No Workout Guilt?

shopgirl192

How do I get over the fact that I can't workout every day? I will be missing today and Wednesday's workout due to job commitments and the guilt I'm feeling is overwhelming. I know everyone will say deep down that it's no big deal, but when I'm burning around 800-900 a cardio session, I'll be missing out on 1600-1800 calories burned. Ugh!!!

Any ideas!?!?

MooseWizard

I take it you don't eat back your calories from exercise? As one that does, I only work out 3 times a week. Thus, I just stick to my net calories here on MFP and have no guilt.

shopgirl192

No way! LOL... Whatever I lose from workouts does not make me eat more... I guess I'll just monitor my eating today and Wednesday! Ugh, how do you only workout 3 days a week!

Zsangel

I agree ^^ If you eat back your exercise calories (or at least most of them), it shouldn't make a difference

dawny78

i eat back some of mine and have no guilt what so ever , i wanna be lose this weight but i'm not punishing myself . :flowerforyou:

blobby10

I know EXACTLY how you feel!! I have hurt my back and therefore have missed 3 x running sessions, 1 x Zumba class already. No running again tonight and no circuits tomorrow. I'm walking the dogs instead but really missing the endorphins from the cardio stuff.

B x

melaniecheeks

Remind yourself that results are 80% from diet, and only 20% from exercise. So dont worry about missing a couple of workouts, and just be extra vigilant about what you eat this week.

snockers3112

My exercising is walking to work and back and takibng the dogs out for a walk, short walks in the week and long walks at weekend. Occasionally I will pop along to the gym one night a week but always eat those calories back. I don't feel guilty at all as I am still losing weight

MemphisMarly

Well for one thing, you'll give your body time to rest and recover. I know you're doing cardio, but it still couldn't hurt to shake up your routine every once in a while. Might even notice a positive effect this week because of it.

karensoxfan

So you'll still have 5 workouts in 7 days, and missing 2 days makes you feel overwhelming guilt? To be honest, that sounds obsessive to me. Exercising 5 days/week is amazing, and you should give yourself credit for that instead of beating yourself up if you have to miss 2.

david081

I work out every day normally (1000+ calories), but I'm taking today off after spending 2 days in the mountains. If I don't rest today, it will affect the whole week ahead... a day of rest can be beneficial, if you can get your head to agree...

dicenogle

Where I'm coming from: Right now, I do 40-60 minute workouts five days a week, and take 45 minute brisk walks with my wife and dog 7 days a week.

1. The weekends always feel like a break.
2. I'm less hungry on weekends.
3. Monday workouts are always easier than Friday workouts, because of the "break."

I don't consider even this to be an exercise regimen that I can live with forever. It's a strategy for rapidly improving my weight and health. I can live with it long enough to reach my goals. After that, I will back off to fewer, lighter workouts. I'll keep doing the daily walks, because they are good for me, good for my dog, and good for my relationship with my wife.

I recently read a study that indicated exercise isn't a good strategy for losing weight, for two reasons. First, exercise makes you hungrier, and you may be as likely to gain as to lose (and, no, it isn't because of increased muscle mass.) Second, as in your case, there are inevitably times when you can't do a scheduled workout.

Face it: You are not going to work out 7 days a week for the rest of your life. You should develop an exercise program and a diet regimen that you can live with. That includes the reality that you will on occasion eat more than your diet calls for, and on other occasions you will miss planned exercise. Embrace that reality, and realize that those occasions are all part of the program -- not a reason to feel guilty. It doesn't matter if your weight bumps up a pound or two once in a while; it's the long-term trend that matters.

I try to mentally separate my reasons for working out from my reasons for eating. (Yes! There are reasons for eating.) I exercise to improve core strength, endurance, and overall health. It makes my body feel good. With eating, I try to eat foods that are both good and healthy 80-90% of the time, in reasonable amounts. On occasion, e.g., with my wife and friends, I eat for enjoyment, picking whatever I want from the menu, and trying not to order more food than I need to satisfy my appetite.

One more point... If you are burning 8 or 9 hundred calories a day in workouts, you're probably getting more exercise than your body needs, and are perhaps in danger of muscle/joint stress injuries. That's why it's important to remember why you're working out, which is to improve the health of your body, rather than to damage it for the sake of losing weight. I think if I eat and exercise in ways that make me feel good and enjoy life, I'm much more likely to continue.

MooseWizard

Ugh, how do you only workout 3 days a week!

I lost half of my current weight-loss before I even started exercise, thus I know that reducing what I eat is more important than what I burn.

I am exercising as part of a healthy lifestyle and to improve my fitness, but not specifically to lose weight. I am also a pretty busy person, and attempting any more than what I am doing would only set myself up for failure. Instead, I have a schedule that is working quite well for me. Solid advice on that from dicenogle above.

fteale

Remind yourself that results are 80% from diet, and only 20% from exercise. So dont worry about missing a couple of workouts, and just be extra vigilant about what you eat this week.

But if you have always eaten well, it's pretty much 100% exercise that makes the difference. Diet only helps if you previously ate too much or ate junk. For me, being here is 80% about exercise, 20% food.

Nigel99

Now that I've reached maintenance mode, I'm not worried about guilt over missing a workout that much for the calorie/diet reasons. I'm in the latter half of P90, so I just want to finish that without skipping a bunch of days or half-a**ing it the rest of the way (as well as the running I've been doing). I already have plenty of calories to eat even on days that I don't exercise.

hroush

Remind yourself that results are 80% from diet, and only 20% from exercise. So dont worry about missing a couple of workouts, and just be extra vigilant about what you eat this week.

I completely disagree with this from experience. I lost 2 lbs a week for 7 months only because of working out 2 days a week. My diet was horrendous. Weight loss can come from any partitioning between the two, but the closer you get to your goal, the more vigilante you must be of both.

MyNameIsNotBob

I would just try to stay right around your net calorie goal. The good thing about MFP is that you can easily keep track of your net calories. If you don't work out, you'll still have to stay at 1200 (or whatever your goal is). If you do work out, you can eat more! So, it's no big deal to miss a workout as long as you're being mindful of your eating and staying around your goal calories.

If you are really wanting to make up for the workouts, here's an idea. If you're missing 90-120 minutes of your regular workout time this week, you could add 20 minutes onto each of your other workouts. Use that 20 minutes to do something you normally wouldn't have time to do... swim some laps, or jog on the treadmill, or try out the weight room, or whatever.

Think of it in terms of total minutes, not days per week. A reasonable goal is 90-420 minutes per week, depending upon your age / activity level (and which source you go by). I aim for 150 minutes per week.

My goal in MFP is 5 30-minute workouts each week. But I usually make sure that the Monday & Wednesday workouts are about an hour. That way, if I miss Thursday or Friday, then I'm still on track for total minutes that week, as long as I do one more workout over the weekend.

More often than not, I come in over my goal... For the last 7 days, I have 450 minutes of exercise, and that includes not doing anything at all yesterday. I can see that I've already met and far exceeded my goal, so, to me, a day off is fine. Heck, two days off is fine! I'm still staying within my net calories, so I still have a calorie defecit, and will still lose weight.

(Although I will say that, in reality, my total minutes exercised is probably more like 200. A good 50% of those 450 minutes were spent walking to and from work / train / walking dog, etc. I'm not going to log my walking time anymore... I changed it to part of my daily activity instead.)

Anyway, don't beat yourself up over it. Either make up the time, or come up with a more realistic workout plan. It's always good to consult multiple sources when you're coming up with a minutes per week goal for working out. How many minutes per week does your doctor suggest?