Has anyone ever had someone tell them they may be exercising too much? I have my band at 1.5 cc and am eating 3 small meals a day, and have had little weight loss recently. I had to have my band loosened last summer because I couldn't keep anything down, and while it was completely loose I ate like a pig and put all of my weight back on. It was only supposed to be loose for 2 weeks but my doctors kept cancelling my appointments because of scheduling conflicts, and I took FULL advantage of the 3 months that it was loose. Since October I've gotten back on track and have been exercising regularly....walking, jogging, biking, yoga, etc...usually 6-7 days a week, between 1-2 hours a day. I've made exercise #1...but its still soooooooo slow....I'm going in to the doc for the first time in a long while on Thursday and am nervous to see the number on the scale, scared that its going to throw me off track if its high. I think I'm going to get the band tightened a little bit to kind of shake things up...but my mother (who I love dearly) keeps telling me that she thinks I may be exercising too much for what I am able to consume. Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone have any ideas on how to throw yourself off a plateau? I live in Montana and it's currently REALLY cold (negative 25 this morning), so I've mostly been doing biking and yoga this week.......I just need some tips! Work out dvd's that anyone recommends, etc. There's no gym here, so I'm pretty much on my own! Any help or ideas is really appreciated, I'm so sick of having this gut back!

If you're exercising too much for what you're able to consume, you will feel it. You'll either get the signs of overtraining - run down, getting sick, sleeping poorly, unable to perform your activity - or you'll be starving and your body will direct you to eat. I have several very hard sessions of interval running in a week and my body tells me LOUD AND CLEAR afterwards that it needs refuelling - usually in the form of carb cravings - it drives me nuts. I can short circuit that by eating right by my body is saying it needs instant energy and it wants it NOW!

That said though, there really is no need to spend more than an hour a day. You simply dont need to do more than an hour of cardio at a time, although if you want to do it, it wont hurt you.

What you're finding though is that exercise must be combined with diet to see really good results. On its own, it just doesnt make you lose that much weight unfortunately. Get your fill back and continue with your dedication and there'll be no stopping you!

However, if its tips you want - I've been a runner for 3 years now. My body has really adapted to it, and I'd been doing lots of long slow runs, 10kms or so. I'm lucky I plateaued out finally at a healthy weight but I'd still like to lose just a bit more - no luck in 18 months. I've gotten back into interval training and strength training and really UPPED the intensity, for slightly shorter sessions. so in a run I might jog, have a couple of 3 minute long level 3 sprints (8o-85% max heart rate) with recovery jogs in between and then five 1 minute level 4 sprints (90% max heart rate) with 1 ninute recovery jogs etc. Its a killer, I'm nearly dead when I get home, having done 10kms in not my normal an hour five, an hour 10 but in about 45 minutes! I've replaced my runs with the following schedule - 2 circuit training schedules, 2 interval runs, and as my reward, a nice long slow enjoyable run. The other two days I might just go for a walk with DH.

Talk about blasting my body back into weight loss mode. Actually scale hasnt moved, but all those tight clothes in my wardrobe are fitting nicely now.

I didnt interval training at the start of my journey too, as I got to be a better runner and started focussing on distance races I kind of forgot about it, but it really works. I use cardio coach - www.cardiocoach.com - to give me structure.

Yes, I've had people tell me I exercise too much, and they are typically lazy-a$$es. As long as you are not hurt or burnt-out, work as much as you want; caveat - make sure you work up to a certain level...don't try a marathon if you haven't completed a 5k, for example. Yikes, I though tNJ was cold - Montana is insanely cold. I run outside into the single digits, but negative temps? As we say here, fugggedaboutit!! Keep on doing what you are doing, and if you are interested, get a bike and an indoor bike trainer. The bike trainer is about $120.00. It's boring as hell biking in place, but with the temps you described, you don't have much choice.