Exercise, going from every day to less

Robin1117

Hi there, I have been using my elliptical everyday for the last 10 months. I keep reading that we need rest days though and am a little worried. I do get other forms of exercise as a matter of course, but with a 5 year old in tow, I don't really count on these as calories to add back because I can't reliably do anything with the best intensity or for a length of time.

I do rely on the extra calories throughout the day so I can eat a reasonable amount so am reluctant to start skipping days and losing these calories. Does anyone else have this problem and how have you worked around it?

thanks!

1QueenB

Bump. I can't wait for the answers to this one. I have the same question.

dore0021

That's a good question! I don't have the answer either. I've started working out 7 days a week (from 5, then from 6) to help get me through a platue and allow me some extra food treats sometimes.
Is this a good thing to do? It just doesn't logically make sense to take a day off when the goal is to have a 3500 cal deficit each week...

rybo

Listen to your body. Are you tired & run down...take a rest.
If not keep going.

brwneyes71

I am up under a doctors care and i work with a personal trainer. they both tell me that you have to allow your body as well as your muscles time to rest. you can set the amount of days that you want that to be. I workout about 6 days a week maybe 5. it depends. so some weeks i give my body 2 days other weeks i give my body 1 day. They also told me that if i am running low on calorie points to do some sit-ups or crunches for 20-30 mins. that will give extra calories that i can use for the day with out adding to much stress to my entire body. That way i am just controlling that one area.But everyone is different and everyone has their own reason for why they workout 7 days a week. good luck.

bjberry

Congratulations on the weight loss. 1 lb to go!!

You can lose the weight on days without the elliptical--just follow your five-year-old, play Tag--inside or out, play Hide and go Seek, and Laugh with your playmate. I think the laughter loses as much weight as the rest of the exercise and lifts your spirits.

If you are like me, you also wonder how to maintain the weight now.
I am experimenting. I was at 1200 calories, and with walking and household chores I was losing a pound a week.
I have moved myself to 1300 calories as I approach the end of my quest, with the same amount of exercise (food shopping, chasing the Grandson, housework, walking and wearing a pedometer--built into my cell phone).

Enjoy! :drinker:

LotusF1ower

Hi there, I have been using my elliptical everyday for the last 10 months. I keep reading that we need rest days though and am a little worried. I do get other forms of exercise as a matter of course, but with a 5 year old in tow, I don't really count on these as calories to add back because I can't reliably do anything with the best intensity or for a length of time.

I do rely on the extra calories throughout the day so I can eat a reasonable amount so am reluctant to start skipping days and losing these calories. Does anyone else have this problem and how have you worked around it?

thanks!

It is advised to have one or two days rest per week. However, you seem to be okay lol, wish I was able to train that much!

On the whole though rest days aren't lazy days, but give your body a chance to recover, everybody deserves at least one day per week rest and you sounds like you are constantly on the go anyway.

The days off are meant to be beneficial to your wellbeing, don't be frightened of ceasing training for one or two days.

pfenixa

I ran into this problem when I decided to make Mondays my day off. During the work week I do all my exercise when I get home for the day and Monday at work is an hour longer than the rest of the week. I always felt really thrown off trying to do everything an hour later than the rest of the week, so it made sense to make it my relaxing day. I already depend on my exercise calories to keep me near my daily goal of 1200, so it was kinda rough at first, but what I do is plan out what I'll eat that day. Like I'll always have a salad and be sure to pick out some of my lower calorie snacks. If I don't really plan it in advance it doesn't usually work, lol. That may be more difficult for you with a kid, but that's what I've come up with.

But definitely be sure to give your body some rest. Doing too much can tire your muscles and then they may retain water, making it seem like all your work isn't paying off at the scale! (Not that the scale is most important, but I hope you get what I mean) :flowerforyou:

Robin1117

Thanks so much everyone. great ideas. honestly, I hadn't thought about crunches and sit-ups at all Brwneyes71. I should be doing those and will start!

Yes, BJberry, I am experimenting with a lot of things. Even though I haven't changed goals to maintenance, that's what I have been doing with the current settings and the everyday exercise. I'm thinking maybe this is my body's way of telling me I'm done. And, a reason why I'm reluctant to stop exercising for fear that if I'm maintaining or plateauing now when I am set at still losing a lbs a week, I better not change a thing.

I just ordered an HRM this morning and maybe that'll help me experiment on other-than-elliptical cardio that I can feel more confident counting, and perhaps be less reliant on the elliptical daily in the future.

Would love any other ideas!

keith0373

There are ways to rest that don't include whole days off. You can do an evening and morning elliptical workout, then not do your next workout until the following evening. This gives your body 24 hours of rest (with a night of sleep) and you get in the workouts every day still. I do this quite a bit and it helps. I also split workouts and do shorter workouts twice a day rather than one long one.

maddox22

Another option if you're concerned about calories is to divide your exercise calories over more days. For example, if you exercise 5 days per week and burn 400 calories each time, instead of eating an additional 400 cal those 5 days, try eating an additional 275 cal every day. It's about the same number of calories over the whole week, but that way you don't have to swing so wildly from one day to the next. That's my biggest problem--I typically burn 500-700 cal per workout, so on days I don't exercise, it's HARD to eat only my baseline calories! I essentially have to skip two meals on those days. But my body is still hungry :-) I've found that if I aim to be a little under my goals on my workout days, then I can be a little over on the non-workout days.

mmtiernan

You could also take your rest day to do a recharge type of exercise, such as yoga. It doesn't burn quite as many calories, but will stretch your muscles and help them repair.

I do weight training 3 times per week and cardio 3-4 times per week. I take two 'rest' days where I do neither weight training nor cardio, but on those days, I usually do yoga to help stretch my muscles.

Yoga is also something you can do with your 5-year old! If you are new to yoga, you can get a DVD very reasonably at Target (and probably Walmart). I highly recommend anything from Rodney Yee.

Hope this helps!

glfprncs2

I guess it really depends on how intense your elliptical sessions are. When I was in college, I saw girls on the elliptical for 30 minutes/day going hell bent for leather with no resistance at all...when they were done, their makeup still looked perfect!!

Anyhow, you need to listen to your own body. If you wake up feeling great, workout...but if you're waking up feeling a bit wrecked, take a day off. You need it.

I workout 6 days/week, alternating strength training and cardio on those 6 days. I push myself quite hard. In addition, I have 3 dogs who all need walked every day. So, I also walk at around a 3.5 mph pace for an hour or so every day. On my rest days, the dogs still need to be walked, but if I'm feeling wrecked, they get short walks. There's no one answer for everyone...I do find, though, that when I wake up feeling stiff and sore and creaky and just plain tired, if I don't allow myself a day of true rest, I end up injured sooner than later.

Robin1117

great advice. Ok, instead of the 1 hr 20 minutes on the elliptical daily I just did 30 and some sit ups. I'll look for something else today to mix it up....and sadly, just attempt to eat a little less. My leg and ankle have been bothering me over the last few weeks, so I must just be hitting the same muscles too hard. thanks again for all your combined thoughts....