could I be excersizing too much?

[penny10]

I am trying to lose a few pounds and lean out(get thinner not more muscular) I do 50 min pilates 5 days a week, run 2 miles everyday, and to plyometrics or boxing or dancing 30 5 days a week. Which is a over 2 hrs excersize 5 days a week and one on the weekends. I consume between 900 and 1100 calories a day, all with healthy foods. I cannot figure out why I cannot lose weight. It seems like my legs and thighs are getting huge!!! should I cut out the running and do yoga? Is there a cardio work out without legs out there besides rowing (cant do that at home:) HELP concidering eating less, and I dont think that is the answer either..

[NorcoQueenoftheUniverse]

Moderation is the key....

[Barb135]

Thank you Norco -- it's mostly common sense and I always have a little "hope" in my mind that I might be able to help someone who's a lot younger than me, to keep from making the same mistakes I did.  

All things in moderation.  

[NorcoQueenoftheUniverse]

Great post Barb.. lots of good info and reality in there..

You're my hero!

[Barb135]

I should do this as a separate post or journal entry, but I want to do it here because I don't want this to escalate any further.  

We are not here to diagnose anyone's problems -- we are here to ask questions and help each other reach realistic goals - maybe even to FIND realistic goals.  

Turns out that sometimes we don't always have a "true" picture in our minds of what we should look like.  I've been there -- read on....

We all have a vision in our mind of what we think we should look like.  I've never been able to figure out where MY vision came from, except that I recall as a child/teenager, my mother's favorite thing to say was "stand up straight and suck in your gut".  I learned to do that because if I didn't, I'd often get a finger "nudged" into my stomach, sometimes it was just the finger, with no words - that meant I was slouching and my stomach was sticking out -- it became something of a "badge of honor" to have a  firm, flat stomach.  

Then we see the models in the catalogs and magazines who are "stick thin" and we begin to think we should look like they do........for the majority of us that isn't possible.  I'm 5' tall -- there's no way I can ever remotely resemble someone who is 5'5" or taller -- it's not going to happen, but seeing someone that tall in an outfit that I liked was enough to get me excited, though when I went to the store and put on that same outfit - it didn't look the same on me as it did on the model/mannequin......well, bust my buttons -- I wonder why.   I passed up a lot of cute things because I believed that because I wasn't tall and skinny, it didn't look right; instead, it made me look short and frumpy -- well, sometimes I was right, but sometimes I just had to take a chance because they never have short mannequins - like there's something WRONG with being short.  Over the years, I brought home a lot of clothes that I never wore.... Good Will loves me.....lol

I spent many years "preserving" my flat stomach and keeping my weight in the "tiny" range, because one either has to be tall and willowy or short and tiny in order to be attractive, right?  I'm only 5' tall with a small frame, so there's not way I could ever come off as "tall and willowy", even with the highest of heels - that leaves "tiny".  

Well, even though age began creeping up on me, I still managed to stay "tiny".  Then - I believe when I was right around 40, all of a sudden my weight took a jump -- and I was no longer tiny, I was "chubby".  Then marital problems, etc -- and all of a sudden, I dropped everything I'd gained, plus some........move ahead a couple years - another episode of gain/lose.... couple years down the road, it reversed and I lost -- to the point of being 45 yrs old and weighing 72 pounds.......I struggled for years to get back to something "normal", then I finally did -- I was at a weight that I loved --- 50 yrs old, 5' tall and 107-110 pounds -- I looked good, was self confident, my self esteem soared and for the most part I felt good, except that I was tired all the time, but I've been tired since I was 20 yrs old, so that was nothing new...

Anyway -- I maintained my < 110 pounds for a few yrs, then all of a sudden in early 2007 (I would have been 57) I began packing on pounds like there was no tomorrow and I went from "looking good comfortable" straight to fat in a matter of 2-3 months; and it didn't matter whether I starved or not, exercised or not -- those pounds were determined to keep coming........begging my doctor for help only resulted in his sneeringly telling me to  "eat less and MOVE MORE" in spite of the fact that I was eating < 1000 calories/day and walked anywhere from 3-10 mpd, plus the physical requirements of my job (lifting, pulling, pushing, etc) AND working out for an  hour after I got home in the evening...... how crushing was THAT??  

As it turned out -- I have hypothyroidism, which some of you are aware of......it's not an easy thing to deal with and even after 18+ months of med that is "supposed" to get my metabolism back to "normal", I still have not been able to get rid of those 30+ pounds that I gained in such a short time..........I continue to struggle, research, etc.....this struggle is what brought me to Med Help in the first place.  

Over the past 18+ months I have gradually had to learn that the "image" I had in mind for my body was no longer realistic....AND the hardest part was having to learn that some of the things I did to my body as a young woman quite possibly contributed to some of the problems I now have.  

Do I plan to stay at my current 5' tall, 145 pounds?? Not by a long shot --- I will continue to struggle to get rid of a lot of the pounds.  A realistic weight for my height/age is 124 --- to me that seems high, but am I being realistic?  Probably not.  

At least I can strive for that.  Maybe WHEN I get to 124 pounds, I will find that to be a comfortable weight for me...........

I ask that anyone reading this, please take stock; you will only ever have the body you live in now, so please take care of it to the best of your ability.  I certainly wish I had.  

[penny10]

whoa there girls- I was just seeing if anyone else had a nother perspective. I am not doing the criticizing. I was not accused of having body image problems..... maybe my putting the question out there was a way of finding some advice, not to be diagnosed. NEVERMIND THEN.

[NorcoQueenoftheUniverse]

Try not to be so critical of yourself and others.... We are only out here to help you

[penny10]

i wont bother you than-you responded to my post, so ........??
I was just seeing if any one else would have any other advice. sorry about your situation, but I was just getting a better idea of mine-  maybe I do have body issues, I might have to address that.
thanks anyway:(

[Barb135]

I think we've been through this before, Penny.

In my opinion, you can either slow down on all of the exercise or increase your calorie intake.  You can not lose weight when your body is in starvation mode - thinking that there isn't going to be enough calories - it will continue to hold onto the fat you have.  If you give it more calories it might begin to let go of some fat, but it seems that with all the exercise you do, there is no excess fat -- you have to be almost all muscle.  

I know you don't believe what I'm saying, so I can't help but wonder if you have a distorted view of your body image.  Personally, I would love to be 5'11' and 140 lbs rather than my 5" 0" and 145 pounds..... be thankful you don't have thyroid issues like I do...........

[penny10]

ive eaten this way for years-You think I would have lost weight,... it does not make sense to me- should I slow down on the exersize as well? In your opinion

[Barb135]

It's most likely a combination of all of them, along with not eating enough calories.  I entered your data - age, weight, height and activity level (intense) and here's the calorie needs that calculated:

RESULTS - GUIDELINE ONLY
Maintenance:   2566 Calories/day
Fat Loss:   2053 Calories/day
Extreme Fat Loss:   1540 Calories/day

So you see, even for "extreme fat loss" for your age, height and weight, you are not eating nearly enough calories.  

[penny10]

i am 5'11'', 140- I mentioned that I do all of those kinds of exercizes-differnt days- I make sure i get 2 1/2 hrs in-could running too much be bulking me?

[Barb135]

Yes, you can exercise too much.  First off, I don't know how tall you are or what your current weight, but it doesn't look like you are eating enough calories for all the exercise you are doing and your body is most likely in starvation mode, trying to hang onto as many calories as it can.  

Yoga is excellent for helping to lengthen and lean out the muscles.  I strongly recommend the dvd "The Biggest Loser - Yoga for Weight Loss".  

You also need to change around your exercise routine -- if you are doing the same things every day, your body gets used to it and it's no longer a challenge.