Someone suggested to me in another post that I might be on my way to overtraining and that my body would stop wanting to give up fat. Can someone explain this in more detail to me and maybe even give me some links about it. I'm trying to do everything efficently. For example, I'm one of those who believes in eating as many cals as possible for your body to still lose weight and at 162 lbs I'm still losing weight at 1600-1800 cals a day. I attribute this to the fact that I've always done this and I've helped my metabolism this way. Although I'm perfectly happy doing 40-60 mins of cardio and 15-30 mins of free weight 5xs a week with 2 rest days maybe that's not what is best for my body. I'm a little new the specifics of fitness, I've worked out in one form or another for most of my life, but I've never put much thought into what I was doing. Can someone enlighten me. Thanks.

Speaking as a personal trainer, I wouldn't call your schedule overtraining. You're doing 55 to 90 minutes a day, five days a week, of combined cardio and weights. That's right in line with most recommendations for weight loss.

I typically do more than that myself for maintenance, but I'm older and it's more challenging to keep the weight off at my age. I do about an hour of cardio a day and lift five days a week.

Keep up the good work -- it sounds like a great plan! If you're going to tweak anything, add more time to your weightlifting. It will really pay off with a tighter, smaller body as you get closer to goal.

I would check out this information from the American College of Sports Medicine for guidelines about weight loss and exercise. It's eye opening because it basically says the more exercise, the better.

http://sportsinjuries.suite101.com/a...or_weight_loss

Times have changed. When I was young, they used to say 20 minutes of exercise, 3x a week is fine. Now it looks like we are supposed to do a significant amount of exercise every single day.

As for overtraining, it has happened to me, but I was running 6-7 days a week for an hour at a time. My long runs were 10+ miles. The symptoms I had were depression, confusion, and weight loss (not good weight loss). I took a rest from running and in a few days I was back to normal. I was doing too much of the same exercise and not resting. But I think what creates overtraining is different for people.

Hope this helps.

My suggestion would be to slash some of the walking/running and increase the time spent with weights.

I would like to do more lifting, but not having access to the gym when I workout makes that pretty tough. I just starting incorporating free weights, but I have a little trouble focusing and know what exercises to do. Machines usually take all the guess work out of it for me. I guess I should start reseaching types of exercises I can do with my weights and balance ball.

Interesting article. I thought that muscle training did contribute to weight loss because muscle burns more cals than fat...the article didn't really get into that though.

For women, muscle mass isn't increased significantly through strength training. So trying to build mass to lose weight isn't going to work.

But strength training is good for the body, helps the bones, and preserves the muscle we do have. I am appalled at how much muscle I have lost simply through age.

I think your workout plan is good. If you want more results from weights, you might want to do it only 2 - 3 times a week, increase the weight, and reduce the reps. A trainer at a gym can help you.

To freshen up your cardio, you can add speedwork, intervals or hill work. You can program the machine to do that or do it the old fashioned way on the street.

For me, it is hard to keep building my exercise program. I get lazy and want to do less, but for me to get fitter, I have to keep at it.

Thanks, ncuneo, for asking this question, as I'd wondered about "overtraining" also.

This comment from the article was enlightening for me:

"An average of 200 to 300 minutes of exercise per week is needed to maintain weight loss, but more is better when trying to prevent weight re-gain." [My emphasis.]

I've believed for a while that having been obese for years "broke" my natural weight regulation capabilities & because of that, I really have watch what I eat & remain more active than someone who's never been obese. At the same time, I don't want to get into obsessive realm (where I have been before, years ago) and punish my body through overtraining. So it's good to know what's being advised lately as researchers learn more about obesity.

I agree I do not think you are over training at all. Also thank you for the article MOTVATED CHICKIE I am almost 58 and exercise 14 hrs a week. Combined weights and cardio

Thanks everyone. I posted a new workout schedule that I'm going to start next week. Would love some input on it. I feel it's pretty balanced and very doable for me and I'm hoping it will help get these last 10-30 lbs off and keep all of it off for the rest of my life. Thanks!