Exercise! Love it or hate it, let's motivate each other to just DO IT!

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Old 02-02-2014, 10:05 AM   #1  
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Default For those that regularly exercise

When do you feel like you've "blown it" and have to start over?

Unless I'm sick I feel very bad if I have gone more than 4 days, but is that really all that bad? I think I am too hard on myself. I will go on a spree for a while and then get lazy for a few days, then the guilt sets in...but I never usually go more than 2-3 days off before getting back into warrior mode. This week I skipped 4 days and felt intense guilt.

Maybe someone would have to not exercise for a consecutive month or two to truly have blown it...maybe longer?

I know food is #1 priority for weight loss but I pride myself on being a gym rat. Some people feel extreme guilt for eating off plan, I feel like I need to go before jury when I skip a jog.
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Old 02-02-2014, 10:25 AM   #2  
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Oh god, you're totally fine. if your performance has suffered it's because you've been sick. 4 days is nothing. I've taken two weeks off for bronchitis before. Generally, it's about 3-4 weeks of inactivity before you start to lose significant muscle mass and suffer performance losses…

But here's the good part - even if you were to undo all the work you had done getting back into shape would take about 1/3rd of the time it did originally because you've pre-conditioned your body.

In the grand scheme of things your body doesn't burn that many calories in the gym - unless you workout like you're on biggest loser. Most of your calories burned are from basal metabolic processes that keep happening even when you're lying in bed. The extra calories you "saved" from the gym probably just went to helping your body fight off the infection.
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Old 02-02-2014, 10:36 AM   #3  
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I'm in the same boat, I don't remember the last time I took more than 4 consecutive days off from exercising. I've cut cardio by a couple hours a week this month as the exercise bike in our condo's gym is on the fritz and I've replaced my time on the stationary with walking the dog for about 45 minutes x2/day and that kinda drives me nuts as there's no intensity (I like to push hard most of the time). To maintain my endurance and my lactate threshold I've started running outside even when it's -20 (-4F, I live in northern canada) or lower as I won't touch the dreadmill. I thought it'd be pretty awful, but when the sun's shining it's great! ....Good to know I can run all year long and hopefully hit my pace goals sooner

I feel pretty guilty that I've been only getting in 2 full-body heavy lifting sessions in and one hot-yoga class/week, but hey, there's only so much time in a day and at least I'm consistent!!

I wouldn't worry too much about it nova as you've got the habit, and habits are hard to break! I'm sure even if we tried to take a full week off from exercising you'd go battsh*t crazy!! Give your body the rest it needs, don't feel guilty about it because you know you'll be going right back at it until your body needs to rest again.
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Old 02-02-2014, 10:41 AM   #4  
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Blown what? Really, what do you think you blow if you don't exercise for some period of time?

If you miss a few workouts, you don't instantly gain back all the weight you lost. You don't instantly lose all the strength and endurance you've gained. To the contrary it's probably a good thing for your body to have a rest week every once in a while.

And even if you do miss enough workouts that you do undo most of your progress - still, what have you blown?

Definitely, go easier on yourself. Missing workouts, just like eating off plan, is not a sin or a crime. There's nothing to feel guilty about. Just put it behind you and go do your next workout. Absolute perfection need not be your goal; but even if it is, there is no moral failing implied, no punishment due, for not quite attaining absolute perfection all the time.

Last edited by carter; 02-02-2014 at 10:42 AM.
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Old 02-02-2014, 03:32 PM   #5  
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Yeah, that's my question? Blown what? Starting over with what?

We start over every day.

It sounds a little like you have an all or nothing attitude - like you are a warrior or a slug based on how many days you've exercised. Or you are good or bad based on whether you went to the gym or didn't.

I hike as my exercise. So my days will often go: 2 hours in the woods, yoga 1 hour, 3 hour hike, rest, rest some more, rest but do some situps while watching tv, rest but stretch a little, stretch, hike 5 hours, rest.

Am I "good" on the days I hike and bad on the days I just lie on the floor and stretch?

You are good if you visit old people in a nursing home, bad if you kick puppies. Not based on what you do in the gym.
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Old 02-02-2014, 03:39 PM   #6  
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I think it depends on each individual. For me I've blown it if I skip a workout- period. I know myself very well, one lazy day leads to two, then three
My mood and metabolism suffers so I'm very strict with myself. But I'm the opposite with food, I bounce back right away if I've overeaten one or two days.
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Old 02-02-2014, 03:58 PM   #7  
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I'm so glad you posted this! I've been wondering the same thing about myself. Because of the bad weather in my parts I haven't been to the gym and can't go outside to exercise. I've been beating myself and wondering if I'm just making excuses when I say that my body can benefit from a little break. I've been looking at this way. In spite of having to decrease my exercising a bit I'm still active. I've been trying to incorporate some other things to keep my body moving...increasing trips up and down the steps. Using my exercise ball for about 10 min or so and I still walk indoors on my breaks and lunches at work. I think everyone deserves a rest and it's actually beneficial to your body. The main this is to just let it be a "rest" and not stopping all together.
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Old 02-04-2014, 09:54 AM   #8  
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What???

If I feel like I've gone too long without exercising the only solution is to go exercise. Guilt is a pointless and destructive emotion to have when it comes to keeping your body limber.
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Old 02-04-2014, 12:11 PM   #9  
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I haven't been to the gym for a year but have been paying for it this whole time not wanting to lose my low rate knowing I'd stick to it one day. I just figured out that I go to the gym regularly in Jan and Feb lose weight, it goes up in March I don't go back to June and then I give up again til next year.

I say I've blown it after only making it to the gym once a week but I need to get real. Making it once a week would be fantastic in lieu of what I've done so far. Just need to stick to it.
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Old 02-04-2014, 02:31 PM   #10  
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novangel I know where you're coming from. I'm becoming a gym rat and really don't like skipping out (even if it's just for a day). But 4 days is a small, small break. =3 No worries.

However, I have just been doing cardio and really need to do some strength training here soon.
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Old 02-04-2014, 10:55 PM   #11  
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Much longer. I had to take a break from exercising for several months after a car accident. When my doc told me I could get back into it, I was still in far, far better shape than I had been when I had first started exercising regularly a few years ago. I am still not quite where I was before the accident, but I was nowhere near "starting over." That being said, I do feel guilty when I decide to forgo exercise. And I usually have to actively talk myself out of it. That just goes to show how far I've come. Used to have to talk myself into it back in the day.
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Old 02-05-2014, 02:45 AM   #12  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by novangel View Post
When do you feel like you've "blown it" and have to start over?

Unless I'm sick I feel very bad if I have gone more than 4 days, but is that really all that bad? I think I am too hard on myself. I will go on a spree for a while and then get lazy for a few days, then the guilt sets in...but I never usually go more than 2-3 days off before getting back into warrior mode. This week I skipped 4 days and felt intense guilt.

Maybe someone would have to not exercise for a consecutive month or two to truly have blown it...maybe longer?

I know food is #1 priority for weight loss but I pride myself on being a gym rat. Some people feel extreme guilt for eating off plan, I feel like I need to go before jury when I skip a jog.
I'm really happy I came across this post and gymrat's reply. This is one of the reasons I've been dieting on and off. At the slightest misstep, especially if it lasts a few days, I feel terribly guilty and convince myself that I've blown it all off.
The most recent instance was last year. I had lost about 20 pounds, then I had a heartbreak over a weekend we were supposed to spend together. I literally swallowed all the food I had gathered for a group of about 10 people alone. The gilt of that alone was enough to make me stop my diet. I was convinced I had exploded my kilos and I was going to take about 10 pounds from that meal alone. So I stopped trying. I must add that I was also lacking willpower and motivation. I think this is one of the reasons why we have to be FLEXIBLE when planning our diets. It's pure utopia to think it's going to be smooth all along or that you're going to be only losing weight all along.
I'm thankful for y'all dieters on this forum. I feel enlightened day by day. About questions I ask and things that don't occur to me to ask but to which I find answers anyway.

Last edited by thirti4thirty; 02-05-2014 at 02:51 AM.
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Old 02-06-2014, 11:46 AM   #13  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gymrat05 View Post
Oh god, you're totally fine. 4 days is nothing. I've taken two weeks off for bronchitis before. Generally, it's about 3-4 weeks of inactivity before you start to lose significant muscle mass and suffer performance losses
This is the info I was looking for. Thank you.
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Old 02-06-2014, 09:24 PM   #14  
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http://runnersconnect.net/running-in...nning-fitness/
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Old 02-08-2014, 09:11 AM   #15  
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Guilt is an emotion I'm struggling to be completely rid of. So far it has done nothing for me, in fact guilt makes me spin into a depression and I'm more likely to veer off course because of it.

It's never too late. 4 days is nothing. As long as you're not spending 7hrs on the couch watching tv then think of every motion you make as exercise.

And then of course there's the external cues that help me prioritize movement. (I don't think of it as exercise anymore, I just think of it as being active).

- I wear a pedometer. It makes every step count. All day.
- I put on my work out gear first thing in the morning. Because I feel like a doofus if I go through the trouble of taking my sneakers off not to exercise. I'm already dressed... do something!
- Think of it as a chore and schedule it in. I have a list on my fridge that tells me what I'm doing every day of the week. Monday is mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, and exercising for example.
- Find ways to cope with guilt, give yourself positive reinforcement and be kind to yourself - you're the only you you've got, why plague her with punishment?
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