Exercise - every day or not?

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Sid1988
Sid1988 Posts: 170 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard stories that if you exercise every day then it will take longer for you to lose weight.

Can anyone shed some light on this? surely if you exercise daily then you are burning more calories and losing weight?

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  • cydonian
    cydonian Posts: 361 Member
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    Exercising every day is usually bad for most people as their muscles tend to swell with water from the constant overworking. You need a day or two (I usually say two) of rest every week where you still eat healthy but don't kill yourself from exercise. I mean, you do burn more calories, but it doesn't necessarily make it healthy.
  • jjs22
    jjs22 Posts: 156
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    It depends on what you mean by exercise. We all get *some* exercise every single day. (Just lifting a fork burns calories !) But any conscious effort that uses your muscles "above and beyond' normal daily levels is going to cause damage. The more intense the workout, the more damage. After you finish your workout, your body goes about repairing the damage, and tries to rebuild things just a tad stronger and more efficient. Its super important to allow that rebuilding to happen !

    How much time does it take ? That depends on the severity of the damage (how hard was the workout ?) and on your age. For mild activity that your body is accustomed to, the recovery time can be less than a day. But weight or resistance training usually causes enough damage to require several days.

    So what if you don't allow time to recover ? How does that affect weight loss ? My guess is that : a) you aren't allowing your body to build up lean muscle mass, so you don't get that steady boost to your metabolic rate, and b) you are more likely to end up burnt out and/or injured, so in the long run you exercise less.

    Again, it depends on your age and your level of exercise whether you *have* to take a full day off. But unless your exercise is something gentle that your body is well accustomed to (a daily walk, biking to work, etc.) its probably a good idea.
  • ka97
    ka97 Posts: 1,984 Member
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    I exercise every day BUT....I have worked up to that over several years, and I never strength train the same muscles two days in a row (usually leave at least 2 days in between), and I mix up my cardio workouts so at least I'm not working the same muscles in the same ways. I don't have a scheduled "rest day" but I listen to my body and take a day off when I need it. Every so often (usually after like a half marathon or triathlon) I will take an entire week off.
    Not saying I recommend it, but it has worked for me. I just find there is so much I want to do, that I can't cut anything out.
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    I try to get some form of exercise in everyday, even if it's a small walk. I don't do heavy workouts everyday as I like to let my muscles rest.

    If I do weights I try not to work the same muscles two days in a row. I do believe you need some rest days as you can get burnt out if you are pushing it everyday in workouts.

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