.Don’t forget people, muscle builds at rest . Also, working out too much and for long periods of time just increases the bodys cortisol production, which means that it is under stress and which actually makes the body hold on to its fat, especially abdominal fat. An efficient workout doesnt need to be more than 45-60 min and allows you to get great results.
I also wanted to mention It is fine to workout 5-6 days a week but when you dont know how to balance your exercise regimen with a mix of easier-moderate-hard workouts, as well as periodize them, you could end up overtraining and seeing no results. (I am talking from experience here).When you are an advanced exerciser, it is not about knowing alot of exercises and working body parts anymore,you have to eventually look into more advanced methods of training to keep seeing results at one point. Its not like when you are a beginner and the fat just sheds away. And since you are not an athlete with the ressources they have where everything is specific and planned in a scientific way, you shouldnt be working out for those crazy amounts of time.
I rarely comment but I appreciate that you featured that question on the site because I struggled with overtraining and its obvious that is her case. You ll be amazed as you cut back you are going to be leaner. Dont be scared and give it a shot !
I am really glad you featured this because I feel like that is exactly where I was until I got hurt. Now I feel like my workouts are a balance of hard running days, walking days, yoga, sometimes kickboxing etc…. but the mental transition was very hard because I did think that I would gain weight by slowing down. I have not gained anything for sure, but I haven’t really lost by slowing down either.
Something else that might be an option: For me, on days where I “have” to do something, I just go for an easy walk (20 to 30 minutes of a stroll through the neighborhood). It gets you moving without tiring you out or over-stressing your body.
I was at this point a few years ago. I found that I gave up a social life, I couldn’t go off and do things unless I worked out first, and my friend soften had to come to the gym with me to socialize. It was a mess.
Now I’m more sports specific about my workouts. I’m gaining strength and my cardio is amazing and I have a life! lol. I still probably train more then most people would but I am a Martial Artist and a fighter so a lot of what I do is about peaking at certain time or balancing out muscles (or rehab) or general specific training and classes.
When I was training every day for 4 hours a day I was a wreck, now I’m energetic and kick ass. Its amazing what a couple of days of rest (or alternative exercise like bike riding or rock climbing or whatever) can do for the body and the mind.