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re: Am I doing too much cardio?

Posted on 2/25/26 at 6:29 am to
Posted by pwejr88
Red Stick
Member since Apr 2007
37876 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 6:29 am to
It depends on your calorie deficit for the day. Could be too much.. could be not enough
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
95636 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 6:37 am to
quote:

42 yr old female. 176 lbs




How tall, guh?

In all seriousness, the science has more or less settled on a reasonable sweet spot of about 150 minutes a week - UNLESS you are specifically training for an endurance event that requires more.

If I was you, I would evaluate my total fitness regime (ETA: And include intake - don't know if you want to lose a little weight, but you should try to get your protein in while being active - it may be as important as how many minutes of cardio you get, in all honesty).

Most gals short strength training in favor of cardio. I would invert that. Get your strength training in. Women need more strength training than men. Starting at a lower base, lower T, more bone density issues, etc.

And, then look at getting 150 or so minutes of cardio per week at the correct intensity. You don't want hundreds of minutes of Zone 1 or Zone 2 stuff and you don't want to do HIIT every day. So a mix of those to right size the intensity would be a good goal.

I do like the willingness to cross train - that is a good instinct. It might be harder to compare higher intensity workouts on an apples-to-apples basis, at least in the short run, but your balanced/varied approach to cardio probably puts you in (in a good way) relatively select company.

Good luck with it.
This post was edited on 2/25/26 at 6:39 am
Posted by Popths
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2016
4503 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 7:50 am to
Let go of the treadmill handles and swing those arms. Just like you do on the elliptical.
Posted by LSUMaverick
Baton Rouge
Member since Jul 2016
2046 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 10:41 am to
quote:

How tall, guh?


I know I'm overweight...trying not to be.
Posted by ronricks
Member since Mar 2021
12179 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 11:06 am to
quote:

42 yr old female. 176 lbs


You need to lose 50 to 55 pounds.
Posted by Yeti_Chaser
Member since Nov 2017
12920 posts
Posted on 2/25/26 at 12:59 pm to
quote:

Just to tone up. Would like to get down to 150-160ish

Changed my lifestyle and lost 83 lbs since July 2024. Started back in the gym June 2025.

First off congratulations. That's awesome

I'm guessing you're asking this question because you've started to plateau?
It gets much harder to lose weight the longer you've been in a deficit. Are you tracking calories?
If you've been at it for 8 months and are now starting to plateau then you should now understand why it's much easier to lose weight through your diet than your exercise. You can't just keep adding more cardio. After 8 months it's probably time for a bit of a break. This will slow things down but will help you lose more total weight in the long run and help you keep it off and avoid rebounding.

I'd slowly drop the intense cardio down until all that's left is the walking and focus more on your resistance training. Try to slowly increase your calories as well without gaining weight. The goal is to increase your maintenance calorie intake and lower the amount of cardio needed to maintain your current weight. Maybe you're able to slowly ramp up your calories until you're eating another 500 per day and only walking without gaining weight. That's a huge win. Stay there for a bit and then it will make your next diet cycle much easier
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