i am soooo confused!

i have heard the same comment from 3 different people in a week and i NEVER thought i would EVER hear it in regards to me.

is it possible to exercise TOO much?

i exercise for 30 min (cardio-elliptical or stepper) on saturday and sunday. and the for 90 min on mondays thru fridays. i do arm weights on MWF and legs on Tues and Thursday. just added in the legs in past 2 weeks or so.

i drink TONS of water and was eating south beach-ish until mid august when i switched (half heartedly) to calorie counting. by that i mean i am keeping mental list of what i eat and "running tally" but am NOT writing it down.

i went to my doctor on friday and got started back on 2 medications (1 for blood pressure-which annoyed me to no end, lose 30 pounds and it was HIGHER than before! grrr. and one for pms related anxiety). at that appt, he asked if the level of exercise i was doing was "doable" for life. i told him that it was. i have built my schedule around my weihgt loss goal. he did NOT say i should change; just that it was a high level.

on diet; he said calorie counting was difficult because people are not honest with themselves but i should pick what i could do for life and stick with it. he also said i was right on track at about 1.5 pounds loss weekly.

so today i call the pharmacist about some side effects i am having (headache, slight nausea when exercising) that i did NOT have when i took same meds before. he says it is possible i am exercising too much or NOT eating enough?!

and i have NOT lost any weight (no gain either) in september.

so i am totally perplexed,

any and all thoughts, observations or suggestions appreciated.

and here is what i am going to eat today.

alternative bagel with 1 T cream cheese and 2 slices turkey bacon
coffee with sweetner and creamer

3/4 c(about) plain yogurt with 1 T sugar free apricot perserves

celery with 1 T peanut butter

big salad (romaine lettuce, celery, carrots, broccoli slaw mix (dry),cukes, 1 slice pepper jack cheese, 2 slice turkey bacon, 1 hardboiled egg, italian dressing

banana

handful pumpkin seeds

thanks in advance!

That is SO not enough food to sustain the level of exercise that you're doing.

I don't think you're doing too much exercise; I think you're not providing enough nutrients to your body and muscles for the exercise you're doing, especially at your height and weight.

My initial, top of my head calculation for your calories is:
Breakfast - 150
Snack - 120
Lunch - 400
Snack - 80
Snack - 100

That's only a total of 850 calories a day. I'll be generous and round up and say you're getting 1000 calories a day.

I'm not surprised that you have nausea when exercising. Your blood sugar is probably dipping very low as you exert yourself, which will make you feel sick.

At a bare minimum you shoudl be eating 1200 calories a day unless on a medically supervised diet. And at your height/weight, I'd say that you should start looking at 1700-ish calories a day and work down from there.

Seriously, I am 2" shorter than you, weigh 70lb less, and exercise only about 1/2 as much as you do ... and I'm losing weight at 1500 cals.

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I'd call your doctor. It is possible that the blood pressure medication is reacting with the amount of exercise you are doing. Also, I know that it can take several weeks for your body to adjust to the blood pressure meds. My MIL had similar symptoms (for several weeks) when she first started taking bp meds. Perhaps you need to cut back on the exercise just until your body adjusts?

As far as your eating, how many calories per day do you try to eat? Looking at your menu, it looks like just breakfast, snacks, and lunch. Are you adding dinner to that? At 231 lbs, and with all the exercise you do, I'd say you could lose eating 1800 calories per day. So it is possible you aren't eating enough. That said, everyone's body is different and age can be a factor as well, but I certainly wouldn't eat less then 1500 calories, since you'll have nothing to lower to when you get closer to goal.

BTW, I'm about the same height as you and I lose at the 1500 calorie level with no exercise besides walking.

what i am eating today is what i "usually" eat. not every day and not the exact same things but about the same. on somedays i eat more and not exactly healthy things. but overall it is about the same. and i have noticed that the day after i "cheat" or eat something higher calorie---the scale drops and then it goes right back up. not a gain exactly but back to where it was. so i need to eat more?

i really am not ravenous but i am slightly hungry all the time. so i think i will add some almonds to the pumpkin seeds and a protein shake. what is weird is that i feel like i am eating all the freaking time! i eat at every break at work and usually eat breakfast before work.

thanks for the input and i am going to actually write down what i eat for the rest of this week and add it up. i am probably in for a surprise,huh?

AND i am not exercising today!

i feel slightly guilty but i am tired and sore and slightly icky (probably med related). so i am headed to the bathtub to have a long bbath before i go to work.

one day off will not ruin anything.

right? can you tell i am waffling? haha!

I think there's your answer.

I think it would probably be a good idea to strictly track your calories for about a week. See what you really eat. If it's less than 1500 cals a day on a regular basis, then I think you've found the source of your problem.

(And no, one day off will not ruin anything! )
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is scary thought tho.

the eating more thing. and i agree on the tracking calories. i am going to write EVERYTHING down for rest of week (thru friday) and then add up. i think will give me true estimate of how i really eat.

thanks!

Wow, you exercise around 500 minutes a week? That's impressive. I struggle to get to 300 mins/week and the one time I exceeded 400 mins in a single week, I thought I was going to die bc every part of my body hurt.

I think there is such a thing but the routine you described doesn't sound like you'd fall into that category.

and one other thing i have noticed.....i am losing more hair (on my head! ha!) than ever before.

both my doctor and my husband think i am imagining it. but i dont think so. so i am thinking it really is the calories.

lots to think about.....

thanks,guys!

IME, this is definitely a sign that you're not getting enough nutrients. Hair loss is one of the symptoms of an extremely low-fat diet, in fact.

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I lost hair by the handfuls in the shower on a low fat diet in college.

Has the Dr. checked your thyroid? The hair loss could be due to that.

I lost gobs of hair when I went too low-fat, which stopped when I upped my fat to a more "normal" level. It really does sound like you're body is craving nutrients.

FWIW, I try to keep my fat percentage around 25%. At 1500 calories, that works out to about 35g of fat per day.

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