How much excercise is too much?

[rdk211 1]

Hi!

I am currently doing 150 minutes of excercise a day. It just is the amount that feels right to me in terms of raising my energy level. BUT, I once read that after a certain point, there is a "law of diminishing returns" when it comes to excercise - meaning that more does not add anything to cardiovascular health or weight loss.

Does anyone know at what level more excercise is just pointless? 150 minutes seems excessive to me (although I love it when I'm doing it) but I'm losing really slowly. (and yes, I do track calories, am following nutritionist recommendations, but am not at my "sweet spot" yet. I have a fill set up in 2 weeks.)

So, here are my questions:

1) does anyone know if there's a point beyond which there's no added benefit to excercise?

2) is it dangerous to excercise for more than 2 hours a day?

rdk211:huh2:

31 y/o, "almost" 5 feet tall

Surgery 7/1/08

Highest 215

Day of Surgery 211

Current 184.8

Goal 115

Edited November 6, 2008 by rdk211

[blocka 0]

Any exercise is better than none and as long as you are enjoying it and not over exhausting yourself then i don't see that there would be a problem. if you are really worried break it up into blocks of 30minutes or maybe try HIIT, I'm almost positive you won't be able to do 150minutes if you are doing Interval Training

[Jachut 487]

I think as a general rule, you'd find a lot of trainers say that any more than an hour of cardio is really a waste of time. I know I've never really seen great returns for running for an hour and a quarter as opposed to fifty minutes and now that maintenance is the goal, not weight loss, I tend to do about 40-45 minute long runs.

But if its something you ENJOY, theh its not a waste of time, other than things like my concern with running is that to run for an hour and a half every day would be enjoyable to me becuase I love it. But the levels of pain and injury I suffer increase a lot with that kind of workload. I'd be better to keep up my running and add weights.

If you're mixing it up and doing cardio and strength training, then you could easily spend two hours or so a day working out, with a good run and some attention on chest/back one day/ legs and arms another kind of thing.

And if you chose to walk for an hour on top of that, well how can that hurt? As long as you dont start to feel that you're overtraining - not sleeping, not performing well, getting sick etc.

It depends on intensity too of course, yes, interval training, boy, I'm whacked after 45 minutes of that, no way could i do 3 hours. Or run a half marathon every day.

[rdk211 1]

Jachut-

You really lost big! Do you feel that getting "into" excercise is what helped you do that?

My problem is that I am a tiny woman - barely five feet, and the weight just comes off so slow, I want to speed it up.

The excercise I do is my elliptical. I do interval training. I don't do weight lifting yet (I am scheduled with a trainer for December, I'm scared to lift without her, even though I own a state of the art weight stack)

Right now, I lose an avg. of 3/4 lb a week.

I think I am replacing the "high" I get from food with a "high" from excercise.

It also helps that I made a rule - No electronic media (read, DVDs etc.) without being on the elliptical.

Do you think the extra hour of excercise is just wasted time? (Like the extra Vitamins you take are just colored urine....)

rdk

[Jachut 487]

Hmmmm, like I said, it depends on the intensity.

I found interval training GREAT for weight loss and the value of running over walking made a huge difference for me too - I honestly dont believe that old work in your fat burning heart rate range for maximum fat loss. Baloney. Work harder and smarter, it works.

But that said, you only need a relatively short session of hard work - 45 minutes is plenty. If you're just turning over the pedals whilst watching TV then you're not wasting your time, incidental exercise is a big part of our own personal metabolisms, most really thin people dont spend a lot of time sitting still. But by the same token, easy slow exercise isnt going to make the weight literally fall off you either.

If you're tiny, 3/4 of a pound a week might be realistic. Honestly, I didnt lose any faster than that. I took 2 years to get my almost 100lb off.

But everyone is different - you can only try it. Dont do it for a week or two and see what happens. You also have to think - is it realistic long term. I know I decided to run because I thought 8 kms a day would be great, but I dont have an hour and a half to walk that. I'm too time poor. I can run it in 50 minutes. Can you really continue with 150 minutes of exercise a day long term?

But yes, I credit a lot of my success to running. It's definitely the make or break factor between losing ALL your weight or just the 60% average.

[losingjusme 12]

jacqui,

question about what you consider 'interval' training...

do you consider it doing cardio at a rather intense level, get off, do weight/resistance training (1 set of 1 machine), back to cardio, another weight/resistance (different machine), cardio, etc...

or

on cardio at level X intensity then for 45 secs (or so) do level X+5?

not that i can do it right now, but...

[Jachut 487]

Long time no speak LJM!

I'd consider using cardio machines alternating with weight machies circuit training and cardio with intense bursts interval training.

I *try* to both. But it hurts, lol. My new form of laziness is to just go for an easy run and listen to music, lol. And a really ultra lazy day is to do an 8km walk instead of running it!

[losingjusme 12]

8 KM is FAR from lazy!! i hate to admit i havent really exercised much since a 5K run in June

sure, i've gone on the dreadmill a couple (ok, 1-2 maybe) times, but nothing serious...

once this baby comes, im going to need to really step it up in high gear again.

[Jachut 487]

I used to see this pregnant chick running around here and it astounded me. I couldnt do much when I was pregnant, in the first three months I was soooooo exhausted and then after that any physical stuff gave me wicked braxton hicks and I'd want to go to the toilet about fifty times - to the point of squatting in people's front bushes, and my back would play up. Then in the last three months, I'd get SO dizzy, i'd get tunnel vision and the ground would tilt etc. I say dont worry about it until the baby is born.

I know 8kms isnt lazy, it just astounds me how much my outlook has changed. But you know what they say about a habit taking six weeks to cement, that's complete bullshit, this has taken me three YEARS. But honestly now, I am fit enough and so used to the routine of exercise that I really do think "oh, its 35 degrees celcius today and I'm tired, I think I'll just walk the 8kms" and it really FEELS like I'm slacking, lol.

It really is that hot here today too!

[4crazyboys 0]

It is hard to figure out how much exercise is too much. Usually your body will let you know. If you start having lots of aches, pains, injuries, fatigue, etc., then you know you are doing too much. Exercise is really a balancing act. You may be able to do cardio for a extended period of time, but you really need to pay attention to your heart rate to know if you are doing what you intend. What I mean is, if you aren't getting your heart rate up, you may be only 3-5 calories per minute, but if you really work up a sweat, you may be burning 10-12 calories per minute. A calorie burned is a calorie burned, we need to get rid of them however we can. But you can work harder for a shorter period of time and burn the same amount as you may be doing in 150 minutes. If you are trying to do your heart some good you really need to be somewhere between 60-75% of your max heart rate. You need to stress that heart muscle to make it stronger. You can find charts listing your heart rate everywhere in the gym and on the internet. I'm sure I have made this clear as mud and haven't helped much. I do have a degree in kinesiology (similar to exercise physiology ) so I have done alot of study of this and I don't think there is a simple answer to this question.