Anyone else have a hard time taking a rest day?

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

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!

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 !

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.

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!

I look forward to rest day. I kill myself in my workouts, so it is much needed and deserved.

: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.

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

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.

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.

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!

Yeah me too but after I ended up with an overuse injury, I HAD to, now I take 2 a week but I call them active recovery days and I will walk on those days.

BUMP!

Because Today is suppose to be my first rest day im being kind of forced into and already I wanna go workout!! I feel lazy! I dont think I know how to take a rest!! so I wanna see what everyone has to say on here

I do have difficulty taking rest days, but not out of guilt or shame. I really just love being active. I don't "work out" ever! I simply do whatever I enjoy and whatever whim takes me away that day. Some days I go cycling outdoors, other days I go for a long walk, some other days I mix in hiking in our beautiful Ozarks. I also am beginning to go once a week to the climbing gym with my sister and am loving the company and the different type of activity. Sure, I love the calorie burn and the weight loss, but my focus on health is most important to me. I've found the pounds just melting away with this attitude. I eat what I want, keep an eye on the calories, and exercise each day. Sometimes, my body just says, "Hey, take a break." I don't like it much, but I listen to my body and have discovered it makes my activity days so much more fun!

Nope, I sure don't. Lol.

I understand the addictive properties of working out, feeling the burn, and working your *kitten* off... BUT!

Rest is actually part of the whole training process! You HAVE to let your body recover! Ask any coach or fitness expert, it's an important part of training.

You leave yourself open for physical and mental breakdown if you do. If you're really trying to change to a healthy lifestyle, you have to incorporate rest as part of your life. I also speak from experience. I thought I had to work out every single day, push it, compete, but I ended up blowing up at the end and injurying myself from overuse. I was then forced off my feet and not able to run (the thing I absolutely LOVE to do in my life) for three months. It is NOT worth it. Listen to your body and respect it. This is why we as humans need to sleep. We need REST.