Overexercising?

Question

My nutritionist said that overexercising has actually slowed down my metabolism and that I need to stop working out so much. Why does your metabolism slow down so much? Do you think once I ease up on the working out and then go back to it in moderation, my metabolism will speed up again?

Has anyone ever had experience with this sort of problem?

I was exercising at least an hour and a half every day of the week, if that helps you to know how much I was working out. It was mostly all cardio activity as well.

Answer 1

Use the ACSM guidelines to prevent overtraining. The American College of Sports Medicine offers guidelines for cardiovascular, flexibility and resistance training. The guidelines are flexible enough to allow you to pick your own exercises but have enough structure to get you going when you first start out. They are pretty easy to follow and will make your workout easier and more efficient.

Beginners Guide to Exercising - http://straighthealth.com/pages/guides/begex.html
Advanced Guide to Exercising - http://straighthealth.com/pages/guides/advex.html
Health, Exercise and Diets - http://straighthealth.com

Answer 2

I have read that 1 pound of muscle requires about 12 times as much energy to maintain than 1 pound of fat. Muscles under stress burn energy. If the energy isn't available elsewhere the muscles deplete.. they burn themselves away. It follows that, if you have depleted your lean muscle mass, your metabolism slows because it is no longer required at the level it once was at, during rest.

When you exercise your body needs energy, which it gets by converting into energy a) food b) lean muscle tissue and c) stored body fat.

Typically we all want the energy we use to come from food and fat.... but frequently, it comes from food and lean muscle mass since fat is supposedly harder to metabolise. By exercising and eating right we should be able ot keep the muscle under stress and build them at the same time as reducing body fat.

However, elite athletes typically suffer from muscle mass depletion because their heavy training has consumed the available stored body fat, the last of which the body seems extremely reluctant to give up (hence the dilemma that so many have in exposing a six pack). You don't see many swimmers at the world championships with a shapely six pack mostly, I think, because of muscle depletion.

Professional athletes have the dilemma of always needing the appropriate amount of energy to sustain their training. Often they simply can't eat enough to sustain the level of training without muscle depletion and that is due to the law of limiting returns.

Answer 3

I'm not sure you gave quite enough info for me to answer this, but I'll take a stab at it.
Your metabolism is controlled by genetics and muscle mass and tone. If you overexercise, especially aerobically, you deplete your muscle mass and thus slow your metabolism. If you are lifting weights or doing pilates just as regularly as aerobics I would get a second opinion from another doctor.

Answer 4

Your metabolism slows down because of all the excersing. You see, the more you excersie, the more energy you need to do it. So instead of burning up all those calories right away it stretches them out for long term energy.

So if you excercise a little less, or eat foods higher in protein I "think" your metabolism should go back up.

Answer 5

if your not eating enough and exercising like mad crazy, then your going to encounter your system finding a way to survive...

the unfortunate thing is that our mind and body arent very well connected..you know your gonna eat and refuel but your body is probably thinking that it needs to slow down in order to survive the brutal workouts...just slow it down a lil and eat a lil more of very healthy food and things should work in your favor.

Answer 6

tes it actually does,you are soppose to workout your muscle every 48 hour for great results

Answer 7

It's hard to say because I don't know what your workouts are like.

Answer 8

i did, because it exausts your body, and should at least get proper sleep when you do. besides overdoing anything is never good