Working less, losing more, possible?

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KarmaxKitty
KarmaxKitty Posts: 901 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I used to go to the gym everyday. Eventually, I started to plateau. I switched to going every other day. And then I lost more than I had before. Is there an explanation for this or is this just a fluke?

(holy crap those first few lines rhyme...end of ADD moment...)

Replies

  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
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    Variation is key :)
  • vbowman_morris
    vbowman_morris Posts: 22 Member
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    Once your body performs the same type of routines for a certain amount of time, its easy to plateau. Your body adjusts itself to the workouts you are doing. It takes less energy to do moves the body already knows so you burn less calories. Just change your routine up every 6 six weeks. You can change the types of exercises, the intensity or frequency (like you did) to get yourself outta the rut. So losing weight by exercising less can work :)
  • gsenriquez
    gsenriquez Posts: 181 Member
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    Losing weight relies more heavily in your eating habits. Exercising tones you up. My only oncern is that you exercise less but you lose more...what are you losing? Muscle or fat?
  • theradiantbride
    theradiantbride Posts: 50
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    Could be lots of things. Variation in exercise definitely helps getting out of a plateau. Also, if you're exercising less but still eating the same amount of food, your body may be using that food to "reset" itself, so to say. If you're eating at a deficit for a really long time, you might plateau and one way to get out of a plateau is to eat at maintenance for a couple weeks and then go back to eating at a deficit.

    Or it could just be that your body reacts better to working out a few days a week instead of every day.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    You probably weren't eating enough to support your previous exercise levels. When your body is sure it is getting enough food it is more likely to release fat stores.
  • KarmaxKitty
    KarmaxKitty Posts: 901 Member
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    Huh... ALL of that makes sense... Thank you!

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