Remember how I mentioned wanting to go for a run yesterday afternoon? Here’s what actually happened…
What can I say? Gloomy weather, a comfy couch, warm tea, a stellar [Christmas] movie lineup — what more could you ask for in a rest day? Well, how about the ability to actually enjoy it… If you ask me, that last one is kind of the kicker.
Rest day anxiety. I feel a little funny talking about it since I haven’t had a proper workout/rest schedule for a couple of years now, but I have struggled with a serious exercise addiction in the past, and I remember wanting to jump out of my skin on those days where I wasn’t working out.
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There was a time where I worked out 7 days a week, without fail. The idea of taking a day off caused me so much grief, that I convinced myself that what I was doing was actually healthy. I mean, exercise is a great form of stress relief, right? Right. And that’s what I was doing — relieving stress. What I failed to acknowledge was that what I was actually doing was catering to an exercise addiction. I thought I loved exercise, but the only thing I really loved about it was that it would rid me of the anxiety I felt over the idea that taking a day off would cause me to gain weight.
Eventually, my body started to break down and I was forced to introduce 1, and then 2, rest days a week. It was agony — I didn’t know what to do with myself when I wasn’t planning my day around a workout or fuelling… So much extra time — what to do?! And to make matters worse, my appetite was usually out of control on those days, and a lack of exercise in addition to an increased appetite made me one big ball of nerves.
Fast forward to today — I can honestly say that I enjoy the occasional full-on lazy day, but more so than that, I enjoy not feeling like I have to work out. Don’t get me wrong — physical activity is a beautiful thing and definitely a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle — but we should be looking at it as a way to improve ourselves rather than punish ourselves. I think a big part of the reason that I’m enjoying running so much more this time around is because I’m no longer looking at it solely as a way to burn off extra calories. Me time, endorphins, accomplishment, getting stronger… that’s what I love. And on that note, I really need to update you guys on how I’m doing with the whole running thing… But I digress.
Rest days. Embrace them, they’re good for you. I didn’t write this post to highlight the benefits and importance of rest days, but to tell you that it’s okay to take them and enjoy them — it doesn’t mean you’re being lazy or unhealthy. I get a good amount of e-mails from girls struggling to overcome exercise addictions, and I know that one of the things that helped me deal with my own was seeing examples of people who were happy and healthy and not obsessive about their workout schedules. It’s possible. So, my friends, keep calm and rest.
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How do you feel about rest days?
Why do you exercise?
I love exercising – mostly in the morning, because it wakes me up! No matter how tired I am, I feel SO much more awake after a bit of cardio action. It also makes me happy and gives me a feeling of accomplishment even if I do nothing else for the day. Today I want/need a rest day in bed but unfortunately that’s not happening as I’m at work…
I find myself craving exercise on my off days!
Rest days ROCK!
These days I do take rest days when I am tired or when I really feel I need it…or when time just doesn’t permit – funny thing this life 🙂
But, I do exercise to find my zen, when I am stressed or things are not going quite my way, a run or workout works wonders on my attitude and just general well being and, while there are some weeks when I feel I NEED a workout everyday, there are others when I do gladly embrace a rest day or two or three. Wasn’t always the case – but live and learn right? Gloomy, cold days like what you had are definitely not conducive to running outside at all!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend albeit the gloomy cold weather 🙂
Live and learn — definitely. Ohhh the things I would go back to tell my younger self, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have listened anyways.
Yes, yes, and YES! I’m right there with ya on my past of feeling anxiety about rest days. But now? I embrace them and feel absolutely no guilt. 🙂 So glad you’re in that place too!
Yes!! I also used to workout 6-7 days a week and, while I enjoy working out, I very much enjoy rest days now. I think they’re so important, especially so you don’t overwork your body (which I have done in the past).
Oh my I loveeee this!! I have definitely struggled with this. I’ve mentioned it before, but my New Years Resolution was to add rest days.. kind of silly, right? I was soo bad at taking them and didn’t think I needed them. Now, I take every Sunday off (1% chance I will workout if I didn’t Saturday) and I don’t ever regret it. I now fully embrace it. People don’t realize that taking days off can be really difficult for us!!
When I saw that picture on Instagram I was so jealous that you have SNOW and cold temps! But its going to be 27* here in Texas on Tuesday, so hallelujah! I for one thoroughly enjoy my rest days and with no guilt. It’s a wonderufl thing, isnt it?!
That’s definitely a wonderful thing! And 27 in Texas?! I didn’t think you guys got temperatures that low!
I love working out, I really do. I think it’s because I grew up playing sports every day – travel, national, in school. It’s the one time that I can disconnect from the world around me and let my mind wander. That said, I appreciate rest days too. Especially when I’m sick. I don’t understand how people can continuously push themselves so hard when they’re sick. The body needs time to recover (from workouts) and rest (when sick)!
Exercise has always been my stress relief and time to myself. Often times, I would think about situations and rationalize ways to confront them or others. After a run (or any workout, really), I felt more at ease with whatever life threw at me the previous day. Now, though, I realize the damage I was doing to my body by using exercise as a way to relief stress. There are other ways to combat stress and you can’t run away (no pun intended) from everything going on in your life. After my surgeries, I definitely realize the importance and joys of taking a rest day. There is never anything wrong with one day of lounging around in pajamas, sipping coffee, and watching good ‘ole Food Network with my mom and Elmo. 🙂 <3
YES, YES & YES – I LOVE this post, Amanda! Like you I used to work out to the point that I was probably doing more harm than good, both mentally and physically. Although workouts should make us feel energised, I was constantly left feeling both drained yet like I needed to up my game. Thankfully that’s a thing of the past and like you, I embrace my rest days no2..not active recovery days but full on ‘laze in bed’ days! I love to work out but I equally loving taking a time out and unsurprisingly these days have only improved the quality of my workouts overall. I’m a creature of habit so I usually take Sundays off and another day during the week.
I totally needed this! I used to work out every day, and if I didn’t, I would get antsy and cranky and try to change around plans to get in a workout. I’d also try to cut back on what I was eating because I thought I wasn’t burning enough calories to “deserve” the food I was hungry for. Ugh.
Now, I still have those days where I’m anxious about resting, but it has gotten so much better. Like this weekend, I took a nice full rest day on Saturday even when the rest of my family did their workouts. In the past, I would have gone completely out of my mind! We even went out to dinner Saturday night and I didn’t feel like I had to hold back anything.
Now, I workout because I am blessed to have the ability to move, I love the challenge, and I love to see improvements. However, I may need to step back on the intensity of my workouts for a while because my body isn’t quite doing what it’s supposed to as a young lady…And this is going to be really, really tough for me, but I have to keep reminding myself that exercise will be there as long as I focus on what my body truly needs first.
“I workout because I am blessed to have the ability to move,” <-- that's a beautiful way to look at it. And yes, a LOT of women have to cut back on exercise because it interferes with their hormones -- but exercise is supposed to IMPROVE our health, not harm it.
This past week, while recovering from my neck injury, taught me the importance of resting the body and balancing that with working out. BOTH are good for the body, not one or the other. I’m about 90% healed now and I know that would’ve never happened if I didn’t rest.
Well. You just took the words out of my mouth. Hmmm … all I have to say is AMEN. I used to struggle with the same “I have to run every day” mentality. Thank you for posting this!
Great post! I like to do a little bit of exercise every day. This is a good reminder that if something comes up or I just don’t feel like it, to enjoy the day because of my healthy decision to take a break or be with someone I love! And you’re so right about being in tune enough with your body to know where the drive is coming from. If you really just want to get outside, get strong, and zen-out, then that’s awesome. If you want to check that box off your list of things to do today, then maybe it’s time to re-evaluate why you’re doing it. It’s all about hearing and listening to your body’s needs, which is not always the easiest thing for me.
Sooo I bought the David’s Tea winter collection on the weekend.. and I have had a mug in my hand ever since. Love all of them! Especially coffee cake. I’m off work today so I plan to get lots done.. let’s see if that actually happens!
Definitely an important reminder! There’s so much pressure out there to get out and get moving every day, that the importance of rest days get overlooked. I know I’ve definitely struggled with rest days before in the past – when I first started Livefit back in the day, I actually lost sleep over the fact that for the first two weeks, you only work out 4 days a week. The thought of taking 3 rest days a week (and not doing any cardio) actually caused me a crazy amount of anxiety – definitely a red flag that my relationship with exercise wasn’t the greatest.
Even now, I don’t really love ‘unplanned’ rest days – I definitely take at least one full rest day a week (and another day with just a yoga class), but I hate waking up in the morning and realizing that I’m feeling too injured or sick to work out, and need a day off. But of course, taking rest days when I need them definitely helps prevent injury or illness from coming in the first place!
You could always just go for a walk with Atti on those days! Or do yoga or even clean the house. Rest days don’t mean you have to sit around all day — you can still be active without having to work out.
“we should be looking at it as a way to improve ourselves rather than punish ourselves”- I totally agree with that statement! I love exercising, but I also love days where I get to lounge around and watch movies. On days where I feel like working out would cause me stress rather than relieve it (i.e. I slept really badly or am really sore), that’s when I take a rest day. I usually rest 2 days a week, which is perfect for me!
I learned the hard way I had to take rest days… About a year ago at this time I read another girls blog saying that she never took rest days and I got it into my head that I should work out seven days a week as well. Shortly thereafter I injured my back, and I’m still recovering. Now I know I need to rest, but still struggle with taking a day off if it’s not ‘planned’. I aspire to be in a place where I have no anxiety revolving around food and exercise.
I love this post! I’ve come such a long way in my eating habits in the past few months/years but i’m definitely still struggling with the exercise side of things! I love running because it relieves stress and I also like strength training because it makes me feel like superwoman but I have a hard time separating exercise from calorie burn. I mean, yes I love running but at the back of my mind after each run I still think about the calorie burn even though that wasn’t the reason of doing it. When it comes to exercise I’m still in the black and white mentality especially with strength training ie if I can’t give it my all then there’s no point. I thought I was passed that but I’m not. Indeed, I was going to my gym 3 times a week in addition to running and I thought I’d be ok with missing a workout to see my friends or do social stuff once uni started again but I wasn’t. I ended up going out after my workouts but that coupled with work meant that I had zero me time and what was bound to happen happened: I burned out, was miserable, got sick for two weeks and had to rest completely.
I’ve decided to take a step back on the exercise front for now and I have to say I’m loving the evenings where the only thing I have to do is open the yogurt container and the cereal box! I’m still enjoying my running but am only going when I feel like it (like yesterday when I was so angry only a run could lift my mood!)
Love this post! It can be so easy to over do it without realising it, so rest days are so important to me.
The reason I never blog is because you take the words right out of my mouth! 😀
I was the same way before — never ever any rest days. Because like you said, what would I do with my free time? Free time with an ED is disastrous. When I did have some free time, I would peruse recipes that I never ended up cooking, I would calculate how much I had eaten and how many calories I had left for the day, and I would try to figure out how to get away from food situations for the longest periods of time so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat.
Now, rest days come pretty naturally. If I don’t feel like moving around a lot because I’m simply tired or just FEEL lazy, I’m not going to push myself. If it doesn’t feel good, why would I do it? Same with feeling hungry. THAT doesn’t feel good, so why would I let myself feel it for an extended period of time?? So many things have changed and no, it wasn’t overnight, but I could say that as soon as I TRULY started embracing the idea of recovery because I was so sick of my ED, these sorts of ideas got easier and easier to try.
Nowadays, I exercise to tone up, relieve stress, and simply move because it stretches me out after long periods of sitting at my job. Of course I do it to be healthy, but I don’t do it to lose ungodly amounts of weight.
Isn’t it amazing how much happiness we take away from our lives by forcing ourselves to do stupid things that we THINK will make us happier but never do? Going hungry, over-exercising… ohhh the things I’d go back and tell my younger self.
Rest and recovery are essential! I couldn’t agree more. 🙂
Yes! Rest days are both the best day and the worst day all at the same time. I always hate “just sitting around”, but then the next day my body feels so refreshed. Great post!
A very important post today. I am a good twenty years removed from my eating/ exercise addictions and I remember those feelings.
On another note, I made your pumpkin chocolate chip bread yesterday. The family is devouring it! It is the best recipe I have tried yet for quick bread!
Awwr thanks for letting me know, Lisa! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed it!
Yes, you do need to update us on your running! I want to hear allllllllllllllllll about it. 🙂 I can’t say I’ve ever felt terrible over taking a rest day…more like twinges of guilt that I usually manage to talk myself out of. When we were on vacation in Yellowstone/the Grand Tetons, it was definitely the worst…even though we were walking around a lot, it was still relatively unhealthy food + no intense exercise and made me feel horrible. Until I realized that I was in freaking Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and I wasn’t going to let a lack of running let me enjoy those gorgeous few days!
Rest Day (AKA stay home and think about working out) Giggle! So true!Giving myself permission to rest is still such a struggle for me. I convince myself I exercise to relieve anxiety. I reason that I will feel incredibly anxious if I do not work out. so I might as well exercise in order to stop thinking about it. The thing is, planning the exercise, juggling my schedule to fit in the exercise, and awaiting the time when I will exercise actually increase my anxiety. Yesterday afternoon I plopped myself down in the sun , read a few pages, and drifted into that blissful warm drowsy state. Okay, so it was all of 20 minutes but, for me, this is a small victory, to allow myself the simple luxury of leisure. The interesting thing is I felt less anxious and more energized after my mini-lollygag. It is always a good thing when I can prove one of my hare-brained theories incorrect. Thanks for the reminder. You are right; it does help to see examples of healthy people take a day off and live to tell about it!
Small victories add up over time and eventually lead to bigger victories 😀 There’s nothing wrong with baby steps, especially since they allow us to go at a comfortable enough pace not to shock us back into bad habits.
Rest days are just the greatest sometimes. I had one yesterday. I never changed out of my pajamas. I watched How I Met Your Mother, Revenge, and Grimm reruns all day. I drank Paleo chai lattes and ate 21 day sugar detox pumpkin cookies. Yum. Sometimes rest days are the perfect fuel for the coming week of workouts.
“.. but we should be looking at it as a way to improve ourselves rather than punish ourselves” <– CAN I GET AN AMEN!!! This was probably my favorite sentence in this whole post. Short yet so powerful and true. I can say at once I was addicted. Since I felt that "addiction", I can honestly say it breaks my heart completely when I see other people not allowing themselves and their body REST! They don't see it now, but one day they will.. and you ever know if it'll be too late. you know, possibly giving themselves a time consuming injury. Sure i love seeing other bloggers workouts they post for the week, however is it bad that I cringe at some? I know I should never judge, and I try not too, but when I don't even see ONE SINGLE REST DAY I often wonder WHY?? Alright alright, i'm not going to go any further w/ this comment. Case in point – rest days are important & your body will thank you <3
I cringe when I see what some bloggers put their bodies through as well, but then I remember that I was there once and that nothing anyone told me would have changed my mind or convinced me to do otherwise. Everyone is on their own journey, and they’ll most likely learn with time.
I used to be very anti-rest days as well! I would go into full blown panic mode just thinking about not exercising. But now that I’m older and wiser (or so I think!), I fully embrace them and take at 2 days off from any intentional forms of exercise a week. It’s good for the mind, body, and soul. 🙂
Rest days are so important. I’ve been keen on rest days lately since my knee is bothering me, and I like to think they are helping. Fall and winter are perfect for rest days because it’s so cold you just want to hang out 😉
Sounds like a heavenly day!
My biggest problem with taking rest days is actually finding the time to rest and not feel guilty about not doing homework, or work work, or cleaning my apartment, or whatever else it is that needs to be done. I don’t exercise every day but I do exercise about 4 times a week with rest days in between. On the days I don’t do Pure Barre or run, I might do a yoga DVD just because it feels good to stretch. I also used to struggle with an exercise addiction, though it didn’t last long because it definitely went along with my eating disorder and I was put in treatment before I even knew what happened. My problem then was going the opposite way and not wanting to exercise at all because I felt like I “had to” to be a “good” patient in recovery. I saw so many girls and women in treatment so badly wanting to exercise and I felt guilty that I didn’t want to as bad as they did. It was a weird thought process but now I exercise because it makes me feel strong and healthy and gives me a rush. It’s my release.
Don’t feel guilty for doing what works for you, love <3
Hit the nail on the head! Well at least for me. I used to think my body needed all that exercise for the endorphins…or at least that was the excuse I was using to allow myself to rarely take a rest day. Since quitting higher intensity exercise I’ve learned that my body in fact does NOT need the exercise and is perfectly satisfied with a walk. I no longer feel like a slave to exercise which I hate to admit I spent far too long feeling. Exercise is important to maintain a healthy life but if exercise is taking over your life, you are the furthest thing from healthy. Love this! Love you!
What a beautiful post and a wonderful reminder. I think a lot of people struggle with this, especially those in the ‘healthy living blog’ community. I know that I still struggle with just taking a rest day. I feel like I need to have a reason, like I’m too busy to fit a workout in, so I look for something to do to fill that time. But sometimes it’s simply okay to just plop yourself down on the couch and just be not-busy and take a FULL rest day.
Such an important topic! Many girls don’t get that stress is one of the biggest burden when it comes to our health. I used to be a nonstop-person all my life. Always go go go, doesn’t matter if it was exercising, studying, working, meeting friends. Having a busy schedule was something natural for me and having a day off often ended in being depressed and not knowing what to do with my free time. That is such an important thing Jay teached me: hanging in your PJs and watching series the whole day is absolutely OK. You don’t feel like working out today? Then don’t do it. Whats the problem? You feel like taking an evening off and not socializing. Do it. Take all the time you need. I must say it feels damn nice to let go of the stress and get no anxiety attacks when I have nothing planned for a few days in a row.
YES. I’ve always found it ironic that the people that stress the least about diet and exercise seem to be some of the happiest and healthiest. I mean, there are obviously exceptions, but overall I think that stress has a more negative effect on our well-being than not following a perfect diet or exercise routine.
I couldn’t agree more about stress!
I love physically benefits of exercise, but my biggest reason for doing it is more for the mental benefits. It helps clear my mind and helps get rid of that extra pent up energy. Right now, I exercise 5 days a week with 2 rest days. I’ve definitely had had times where I’ve overdone it (I used to think rest days were bad) and my body paid for it, so I’ve come to understand the need for rest days. They allow your body to heal and get stronger, so I’ve come to accept those days and their benefits.
I have struggled with taking rest days, too. I try to just go with how my body feels – if it is extra tired than I take a day off but if I am just taking a rest day because I’ve worked out for 5 days and “should” then sometimes I will go ahead and work out. I’m glad that you were able to take a rest day and completely embrace it!!!
Such timing you had with today’s post – I totally struggle with rest days simply because I crave my 30 minutes a day. What I try to do is make a “rest day” each week more of an “easy exercise” day as in walking or light elliptical work or even a slow jog. All depends upon my mood. I know I should take a full rest day each week but sometimes, and really most times, it doesn’t happen. I know it should. I try to listen to my body and proceed with caution. Like this morning – probably should’ve taken a rest day simply because I am due for one but felt like a morning jog. I kept it totally slow and light but really, what would have happened if I skipped it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We runners are so stubborn. And I thought about that this morning. I need to stop being stubborn and treat my body to a full rest. Not just a run followed by putting those pajamas back on and resting. Such a slippery slope between getting out there and getting out there too often.
Rest days are still a struggle for me but I do make sure to at least take one to two days off running completely. I may go for a walk (on my commute) or do a yoga class on a rest day, but I’m much less obsessive than I was. Not being on a strict workout schedule has really helped me with that and I don’t know that I would be this carefree about it if I was following a plan. I love your outlook on rest now! If you aren’t feeling it, then there’s no point. I still don’t understand why I turn into a hungry monster on rest days but that’s something I need to learn to embrace.
Ravenous rest days seem to be a thing for most people. I think a lot of it has to do with your body requiring more energy for healing and muscle growth and what not.
Thank you girl, another insporational post!
My biggest strength this year was to break down my workout routine. I went down from 2 workouts a day 2 times a week to 5 single workout days. I went from 90minutes cardio a day to 30 minutes 5 times a week. And – I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I LOVE my rest days – I sleep in (sometimes 10 hours :-)) and I have so much time for other fun things, or just really to REST, hang on the couch, go for an easy stroll, and be mindful with myself. I am not there yet, that I can exercise intuitively, I still have my plan and stick to it very strictly, but hey – one step at a time, right?
Exercising for me is being fit, strong, relaxed and for the most part: self confident.
You’re doing SO awesome love, and I know you’ve been a huge inspiration to many in your journey <3
Amen! Rest days are so important. I actually do love to workout and push myself to achieve fitness goals and it definitely satisfies my competitive drive. That being said, the body also needs time to recover and relax. I think rest days remind me to be balanced in life. Eating chocolate every day also reminds me of that 😉 Great post!