So this is possibly a stupid question, but I'm wondering if I'm exercising too much.
I work out 5-6 times a week for roughly one hour each day (incorporating cardio like treadmill, water aerobics, spinning, etc. and resistance training using machines and body sculpting classes).
It's not that I feel that I am doing more than my body can handle. I was a fairly active person before I started going to the gym and I don't have any health issues. I am typically by far the fattest person in the classes but I don't think that means they're only for thin fit people.
My concern is if I'm doing this much now, does that mean as I weigh less and less, I will have to do more and more exercise, both time-wise and intensity level, to lose and ultimately maintain? Should I ease back a bit now and gradually increase time/intensity? Or am I OK doing what I'm doing? I hope this makes sense!
I don't think a hour 4-6 times a week is too much.
Sorry, that should have read 5-6 times. But yeah, I agree that the time is not too much. What I'm more wondering is the intensity level of my workouts, which are generally higher end (e.g. jogging on the treadmill, keeping up with all the fit people in cycling, etc.) as opposed to walking, water aerobics, etc. Should I take it down a notch to have better results further on down the road, or does pushing myself now not really have an impact on how hard I will have to work later on?
I've done about that much (or more) my entire weight loss and maintenance journey. I do about the same amount of exercise now in maintenance as I did in loss...you can always up the intensity to help up the calorie burn later, if you need to.
A trainer told me that 5-6 times a week was necessary to support weight loss. Not that much is necessary to maintain, but of course everyone has to find out their own level.
The important thing is that you don't do high impact or high stress (which it sounds like you aren't) and that you give your body a chance to rest. Take a day off every two or three days, and make sure that you don't do the same weights two days in a row (meaning, upper body vs. lower body, for example).
Doesn't everyone say weight loss is 80% what you eat and 20% exercise- so by that idea, it is more important what you eat for continuing to lose weight, and you could consider the exercise more important for toning and/or just being a fit healthy person. Props to you for going to the gym so often! I walk everywhere (an hour a day at least) but probably only "work out" 2/3 times a week.
I guess if it's working for you and you are able to maintain that pace then go for it- if it stops working i guess you should reconsider but until then continue kicking some butt in the gym!
No. Any exercise you do now is just going to boost your weight loss. You might not burn/lose as much after you lose a lot but like 'manda said you can always up the intensity. That gives your body time to adjust to working out before pushing it anyway.
Forget what people say about exercise not really mattering much. As long as your food plan is on track it can really help create a better calorie deficit. No it's not magical, and no you can automatically eat what you want... which is what some people think they can do... which is why they make the big fuss about diet being 80 percent. You can cancel out exercise quickly with food... but again if your on track you can double your weight loss with a good exercise plan if you're really putting in a good effort (say an hour a day of moderate effort)
Besides why would you cut back now and lose less weight just so you can add in more later? It would take you longer to get there!
Keep up the great work!
(Edit to add: At your weight I was walking and doing DVDs... usually about an hour a day and given that your slightly taller then I am it means we were carrying about the same amount of excess weight)
They do say it's 80% food and 20% exercise. But that's to drive home the point about how important your food is. If on a given day you had to choose to follow your food plan or exercise, you should follow your food plan. But it doesn't mean that you don't need to exercise. In fact, if you look at the successful maintainers, a very high percentage of them will credit their success and maintenance to exercise.
I think you are doing great! I agree with Amanda. For me the exercise time has stayed about the same, but I have upped the intensity a lot. Some days I will do 10-15 minutes more than normal, just because it feels good. I was moving pretty slow at first because I was very out of shape. You sound like you are in pretty good shape now, you will probably find yourself automatically upping the intensity as it gets easier.
I also wanted to add that it's possible you might not think you would add any exercise time as you get lighter, but as you get more fit that half hour or hour or so you were doing before won't seem like forever like it does when you're on the beginning end.
I remember doing a 30min DVD on one of my first few weeks and the lady said "See how quickly that went by?" and I seriously wanted to throw something at the TV.
Now I can do 2-3 hour bike rides with out thinking twice about it or walk for 5-6 miles at a time and not feel drained.
I agree with the people above that said it's 80% food and 20% exercise. For a couple of months a while back I was exercising like 5 days a week and while I felt a lot better for it, I was also eating nothing but junk food at my job and to be honest even working out that much it was a struggle to even maintain my weight, much less LOSE like I have been now that I've become a healthy eater and controlled myself!
I think the only way you can exercise too much is if you are over training, but I don't think that's likely in 5-6hours (if it is, I'm in trouble!). So long as you are having a rest day every week, and not doing weights on consequetive days, you should be fine, but google overtraining if you're worried.
I think what you're doing is good. You will be leaner than other people your weight, because of the extra muscle, your metabolism will be higher, and you will be less likely to go into starvation mode. Jillian Michaels calls cardio "gravy", as it hard to get too much, and in her last podcast on KFI (you can listen to it on their website) she went through what a "perfect day" for weight loss would look like. She recommends 1hr of high intensity exercise.
Thanks, everyone, for all of the feedback. I really appreciate it and it makes me feel better about what I'm doing. I guess because I've never really done this much regular activity before I was a little unsure if I should take baby steps even if I feel up to taking slightly bigger steps. And to be honest, I think being the only overweight person in some of these classes (let alone morbidly obese) freaked me out a bit and had me wondering if I belonged there yet.
I am thinking of doing a 5K in mid-October. It's a run/walk so I can do that. And I was talking to a friend tonight who mentioned the possibility of doing a tri next year. I feel excited that these are doable goals and not just pipe dreams.
Am I exercising too much?
And to be honest, I think being the only overweight person in some of these classes (let alone morbidly obese) freaked me out a bit and had me wondering if I belonged there yet. 
