I started with two 20 minute work outs twice a day, morning and evening for a couple days. Then I finally moved on to about 30-40 minutes of exercise whenever, either in one setting or broken up into two workouts, again in the morning and evening. Then I moved on to 40-60 minute work outs. The 60 minute work outs are my Richard Simmons tape, and I don't do it very often, maybe once a week, possibly two times if I'm bored.

I try to exercise every single day, but I'm willing to take a day off if I feel like I need one. I had to take a day off yesterday because I was so sore. This is an example from the last few days (I've been doing this for 11 days now):

1 day: 32 min of walking/joggong, 2 hours of walking around the store, 60 minute dance tape.
2 day: 20 minutes of HIIT on exercise bike, 31 min of WATP.
3 day: 7 WATP miles, 60 min dance tape.
4 day: 8 min jump rope, 20 min WATP with 8 minute cool down, basic full body weight lifting 2 reps of 10.

I think I might be working it a little hard, but since I'm not doing this stuff all at the same time, and usually two times a day, I'm not sure. What do you guys think? When i get into the weight loss thing, it's all or nothing with me. :/ Everyone keeps saying I'm doing too much.

yeah - that's too much unless you're in training for ironman or something.

don't do weight training and full-on cardio the same day: one of them will be shortchanged because you've only got "so" much glycogen to spare.

dial it back to once a day and leave one day a week for absolute rest - your body NEEDS that time.

you have to remember that the weight-loss and benefits from weight training do not happen when you are doing the exercise - the benefits happen when you are resting.

when you rest is when your muscles repair and rebuild.

when you work out, okay, fine, you burned, say 250 calories - but you will burn MUCH more than that for the next 24hrs via an increase in your BMR.

if you don't give your body the opportunity to complete the stress-repair-rebuild cycle, you will end up overtrained, overexhausted, and fed up.

I'm so confused--everyone keeps telling me to do cardio after the weight training. My friend said the trainer at the gym told her that. Bah.

If I dial it back now, will my body stall because it's used to working harder?

I don't think it's that bad. How do you feel? I do weights and cardio on the same day (HIIT) for about 90-120 minutes a session. I dialed it back from 5 days to 3 because I was TIRED and midterms were killing me. I'll probably get back to 4 or 5 once things settle down.

Use your body as a guide. If you feel worn down and exhausted dial it back and see if that helps. If you feel good with that amount of exercise, I dont' think it looks excessive.

Every person is different, but my philosophy has been that I need to develop habits I can keep for my entire life. I didn't get fat overnight, I won't get thin overnight. I was willing to put in the time to do it slow and steady and to develop habits I hope to keep until I'm on my deathbed.

So, looking at what you are doing, I would say, for me, that it is too much. I could do that for a few weeks, but I personally couldn't do that for the rest of my life.

The other thing I would worry about - especially if I went from zero exercise to 2 hours plus of exercise is injuries. Again, I would rather slow things down and remain injury free instead of getting waylaid for months because of an overuse or stress injury. I don't know if you went from nothing to all this or not, but if you did, think on that a bit.

I don't feel bad, I feel pretty good actually. I feel like I have more energy, especially when the sun is out.

And @ berryblondeboys, no I don't plan to keep working this hard for the rest of my life. But everyone changes things up once in a while, right? Especially if they have a stall. I just sort of wanted to go into this with a bang. By the end of March or April I doubt I'll still be working as hard, I'll probably have dialed it back to 3-5 days a week. Another reason I'm working so hard and long is I'm bored. I'm unemployed right now and figure it's better to exercise than to sit around on the computer all day.

You do have a point on the injury thing, I'll have to be careful.

if you feel fine with that level of exercise, then i would say go for it...if you aren't unbearable sore or injured

i work out at least 5 days a week, sometimes 6, depending on my schedule with family and work....i alternate days of running...like one day i will run a mile at 5.0 mph and then walk the rest of my 45 minutes at a 15% incline at a pace between 3.0 to 3.8mph...the next day i will run a mile and a half at 5.0 and walk the rest of my 45 minutes, same as above...i was running 2 miles at 4.7 but have recently bumped up the speed...and im not unbearably sore or injured, and i feel an energy boost from it

im planning to get out there and run some 5Ks maybe in the fall so i'm working my way up to being able to run 3 miles at 5.0....im not interested in weight training or other workout variety because i simply will NOT stick with something that doesnt interest me...training for a 5K is what has kept my interest since last fall

I don't think you're overtraining. I think our society has gotten rather lazy but the bottom line is that our bodies were designed to work hard for many hours every day. Our ancestors did it, and many societies across the planet still do. Western civilization has advanced to the point that many people have desk jobs and rarely have to work hard, and so some people are amazed at anyone that works out an hour a day, but in reality our bodies are more than capable.

AMEN!

that's a simplistic way of putting it.

the human frame - IN GENERAL - was designed, let's face it, to hang around the savannah all day with brief flurries of excitement as we headed up the trees and away from the hungry predator.

our ancestors were born to the life.

you're basically saying that anybody and everybody should be able to just leap into a triathlon, no problem.

me, i could get away with going right into weight-training after a week or two acclimatization - but that's because i ahve a previous history as a powerlifter and bodybuilder. the muscles remember and will adapt quickly.

the first time i ever hit the gym, though, it was over a week before i could move without pain and that was just regular DOMS, not even an injury!

If that was directed at me, that is not at all what I was saying. I was saying that our bodies are designed for movement, and for all day activity and it's only been in the last 100 years that this has changed in some parts of the world, particularly in western civilization and more particularly in the United States. Obviously a person has to start slow and get into proper condition, not just jump into an hour a day workout or a marathon. But if someone has worked up to it appropriately, there is no reason they can't work out an hour or more a day. Too many people in our society have become victims of this hogwash that all we need to stay healthy is 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week and that's simply a bare minimum amount that the gov't threw out there because people have gotten so lazy. All it takes to see that more movement is better is to look at the health of people who still move all day long. The Amish communities in the US are far healthier, as a population, than the general population of the US is and studies have shown that Amish women move the equivalent of walking 5 miles a day and the men move the equivalent of walking 10 miles a day. Many European communities such as Scandinavian countries, where riding bicycles everywhere is commonplace, are far healthier. I could name many more examples. Our bodies were designed for movement and the more we move the healthier we are. You are welcome to disagree, but please refrain from putting words in my mouth.

I think you are rockin'!!

The most important thing you wrote is how you feel. Paying attention to your body is the best way to monitor how much activity is too much. You know the difference between muscle soreness and injury. It's OK to work through soreness. It's not OK to work through injury pain.

As far as cardio before or after weights? It really doesn't matter except for what your focus of the day is. If it's general caloric expendature, do what ever you want. If your focus is on strength, do light cardio before as a warm up, hit the weights hard, then finish with cardio work out knowing you'll be fatigued and may not last as long.

If your focus is going a further distance in cardio, then do weights after so your fatigued muscles don't get in the way of your goal.