Anyone else have a hard time taking a rest day?

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coopersmom2006
coopersmom2006 Posts: 839
in Fitness and Exercise
I know it's a must for muscle repair and all that jazz. I just really have a tough time not doing any sort of workout for an entire day. I feel restless when I do. Just wondering if anyone else feels this way? How do you handle it if so? Thanks all!
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Replies

  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I LOVE my rest day. I work my butt off (if only it were literally), six days a week and love that one evening where I don't have to do anything but cook dinner and relax.
  • Tulipgirl1223
    Tulipgirl1223 Posts: 91 Member
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    I do, I feel guilty and sometimes almost scared not working out will become habit. On my rest days I will still maybe take a walk around the neighborhood with the kids. So much for a rest day huh LOL
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    I rarely miss a rest day but will at least get out for a walk otherwise my wife says I get cranky.
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
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    I don't take rest days very often! I feel so lazy! A typical rest day for me consists of doing yoga in the morning and some walking later in the day! :wink:
  • Katie3784
    Katie3784 Posts: 543
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    I never take rest days. I do pilates every single morning, lift weights 4 days, do cardio 6 days, and do dvds on the weekends. On the day that I only do pilates, I clean the house for 6 hours, which I'm sure burns a lot of calories. Exercise keeps me sane.
  • helloliss
    helloliss Posts: 43
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    at first I did ! not anymore ! I just enjoy my rest days :) thinking " recover so you can hit the gym Hard next time " recovery .. muscle muscle lol !
  • Merrie67
    Merrie67 Posts: 15
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    Yes, since January 1st I have only taken one rest day. I think it's because I feel guilty about "slacking off" and there is a bit of a fear that once I rest for a day I will have a hard time starting up the next day. There is also a deep seated fear that I will gain weight which I know is irrational but, it's a fear just the same.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    Feeling guilty about taking a rest day is sorta like feeling guilty for eating over your calories one day. You're mentally punishing yourself for something that is a normal and healthy part of the process.

    I say this having coming from that place. I refused to take a rest day and wouldn't have dreamed of eating outside my calorie limits. And I got crankier and crankier, less and less happy, was snapping at people, constantly exhausted and finally just snapped completely. I did a complete mental reset, didn't workout on any set plan, only if I felt like it, and ate mostly whatever I wanted for a little over a month.

    At the end of the month I came back on track with more realistic expectations of myself, more sane, more relaxed and only one pound heavier than the start of the month. Life is a balance, and if it's upset too much one or the other, stress forms. We started MFP to lose the weight we gained from letting it get out of balance of too much food and not enough exercise and the unhappiness that caused. But it's really easy to go too far the other way and end up unhappy again.

    And thoughts of guilt associated with having a day to let your body heal and relax is likely a sign you're heading that way. It took me about five months before the total breakdown happened and I had to hit reset. And looking back, I really wish I'd listened to the people that warned me that I was heading down that path.
  • lunglady
    lunglady Posts: 526 Member
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    I HATE rest days. I feel antsy and jittery. It takes every ounce of my willpower not to jump up and run.
  • ball858
    ball858 Posts: 395 Member
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    Definitely, but I am prime example of needing a rest day!

    I have been training non stop since the new year and not managed to shift a cold, which came to a head this weekend and so have had to take A WHOLE WEEK off. I feel like i need to get out and do something but know that if I want to be healthy enough to train next week I must be good and give my body chance to sort itself out this week!
  • rmsrws
    rmsrws Posts: 639 Member
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    I can not take a rest day, I try! But this little voice inside me says get up off your lazy behind and get moving!

    In the last 14 months I have maybe taken 10 days off. Most of them were due to my little brothers suicide. I just get up every morning and do it! Come home from work and do it.

    If a lifestyle of inactivity and bad food choices made me morbidly obese, what does it hurt if I keep my body moving is how I look at it. If I am doing my body more damage than good I have no clue. But I can't stop....I guess I will stop when I drop....LOL
  • mes1119
    mes1119 Posts: 1,082 Member
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    I look forward to rest day. I kill myself in my workouts, so it is much needed and deserved.
  • keaani34
    keaani34 Posts: 33 Member
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    I do have a hard time taking a rest day, I like seeing all the calories that I burn after a good work out and I find it hard not to. I guess my body has rested long enough for all the years of not exercising so now I crave it idk.
  • barbiecat
    barbiecat Posts: 16,992 Member
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    :bigsmile: I take rest days between weight training days, but I walk my dogs for at least two and a half hours every day so for us there is no thing as a rest day.
  • dperich1968
    dperich1968 Posts: 235 Member
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    Feeling guilty about taking a rest day is sorta like feeling guilty for eating over your calories one day. You're mentally punishing yourself for something that is a normal and healthy part of the process.

    I say this having coming from that place. I refused to take a rest day and wouldn't have dreamed of eating outside my calorie limits. And I got crankier and crankier, less and less happy, was snapping at people, constantly exhausted and finally just snapped completely. I did a complete mental reset, didn't workout on any set plan, only if I felt like it, and ate mostly whatever I wanted for a little over a month.

    At the end of the month I came back on track with more realistic expectations of myself, more sane, more relaxed and only one pound heavier than the start of the month. Life is a balance, and if it's upset too much one or the other, stress forms. We started MFP to lose the weight we gained from letting it get out of balance of too much food and not enough exercise and the unhappiness that caused. But it's really easy to go too far the other way and end up unhappy again.

    And thoughts of guilt associated with having a day to let your body heal and relax is likely a sign you're heading that way. It took me about five months before the total breakdown happened and I had to hit reset. And looking back, I really wish I'd listened to the people that warned me that I was heading down that path.

    Very well stated, I can't say I completely enjoy my rest days. I will mostly just take a walk, which actually feels good on my stressed muscles. I am defiantly not in my 20's anymore and can't go forever, two workouts a day back then. Our bodies need a day to recoup and build back what we have broke down. I certainly feel stronger and ready to go again after my rest day.
  • kieva626
    kieva626 Posts: 191 Member
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    lol I am so in this boat, I feel like lazy and slum when I dont workout but I have recently forced myself to take rest days and as I'm getting used to it I'm beginning to enjoy them...kind of lol... But I just feel this is ultimately about health and your body needs the rest to be healthy
  • Jessicapages1
    Jessicapages1 Posts: 114 Member
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    I go for a walk with the kids,I don't just sit around the house!Get moving but don't do a high intensity workout.Your muscles will recover faster if you keep moving.Just don't over do it!
  • jenniebean1680
    jenniebean1680 Posts: 351 Member
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    try to go for a nice easy walk. It can be active rest.

    I am the same way. I feel very out of sorts on my rest days. Unless I'm burnt out, in which case my body's like "oh, thank god" and I just sit on mah butt, lol.
  • slrrese
    slrrese Posts: 180 Member
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    I have a very hectic life. I intentionally work out Monday - Saturday and take a pole dance class on Sundays. Also, even after I work out I clean the house, mow the lawn, do yard work, etc... so periodically I feel particularly fatigued and just take a rest day. I have been doing this since January and have taken 3 rest days, and I would have taken more if I felt I needed it. I listen to my body and take a rest day here and there when I need it, but I know what you mean. Last Sun I didn't have my dance class and I was kind of stir crazy (along with the dogs) as it had been rainy all weekend.
  • Chipmaniac
    Chipmaniac Posts: 642 Member
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    I do feel weird on my rest days. I've taken four in March so far. I don't have an addictive personality but busting tail at the gym becomes sort of an addiction for me. Plus, it relieves tons of stress and I get the endorphin reward at the end. My resting pulse is in the low 50's, down from the mid 70's and my fitness has improved dramatically. Watching that improvement over time has added a new layer of fascination to the process.

    Right now I'm battling some sort of injury to my right calf. A strip of muscle on the outside of my lower leg tightens up and hurts really badly, especially when I run. I've fought through it for the last couple weeks but I'm not sure anything but extended rest will fix it. Luckily, it doesn't hurt when I do elliptical and the pain while walking at a reasonable pace is bearable so I've still been able to get in my daily 1200 calories of burn, though I'm getting so fit that it's becoming difficult to get my heart rate up even when walking at 4 MPH on a 6 degree incline.

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