In defense of never taking rest days…
March 23, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments
You’ve probably heard that days of rest are essential for healthy weight loss.
And that’s not entirely untrue.
But, by avoiding activity, we might be doing ourselves a disservice when it comes to fitness.
Why? Because, as it’s repeatedly stated (both throughout this entire site, and in innumerable research efforts on the topic), stress equals high cortisol in your body. And high cortisol equals fat. And, to add fuel to the fire (that’s def not burning any calories), stress often makes many of us give into a thorough stint of ingesting our feels. One gobble of Godiva at a time. And, seeing as exercise’s one of the best methods for effectively reducing – and avoiding – that high cortisol in the first place, why not treat it like a preventative medication?
Why not do it daily?
(I dunno about y’all but I don’t just stress *some* days.
I wake daily with that monster squatting over me like a serenity sucking succubus…)
The counter-argument’s always that your body needs a break. Too much wear ‘n tear means it can’t do damage control and come back rejuvenated. And, to a degree, we all can agree on that. Hitting the gym hard daily isn’t the way to go. However, we’re not talking about doing a harcore marathon every 24 hours. This isn’t meant to champion chronically assaulting our bodies. No, sirs and madams. Rather, we’re talking about mixing it up and mainlining a little heart raising, mood boosting activity into everyday. We’re talking about the stuff that doesn’t necessarily do a ton of calorie blasting, but definitely revs the metabolic (and mental) engine. Why? Well, we’re all already stressed out, most of us. We wake up freaking out about everything from health insurance bills to some dumb, unfunny joke we uttered yesterday in the break room. By lacing up some kicks and wiggling away for a half hour or so, though, something magical happens. The bar on our freak-ometer magically descends, supplanting endorphins of the I-got-this-shiz variety in its stead. And that means we enter the day A.) with less fat storing stress, B.) able to handle prospective stressors better, and C.) less likely to stress-eat things we don’t need later in the day.
What’s more, spending your rest day quasi-active has another great domino effect on your weight loss goals. First, comes the novelty factor. The brain loves when we try out new activities. It gets engaged and releases that flood of feel good hormones consistent with trampling any fear of the unknown. Second, by giving something unknown a go, you can add it to your activity compendium, and inject it into your weekly routine later on. Maybe you’ll find a new place to go jogging. Maybe you’ll meet some beach-people who invite you to regular volleyball matches. Maybe you’ll step into a spin class on a whim, and fall in love (or off your bike, like I did when I tried). Either way, variety’s the spice of slicing down the pounds on your weight loss journey.
(Drag someone along…. ’cause laughing at yourself in the company of fun folk’s an epic endorphin booster, too.)
An active rest day can definitely help you benefit on that front.
Thus, while mayhaps treading ten miles on the daily isn’t the way to healthy weight loss, a dose of some daily activity is. And the genre’s not relevant. It could be a bit of Ashtanga yoga. It could be walking your Weimaraner around the block. It could be cartwheeling to work for all anyone cares. The only thing that does matter? Is if it gets your heart rate up a little, raises those endorphins, and stalls that potential cortisol in its fat attracting tracks.
In sum – you should sweat the small stuff. And the big stuff.
You should sweat it right out’ve your body.