Thread: How come after a hour of cardio, it causes diminishing returns and overtraining?

Uh....take it slow, man, weight train four times a week, clean up your diet, do moderate cardio up to three times a week, and you'll be dropping fat slowly and steadily without overtraining and losing any lean muscle that you have underneath the fat. Diet is key. Just look at your diet and clean it up instead of worrying about killing yourself with the cardio. Overtraining is the worst, seriously.

Peace.

Yeah but its just the fact that I am really bored, I have a good diet and I prefer cardio over weight training right now due to the fact that its more convienent and I dont know how many reps to do exactly on weights etc etc.

Weight training is at least 25 times better for you than cardio is in terms of weight loss. Think about it, with cardio you're just burning calories DURING and shortly after your workout, metabolism isn't raised for much longer than that unless you're participating in intense HIIT, which raises lactic acid levels etc. For each pound of muscle you gain that's 50 extra calories burned during the day, even when you're sitting around on your ass doing absolutely nothing. Plus muscle is of course aesthetically appealing. Keep doing insane amounts of cardio and neglect your weight training, and your body is going to adjust to the extreme caloric deficit by storing deposits of fat and sacrificing any muscle that you might already have, leaving you looking 'skinny fat' when the weight does start to come off.

Peace.

Dude I just read your journal and you're 500+ pounds, and only consuming less than 2000 calories? Not to be rude, but your calories need to be MUCH MUCH more than that...your body is going to go in absolute starvation mode now that you're doing this much cardio, I'm 5'10" 175 pounds and maintain my weight at 2500 calories! I understand you're anxious to lose weight, but this needs to be done slowly so you lose quality weight and not destroy your metabolism and lean muscle mass through starvation in the process...

Peace.

Yeah I raised my calories to around 1800-2000 even though I am not used to eating so much, Gosh Dont tell me I have to eat more man... 6 meals a day around 300 calories each is alot of freaking food for me.

Yeah I know that weight training is the best for losing weight, I guess I have to figure out the reps or something... maybe ask the guys at 24 hour fitness hall

Eh, you mean you never used to eat more than 1800 calories a day? Right now I'm eating 2400 calories a day, and I'm still hungry all day long...

Peace.

Nope I always ate around 1300 calories spread out throughout the day but once a week ate around 2300


I was thinking of Doing 1 hour cardio in morning as usual 7 times a week , then 30-45 min of weight training early evening 3 times a week,

That wouldnt be to bad would it?

Why are your cardio sessions so long? How long have you been dieting for? If you do too much cardio too soon your body will naturally adjust...This is why I am worried about your calorie levels being so low and your cardio sessions being so manic, if you do too much too soon your body will adjust to the insanely low calories and high activity level and the weight loss will stop....

And you've been eating 1300 calories a day for years? Whoa, I could never eat taht little food, not even in the last two weeks of my dieting phases...Honestly dude maybe you should go see a nutritionist or a personal trainer before you really embark on this drastic journey and consult them about your metabolism and where you should go from here...

Peace.

No only 1300ish calories this past year, but I would each more calories some days, I had my RMR checked and its around 3200, so it didnt seem to hurt my metabolism to bad.. but now that I am eating alot more I wonder what will happen.


Doing 1 hour cardio every day really doesnt feel like too much, when I do a half hour I swear I feel like doing more. And I DEFINITELY have the energy, Maybe I am just too motivated?

I love my exercise bike, it sucks that the human body has so many limits, I wish it could evolve.

Seriously dude, consult a trainer or a nutritionist and get them to help you out with this, personally I think you're doing WAY too much too soon, slashing your calories so much at your weight seems dangerous to me, especially considering you're doing an hour of cardio every single day, but you probably need the advice of a professional more than you need mine...

Peace.

In my opinion... it's not what you do that's important... it's how consistent you are...

Go ahead and do 2 hours of cardio a day... break it up into 2 sessions... you'll lose weight... the key is making sure you feel ok... if you feel weak or light headed or sick... then change something...

Hell if you want to do 3 hours of cardio a day broken down into 3 sessions... do it... if you don't like the weights, worry about that when you're looking in the mirror and want to add some mass... don't force yourself to do things you don't like, this has to be a lifestyle change... not a cut or a bulking cycle...

I believe you can do as much as you want... but you need to maintain your health while doing so... so work hard... but if you are going extra hard in the gym... make sure you are feeding yourself adequately...

The key is... keep enough nutrients in your body so that you feel good... it's of extreme importance to listen to your body...

Roger, I think next week I am gonna up my food and up my cardio, sitting around the house after 1 hour cardio all day is so boring... see I am homebound on disability.

seriously... you are in a unique situation... you aren't just a few pounds overweight... so your strategy just needs to be dedication... which it sounds like you are definitely on the right track... once a person decides they wanna do something and become consumed by it, nothing can stop them...

My only advice is, since you've had a serious injury... going longer will put more strain on your body... so mix up your cardio... maybe don't do the same cardio exercise every session... try and break it up and maybe start supplementing with some Glucosamine and Chondrotin which will help keep your joints healthy while you are putting all this added strain on them... also, try and keep a decent amount of salt in your diet as that will help you stay hydrated while increasing your volume of cardio

trail, since you are so bored, is there anything else you can do to improve yourself on top of the working out? Maybe take something via correspondence that you have always wanted to learn or take up a really fulfilling hobby?

I know you are very focused on the weight loss right now and you have made great gains, but working out all the time just because you are bored doesn't make sense to me. Why not use the time that you have to improve yourself in other ways - learning new things, trying new activities. You never know what you might be good at and you might find a new profession or something that you love to do. Just a thought. Great men have been created from silly little ideas that come along when you are bored.

- Being consumed by it? I never really thought about it that way... I am really thinking every second about losing fat... my maybe my body will listen to my thoughts and burn more fat for me ! hehe.

- I remember my diet doctor telling me something about alot of the weight on me is liquid, probably 100 pounds of liquid, I never understood if he meant liquid fat or what,


- Ah yes I am gonna take some online college courses pretty soon here, mostly psychology classes.. I only got to do one year of college, before all this happened to me.

Originally posted by trailrix
Yeah but its just the fact that I am really bored, I have a good diet and I prefer cardio over weight training right now due to the fact that its more convienent and I dont know how many reps to do exactly on weights etc etc.

walk!

I dont understand why 1 hour always seems alot to you guys, dont most of you here work out like crazy many hours a day?

I just remember being worked to death when I was in sports, maybe I am wrong.. But back then 3-4 hours of football practice a day made me me sweat constantly.

No, I work-out for about 1 hour per day.

even a pro bodybuilder would not work-out more than 2 hours per day using a split: 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the evening.

I understand completely, I shouldnt stress my body to much... its already stressed with my weight.

I wish I could get a accurate estimation of how many calories I burn per workout, Its pretty intense then weins you off the intensity little by little, its program 1 on the nordictrack SL 720 bike

According to the book burn the fat feed the muscle, I should split up my 1 hour cardio a half a hour each to get the optimum metabolism boost after each workout... maybe I will try that.


6 meals a day at around 1800 calories seems like alot of food to me, but its probably because I been on slimfast for so many months I am not used to eating healthly foods all thru the day.

Slimfast!?!?!? You should invest in some whey protein and some flax oil and replace those slimfast shakes. They are loaded with sugar which hinders fat burning. They should be called slimslow. That would be a great/smart tweak to your nutrition plan.

I apologize. I just read some of your recent posts and realize you are done with that. Good job! Sorry!

Originally posted by blueboy
Slimfast!?!?!? You should invest in some whey protein and some flax oil and replace those slimfast shakes.

He already has.

Originally posted by Premo55
Why are your cardio sessions so long? How long have you been dieting for? If you do too much cardio too soon your body will naturally adjust...This is why I am worried about your calorie levels being so low and your cardio sessions being so manic, if you do too much too soon your body will adjust to the insanely low calories and high activity level and the weight loss will stop....

And you've been eating 1300 calories a day for years? Whoa, I could never eat taht little food, not even in the last two weeks of my dieting phases...Honestly dude maybe you should go see a nutritionist or a personal trainer before you really embark on this drastic journey and consult them about your metabolism and where you should go from here...

Peace.

He needs to adapt slowly here. You can't just start increasing his calories overnight without consequences. Small changes are necessary and as time goes we'll help him increase the food and cut back on the cardio. Baby steps

IMO I agree if you want to do more cardio go for it. Most people do 1 hour but then again most poeple are just doing 1 hour so that they can have a six pack and still be able to cheat every once a while on their normal diet. But one thing I have learned from trying to lose weight is that if your program is ultra hardcore at the beggining you never stick to it more then three weeks not saying you wont stick to your plan but you are human after all. So maybe start of slowly like 30min of cardio for 1 week, 40min for sec, 60 for third and so on until you reach four hours if you want! ... Probably be easier on your body too if your not used to it


Dude have you had your thyroid function tested lately? If you think 2000 cals is a lot something is wrong. Maybe you eat the wrong stuff?

Thyroid test = Good, the only thing wrong with me is overweight and hip pain, which I got overweight from sitting at home doing nothing and eating home cooking and pain from work injury

i just had a look at your journal. bigup to ya for what your working for.

Originally posted by Premo55
Uh....take it slow, man, weight train four times a week, clean up your diet, do moderate cardio up to three times a week, and you'll be dropping fat slowly and steadily without overtraining and losing any lean muscle that you have underneath the fat. Diet is key. Just look at your diet and clean it up instead of worrying about killing yourself with the cardio. Overtraining is the worst, seriously.

Peace.

Exactly!