is it ok to have a 3 day rest day?

tinaalisa15

Hi well, I have finally started back taking my health seriously! 4 years ago I lost so much weight I got down to 245 pounds after being 315 pounds. I am not at my heaviest afte neglecting my health for 4 years. 4 weeks ago I was 339 pounds and as of today, I am down to 327 pounds. I took rest day friday, saturday and now today sunday. During these 3 days, I still remain health conscious and I do not have exactly a cheat meal. I stay within my calorie range. I am meal prepping tonight and continuing again on Monday

spiriteagle99

Exercise is not required to lose weight. All you have to do is focus on the calories you are eating. Exercise will make you healthier and will allow you to eat more calories, but you don't have to do it every day. Taking 3 days off may make it feel a bit harder when you do go back to exercising, because you stiffen up, but otherwise it won't hurt you.

lorrpb

Congrats on your loss! Are you resting from exercise or from logging? Of course, a break from either is ok. You will need to careful not to let 3 days develop into an extended period of excuses not shoyld you use it as a reason to go off the rails. Should this happen, it will take you a bit longer to get back on track and continue your progress.

lgfrie

It's always OK to have a rest day or days, as long as you cap the calories to maintenance level. Things only start going south when you start gaining back weight. Maintenance has to be the line in the sand for time off to work.

kew1952

Exercise is not required lose weight, but if your overall goal is to get healthier, then it is an important component. There are times when we need to rest our bodies and that is okay. However, if you are doing it because just don't want to, that could be a different story. I try to work out /exercise 5 days a week.

geraldaltman

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

snickerscharlie

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

What you choose to do for yourself does not make everyone else incorrect. The truth is exercise is *not* a prerequisite for weight loss - a calorie deficit is. If exercise helps you achieve and maintain that deficit, that's where the benefit lies for you.

NovusDies

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

You are welcome to your theory. I am glad I didn't subscribe to something similar when I first started because I needed to lose a fair amount of weight before regular exercise became a real option.

Exercise can make it worse for some people too if they do not get their hunger under control before burning a lot of calories. Their hunger can get even worse and without proper hunger management they will either be quite miserable or eat far too much.

rheddmobile

How much rest you need consecutively will vary depending on your age, health, and what your exercise is. For example I finished a 24 hour timed race yesterday and I will now be resting for the foreseeable future. Or at least until everything stops hurting!

Seriously though, I’m 51 now and I need two rest days in a row or I never fully feel recovered and start getting overuse injuries. Some people barely need one rest day - they can “rest” while cutting back to a level of exercise which would still be too much for me. Since you are still pretty heavy (congratulations on getting back into fitness, by the way! Great start so far!) your weight puts a lot of stress on your body, and you may need extra recovery. Go by feel and let your body be your guide. You may find that instead of three completely rest days, you end up wanting to do one of them as a lower impact day, something like yoga or stretching.

In any case, as long as you are under your calorie limit, rest won’t derail your weight loss.

psychod787

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

Well, if it works for you do it!

snickerscharlie wrote: »

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

What you choose to do for yourself does not make everyone else incorrect. The truth is exercise is *not* a prerequisite for weight loss - a calorie deficit is. If exercise helps you achieve and maintain that deficit, that's where the benefit lies for you.

Good advice.

NovusDies wrote: »

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

You are welcome to your theory. I am glad I didn't subscribe to something similar when I first started because I needed to lose a fair amount of weight before regular exercise became a real option.

Exercise can make it worse for some people too if they do not get their hunger under control before burning a lot of calories. Their hunger can get even worse and without proper hunger management they will either be quite miserable or eat far too much.

@NovusDies I am not sure if you were larger than me when I started. About 400lbs here, but I did start exercising from the beginning. It wasn't much, just would walk around the track at the local school where I lived. Was only able to do 1-2 laps 3-4 days a week. As a calorie burner, not much, psychologically, was good. I had no clue I was not burning many calories creeping around the track. Lost over 70lbs in less than a year from simple diet switches and my "walking" , which did increase slowly. I agree that there can be hyper compensation for exercise, some do, though most will eat more,but they eat less than they burn as the general trend. I also think that exercise does something to the human body in general. It makes SOME people more resistant to weight gain and regain. I do agree that the "obesity" crisis is mostly diet based, but the lack of mobility in the Western/Affluent areas of the world have just added fuel to the fire.

**edit** As far as rest, I had to deload for nearly 6 weeks onetime after being in progressive overload for 6 months straight. So, rest if ya need um!

Theoldguy1

geraldaltman wrote: »

Since getting my hips replaced and rehabbed this year, I have been unwilling to rely on calorie monitoring alone to lose weight despite what people say [they will have to divulge credentials, which they won't before I entertain the notion which I still won't]. I believe sensible combinations of diet/calorie monitoring AND exercise regimens is the way to lose weight. In my current mode, I may take three days off a week, but they will never be consecutive unless I'm forced to!!

Nice you found what works for you.