Anyone else feel really guilty on rest days?

karinmelanie
karinmelanie Posts: 26
in Fitness and Exercise
I usually exercise 5-6 days a week but if I could, I'd go for a run every day (or do sth. similar/high impact)

I know it's important to take days off and I always feel so much fresher and I can run so much faster after a day off, but I also feel incredibly guilty if I don't exercise. (I still try to do some Yoga or go for a brisk walk)


I used to love spending Sundays on the couch watching movies or simply doing nothing, but not anymore. I also obsess about what I eat and in my mind one day off and I'll end up 5 punds heavier the next day.

How can I just enjoy my day off without feeling guilty?

Any advice would be appreciated :)
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Replies

  • CynthiaT60
    CynthiaT60 Posts: 1,280 Member
    I don't feel guilty. I just hate that I can't eat as much. :laugh:
  • version45
    version45 Posts: 35 Member
    Spend that day focusing completely on someone that you care about. That will make both of you feel good - guilt free.
  • Tomm88
    Tomm88 Posts: 733 Member
    Try to get into the frame of thinking that you've hit your goals for the week and that you deserve to sit and do nothing for a day, lay on your couch and don't even lift a finger haha.
  • Unknown
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  • DayoUDaShit
    DayoUDaShit Posts: 41 Member
    Yeah occasionally.
  • maryjay52
    maryjay52 Posts: 557 Member
    yes all the time
  • TruckerWife922
    TruckerWife922 Posts: 27
    Try to get into the frame of thinking that you've hit your goals for the week and that you deserve to sit and do nothing for a day, lay on your couch and don't even lift a finger haha.

    Agreed. Call it a Reward day instead. If your guilt is a "mental thing" then tell your brain you deserve it.
  • cmbauer99
    cmbauer99 Posts: 184 Member
    I hate rest days with a passion. However as I lay here in bed surfing the web on my ipad, my legs are sore as hell from my run and workout yesterday. So I guess rest days are important. Still will probably go for a brisk walk lol
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I don't feel guilty. I just hate that I can't eat as much. :laugh:

    This! I love my rest days, because I always feel I need them! But less food is sad!
  • Momjogger
    Momjogger Posts: 750 Member
    I do gentle exercise too on rest days because it makes me feel good - stretching, riding my bike at a leisurely pace, swimming a little dancing around the kitchen with my daughter. I never feel bad about "rest" days because the gentle exercise I do is enjoyable to me. Gotta find that rest day activity that you like. Also, who says you have to sit around on the couch on rest days? Scrap book, take a class, do something relaxing and FUN!
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Never! Rest days are an important part of my routine, when muscles get to recover, heal and refuel. I always take at least one day off, sometimes two if I feel I need it or if I'm just busy. And every 8-12 weeks or so I take a whole week off - it's fantastic.

    Rest days don't have to mean being a couch potato (although sometimes that is what I do!), but as others said - walk your dog, go for an easy bike ride. do a little yard work or whatever.

    Maybe if you focus on the fact that rest is an important part of fitness ou won't feel guilty?
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
    I don't know that I feel guilty but I do get a little down, like I did not accomplish enough.
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
    Honestly, I wouldn't take rest days when I was working out regurarly... (note: I fell off the waggon -possibly from burning out- and am trying to get back to that point) ... I would realize I had worked out every day for 8 days in a row and FORCE myself to only go for a walk or an easy short run. I don't feel rest days did much for me unless my body was tired. When I was tired I would take a break, and feel great the next day!
  • icanm
    icanm Posts: 33 Member
    Today was my rest day. I still went to the gym for half an hour. I bumped into this diet counselor who had all these weird suggestions - women should only lift 2.5 kg of weight; stop lifting you are bulking up; don't have milk; after every one hour have green tea; eat salads through the day with lil bit of bread.

    I should have stayed home.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    So guilt is a feeling of doing something bad. Change your thinking. A rest day is a day of GOOD for your body. Not letting it recover is bad. And if you don't give your body a chance to recover, that's something you should feel "guilty" about.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Nope I like my rest days, they have a purpose just as much as the days that I workout... Your body needs time to rest and recover.....
  • phil6707
    phil6707 Posts: 541 Member
    No

    AS much as I want to get in shape and lose weight, I don't want it to be an obsession as well.

    One day of rest per week is fine, your body needs it anyway
  • Grumpsandwich
    Grumpsandwich Posts: 368 Member
    I work out 5 days a week and take 2 "recovery days" to let my muscles get some rest and YES i feel guilty too lol. On days where I am under the weather or having a lot of back pain and i cant work out its the worst guilt ever. Especially on here like I feel the need to explain why i wont be updating a work out for the day to my friends lol
  • akuaafriyie
    akuaafriyie Posts: 21 Member
    how i got over feeling guilty during rest days was by gradually changing my mindset.i used to tell myself that i will be exercising for the rest of my life, I will not realistically be able to do this everyday so i need to rest and then spend the rest of available time planning on what the exercise i will be doing next and how i can increase the intensity: kind of fantasize or daydream about the next workout. it made the next workouts more enjoyable!
  • gregpack
    gregpack Posts: 426 Member
    You said it yourself- when you take a rest day your runs are better the day after. This is evidence you're not giving body enough recovery time.

    Rest and recovery are a very important part of any strength and conditioning program. Don't let the "more is always better" philosophy impair your improvements- it will if you let it.
  • karinmelanie
    karinmelanie Posts: 26
    I don't feel guilty. I just hate that I can't eat as much. :laugh:

    hahah, so true :)

    Cheers for the answers guys, this community really is amazing!

    I realise that my body needs time to recover and that rest days are important and I really don't want to injure myself and not be able to workout at all.

    I spent all day watching movies and catching up on sleep, oh and eating of course.

    Now I am looking forward to my morning workout :)
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    Rest days are where the magic happens from your last training session.

    To feel guilty about your training sessions being effective sounds nuts to me.

    Remember it's the space between the notes as much as the notes themselves that make a beautiful piece of music.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    I don't feel guilty because I know my body needs time to recuperate, but I do find I'm itching to be more active. I try not to be a couch potato on those days by keeping busy with other activities that may include my walking places.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    i don't feel guilty exactly . . . more like restless sometimes, or dissatisfied. you know how this kind of thing goes - some days suck, and every so often you hit one of those really really great days and come out of it high as a kite . . . i find i'm often thinking of how that next one could be perfect. and then i start chasing it, wanting to get in there and spin the wheel one more time.

    thing is, i know that random-reward pattern is the perfect ingredient for addiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward. and i don't really care if exercise is a 'good' addiction. i don't want to be addicted to anything. it's always a loss for me if i don't have full control over my own management of what i'm doing and why i'm doing it.

    so yeah, i get it . . . but i'm trying to kind of watch that whole junkie factor as well. i'm just starting out with stronglifts 5x5 and only touched my first barbell around 3 months ago. so i'm mostly seeing rest days as a chance to forget the weight and practice my form, maybe maintain my range of motion, by doing air-lifts.

    and i'll admit i talk myself into chilling out on some days by telling myself i'm stockpiling resources for the next day so when i get in there i can really invest . . . which isn't exactly in the spirit of what i just said, but i always was one of those kids who save the red smarties for last, so i'm kind of constructing my mindset around that atm.
  • KarenB927
    KarenB927 Posts: 94 Member
    I went from an exercise hater the feeling guilty on rest days. Something I never would have thought possible. Yesterday was a rest day, but I spent 2 1/2 hours walking at different paces at the mall buying some new clothes. So technically my exercise yesterday was walking a lot. I'm a few pounds below my goal weight and working on muscle building and strength training
  • MalayanTiger
    MalayanTiger Posts: 61
    Sunday is my recovery day, and I do a full day of fasting with PLENTY of water w/ lemon. Might not work for you, but it works for me.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    The other important thing here is that rest/recovery days are when muscle gets repaired/rebuilt/ and get stronger. Exercising the muscle at the time doesn't do this.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Hurt my shoulder, took a rest week, I feel awesome about it.

    Granted, that tri in 21 days is looming...
  • zcb94
    zcb94 Posts: 3,678 Member
    I hate rest days with a passion.

    Me too! If I feel the need to rest (from soreness, or just plain forgot, or ran out of time in a day), I will keep track of the wasted time, then punish myself with double (or triple, and so on) time on the hand bike ASAP.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    I don't feel guilty. I just hate that I can't eat as much. :laugh:

    This! I love my rest days, because I always feel I need them! But less food is sad!

    yep

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