How much is too much?

[BethyMog15]

Hi, i'm 14 and i've lost about 16.5 kilos since Febuary. Since that time i've fallen in love with exercising (insert insane laughter here) and i've been doing my usual 2 hours of dancing on a Tuesday and 1 hour on a Thursday. I also do nearly 2 hours of P.E at school and I power walk to my job at a local bakery on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday which is about 3km there and back. I also do a mini workout thing at home which is mostly aerobics and things like pushups and situps, this goes for about 35 minutes and I do it 2-3 times a week.

Lately my friends have been saying it's way too much for me to do, one of my closest friends even said that I may have an eating disorder, even though I eat healthily and regularly and i'm at a healthy weight (with a BMI of 21.7)!

Can you tell me if i'm going overboard!?

[Sas]

I personally don't think that is too much. When I was your age I used to have hockey training 3 times a week for and hour, used to play 3 games of hockey on Saturday and I used to go for a 5km run a few times a week as well as 2hrs of PE and I used to ride to work.

I think if you are enjoying the exercise and not getting overuse injuries then I think it is fine. Just make sure if you do start to get niggles or pains that don't go away when you are warmed up that you have a break or ease back cause you could be getting overuse injuries.

[Mandie]

If you enjoy the exercise, you're not obsessive over it (i.e. if you have to miss a session or two because something comes up, you don't panic and try to make up for it with further hardcore sessions) and you're not experiencing excessive tiredness, overuse injury or feeling faint.. then I think it's fine

[Butterfly_Dawn]

Of course you haven't given us an idea about your food, so I guess it depends. If you are doing all that exercise and then only eating a lettuce leaf and an apple all day every day, i would be HIGHLY concerned. However given the amount of weight you have lost over that time period, I doubt that is the case (I would expect you would have lost a lot more than that if you were truly starving yourself and over-exrcising)

If it's really bothering you and you want to be sure, go speak to your GP (it is still possible to have an unhealthy attitude to food and exercise but not lose excessive amounts of weight). Your friend might be genuinely worried (perhaps over nothing, but nevertheless genuine), in which case seeing your GP might help allay your (and their) fears, and may even give you a good idea about what you should and shouldn't be doing at your age (you're still growing so you really don't want to put too much stress on bones and joints that are still changing).

Having said that, exercise is a great thing to do. It helps your moods (which, let's face it, at 14 are more than likely becoming a bit rocky just now), and keeps you fit and healthy. It also can energise you if done right, so that you can concentrate more on your school work.

[Mandie]

Ohh, and another good tip. If you over exercise, or under eat, your periods tend to stop. So if you're still having a regular, normal period, you're probably not exercising to extremes...

[*KaTe*]

Wow thats interesting Mandie re periods..

When I was getting hardcore personal training done, and was on a low carb diet I didnt get my periods for nearly 5 months, and had no idea why!

I found out a while ago that I was exercising too hardcore for the food I was eating, hence why I wasent getting the weight down..but yeah the period thing explains a bit too!

Everything needs to be balanced!

[Butterfly_Dawn]

many top athletes in peak training miss periods for this reason because they are pushing their bodies so hard. I seem to remember learning about that in 'health ed' at high school

[Mandie]

It's basically your body realising that it can't support a baby in its current deprived state... biological way of letting you know that you're going too far!

[SarahC]

Prime example over here!!! I don't think that I over-excercise, but I do do a lot though. And, I most certainly do not under-eat, in fact, I can't stop eating (I regularly overeat and occasionally binge). Anyway, I've only had one period this year, which was back in March

PS: I never had my periods at 14! Don't know when they started, but it wasn't then... Maybe year 9 every so often, and regularly by year 10.

PPS: Stress also makes them stop. I lost mine for a whole year whilst in the Navy. The estrogen levels in my blood test was so low it was classed as "post-menopausal". That made me feel good