According to my exercise plan with my doctors, I have to take AT LEAST 2 rest days a week and meet my macros/meal plan on those days just like my workout days. NO gym, NO workouts, NO exercise... but eat the exact same amount (what I feel is a lot in order to fuel my heavy lifting).. pretty much a day in hell for me as I ENJOY working out and eating...when I feel I earned it! When I was heavily in my eating disorder, I could not take a day off working out. It became a compulsion to go and workout. If I didn't workout, I had a major fear of gaining weight, becoming weak, losing muscle, and feeling unproductive. I also reduced my intake of food even further on rest days because I thought if I ate and didn't workout I would surely get fat. In my time in treatment, I learned about why my body needs rest days in between days I workout, but also why eating the same amount on rest days is vital!
1) Too much exercise=burnout!
-We all love the "high" we feel after awesome workout, but more exercise does not always mean more energy. If your workouts are regularly making you crash later in the day or feel exhausted because you're so tired and sore, then you're over doing it.
-Listen to your body and take a break!
2) Muscle growth comes during the repair process... AKA rest time
-Lifting weights creates tiny tears in your muscles that can only repair during breaks! Ultimately, the repair process is what makes your muscles stronger. Work your muscles (hard!) to stimulate muscle-building proteins and the micro tears then make sure you take rest days so your body can repair the muscles which is what leads to muscle growth and tone!
3) LADIES... you need rest! Overtraining can mess with your menstrual cycle and cause amenorrhea (the absence of menstruation) "Shark week" sucks, but for us women, it's our body telling us it is functioning normall! The lack of its presence indicates that your body thinks is not happy or healthy enough signifies a problem, especially if it disappears for three months or more. Heavy exercise can cause a drop in estrogen. This cause hormonal changes in your body leading to amenorrhea, but also can cause bone loss, mood swings, lack of hair growth, chills, and make you weak and cause injury!
4) Eating on rest days is VITAL! When you lift weights or exercise, you are teaching your body to burn calories (BURN BABY BURN) so over time, it will burn calories all the time...even on your "rest days". As with reasons 1-3...your body grows when it is at rest, so eating enough calories to recover is key! My overall message, there is no point in eating a lot on training days if you go on to restrict on rest days.Your body can't repair, therefore it cannot build muscle or lose fat, and you will run out of energy since your body is used to a higher caloric mount to fuel itself, slowing your metabolism= BAD!!!
Now... I know all of these things... yet my mind on rest days still tells me to restrict and use ED behaviors. I am in that constant battle of telling myself why I need to rest, need to eat, and need to workout. I will be in this battle to find balance for a while. I type this knowing the difficulty, but I am willing to do it: fight the voices and find the happy medium! BALANCE!
1) Too much exercise=burnout!
-We all love the "high" we feel after awesome workout, but more exercise does not always mean more energy. If your workouts are regularly making you crash later in the day or feel exhausted because you're so tired and sore, then you're over doing it.
-Listen to your body and take a break!
2) Muscle growth comes during the repair process... AKA rest time
-Lifting weights creates tiny tears in your muscles that can only repair during breaks! Ultimately, the repair process is what makes your muscles stronger. Work your muscles (hard!) to stimulate muscle-building proteins and the micro tears then make sure you take rest days so your body can repair the muscles which is what leads to muscle growth and tone!
3) LADIES... you need rest! Overtraining can mess with your menstrual cycle and cause amenorrhea (the absence of menstruation) "Shark week" sucks, but for us women, it's our body telling us it is functioning normall! The lack of its presence indicates that your body thinks is not happy or healthy enough signifies a problem, especially if it disappears for three months or more. Heavy exercise can cause a drop in estrogen. This cause hormonal changes in your body leading to amenorrhea, but also can cause bone loss, mood swings, lack of hair growth, chills, and make you weak and cause injury!
4) Eating on rest days is VITAL! When you lift weights or exercise, you are teaching your body to burn calories (BURN BABY BURN) so over time, it will burn calories all the time...even on your "rest days". As with reasons 1-3...your body grows when it is at rest, so eating enough calories to recover is key! My overall message, there is no point in eating a lot on training days if you go on to restrict on rest days.Your body can't repair, therefore it cannot build muscle or lose fat, and you will run out of energy since your body is used to a higher caloric mount to fuel itself, slowing your metabolism= BAD!!!
Now... I know all of these things... yet my mind on rest days still tells me to restrict and use ED behaviors. I am in that constant battle of telling myself why I need to rest, need to eat, and need to workout. I will be in this battle to find balance for a while. I type this knowing the difficulty, but I am willing to do it: fight the voices and find the happy medium! BALANCE!