Can I exercise too much?
 

Hi,

this is my first post. I've been on diet for two weeks, and I'm losing 2 pounds/week so far. I tried many diets but none of them really worked, until I actually started counting the calories!

I am making a deficit of 1000 calories/day, and that's letting me lose around 2 pounds every week. I still have like 40 pounds to lose.

Now my question is this:

I am consuming around 1500 calories every day now on my diet plan, but I do not exercise at all. I'd love to lose more weight by adding exercise to my plan.

Let's assume I'll exercise to burn another 1000 calories everyday, and that I eat the same 1500 calories everyday... that will mean the Net I'll be eating after exercise will be around 500 calories.

Is this a bad thing to do? Should I eat back the amount of calories I burned during exercise?

If you think it's wrong, then what's the idea behind exercising if I'm going to eat back the calories burned? Wouldn't that mean that exercise won't be necessary in this case?

I hope you guys explain this to me because I'm really not sure what to do. I am so excited that I want to lose and more... If you know that feeling :")

Thanks.

#1 500 calories in your body is starvation so yes it's bad for you. #2 Either cut back exercise or eat them back. #3 Too much exercise can lead to dehydration and cramping and I am sure other discomforts.

I hope this you out :)

Hi,

yes it helps. So do you mean it's better not to exercise in my case?

I really don't understand why would I exercise then eat, if that's not gonna make me lose more weight. I don't feel the desire to eat since I started my diet and started seeing some results after years of failure.

Thanks.

Well you can exersize out about 300 calories but trust me that's plenty to lose weight. You don't need to excercise so much to lose weight-just be a little more patient :)

It's very hard to burn 1000 calories a day with exercise, I avg burn 400-650 calories burn, I suppose 1000 is possible but you should get a heart rate monitor to see exactly what you're burning.

I want to add don't put your self in a position like me. Believe it or not way over exercising is considered to be a type of anorexia. I used to be anorexic a year ago and this week (look in the "weight loss support" section to read more-if your interested) I starved my for three days-400-550 calories deficit. Trust me it's not worth it.

Thanks everyone for your help on this :)

I don't think anyone would say that :-) It's really hard to out-exercise poor eating habits, so the best thing to do to lose weight is do what you're doing--eat at a caloric deficit.

However, exercise is a good idea for so many reasons--your heart, your strength, your energy levels, your mood....

So, yes, I think you should exercise. That could be a 30 minute walk--it doesn't have to be an intense insanity workout in order to get the health benefits of exercise.

As for eating back your calories, it depends on you and whether you need to.

As an example, I aim for a net of 1260 and I do eat back my exercise calories. I generally burn 200-250 calories a day by walking (and will resume doing that as soon as the podiatrist says I can). Because of that, I generally eat 1400-1500 calories--and that works for me. By "works for me", I mean that I am losing weight, I feel good, I have enough energy, and I'm not hungry all the time.

However, 1400-1500 calories a day would still be a deficit for me and I'd still be losing weight. I haven't walked in 4 weeks--and I've lost weight during those 5 weeks despite being completely sedentary for 3 of them.

It all depends on how you want to think about it. The following two are really the same thing.

1) I aim for a net of 1260 and eat back 200-250 calories of exercise
2) I am for 1450-1500 and don't eat anything back

So, yes, start an exercise program, but don't expect it to burn more than a couple of hundred calories a day.

TeaMaker, a couple years ago I was eating 1200 calories a day and working out 3 to 5 hours a day. An hour minimum on the elliptical machine at 11 resistance I could burn 650 calories. Then I would jump on the treadmill for an hour and just walk. I then went to weights, and then after dinner would go for a walk walking 4 to 8 miles every evening. I lost a LOT of weight fast. Then I got sick and couldn't workout for a couple months. I lost ALL the muscle I worked so hard for and gained weight back rapidly fast. As wolfgirl said it is a form of anorexia. I later found out I had fibromyalgia and there is a possibility I brought it on myself. By not getting the nutrition I needed I weakened my immune system. I will be on medication the rest of my life and I hurt everyday.

Exercise is good but be careful not to over do it and make sure you eat plenty to replenish yourself.

Definitely add in excercise, but don't expect to have a 1000 cal. additional defecit. That's way high for someone who hasn't been excercising regularly. Running constantly a 175lb person burns about 700 cal. in an hour. If you don't run, running for an hour is WAY too much. Start small, don't worry too much about the calorie defecit from excercize. Aim for fitness.

Personally, I maintain weight (with a daily half run half walk of about 2 miles) at around 1600-1700 calories because I have a sluggish metabolism. If I cut to around 1300 calories I'm usually losing weight at a decent pace without being to hungry, although weight loss ranges from 1 to 3 pounds a week. Just try to figure out what works for you without being excessive in your weight loss goals.