question about days off!!!

hey ya'll!! i am new to this site, but i really like reading the forums so i joined! i have some questions myself, but i will limit it to just this one for now....

 

sooo... i have been dieting for about 2 1/2 months now, eating a diet of 1200 cals a day and working out 6 days a week, doing about 40 mins of moderate to high intensity cardio and liftin weights for about 20 mins. 3-4 days of the week. i've lost about 12 pounds so far! my question is.... i've been feeling really tired lately, and i want to know how many days SHOULD you take off from exercise? i always take one, but i still feel guilty about not going, even if it's just walking on the treadmill. i like to know that im burning calories. does anyone know the recommended days off without having it affect my progress?

I have the same problem.  I lose motivation if I take a full day off so I always try to get in at least a little bit of walking at the park, whether it be 3 miles or so. I know how you feel.  I think walking o the treadmill everyday is fine, but if you were doing intense jogging or weights, I would recommend resting.

It sounds like you may have reached a point where you are close to "overtraining". Feeling tired all the time is a sign of this. Exercise usually makes a relatively healthy person feel more energetic.  It may be a good idea to take it easy for a few days or even a week to let your body recover when you get to this point. If you work out 6 days a week for a couple months then have a couple weeks of only 4 real "workout" days (that doesn't mean you have to sit on the couch all day, of course) it might keep you motivated in the long run. For instance, if you burn yourself out you're not likely to make it a lifelong change.

Also, its possible the 1200 calories isn't quite enough to handle that high of an activity level. You could try "eating back" some of your calories on a hard workout day. Or even just up your daily limit to 1300 and see how that works. You can always go back if it doesn't help.

There are diff variables to consider. Six days is fine, but are you getting enough sleep? Also it's quite common when your body is adjusting to a new routine, AND it's common when on calorie restriction. On that day off  are you uping your calories? And what are you eating that sums the 1200cal a day? All those things will have an affect on your energy levels. It's 1200 cal of what?

good to know someone else feels teh way i do! normally i do pretty high intensity on the eliptical with the crossramp moving up and down... i try to do this until i burn about 500 calories every day. what would ya'll recommend based on that? just one day a week off or 2 maybe? i just feel really tired!

WOW i love this haha i just had 3 replies while i was replying!! thanks guys! well ...

i eat 1200 cals from protein, fruits, veggies, LOTS of water, and i get about 8 hours of sleep a nite...a big change from being in college and not going to be until after 12 but anyway....

usually on that one day off, i do kinda eat less b/c i know im not working out, but i guess i should be eating more on that day....and i like the idea of  maybe cutting down hard workouts to 5 days a week....what about maybe not doing cardio 6 days a week....is that much cardio really necessary to lose weight? im thinking i should up my time lifting weights...what do you all think? thanks so much for the responses!!

Depending on your body type and genetics, 4-7 days a week of cardio is doable. Again there are other factors to consider. Sounds like your diet is clean. I would eat up on your off day on one meal but not go crazy, but definitely be relaxed about it. Yeah you'll weight up to 4lbs heavier the next day, but it's mostly sodium weight.

If you do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach it can increase the fat burning by 200%. Then you could afford to eat an extra 100 - 200 calories more a day as long as the scale keeps moving.  Your body is just adjusting and of course you won't be on a 1200cal diet forever.

I bike in the morning, evening, and walk at lunch 5 days a week. I bike 3 times a day on Saturday and only once on Sunday. Therfor I don't feel guilty and my body gets to rest

I exercise daily, if I skip a day I feel really lazy. Plus, I always feel better when I do my workout.

Original Post by octopusqueen:

I exercise daily, if I skip a day I feel really lazy. Plus, I always feel better when I do my workout.

Exact same thing here. Also it helps add structure to my day (as OCD as that sounds :-P).

However I was also wondering about the potential benefits of a day off. I know with weight training rest days are required but that doesn't stand true for cardio, right? 

Rest days are needed for weights and for weight-bearing cardio. So for example, you could swim and cycle without too many rest days, but if you run, you need to have rest days.

I run every second day, I train in tae kwon do and I have two rest days every week. I usually walk about half an hour on my rest day and do some stretching to make sure my joints and muscles are feeling good and relaxed.

Don't worry about this affecting your weight loss progress, just get your diet right given your exercise amount. I lost 30 pounds over 6 months doing even less exercise than this and I wasn't extremely overweight to start with (it's only in the last two months I started running, before that it was just lots of tae kwon do). So chill out! You don't want to get hurt. An injury really will screw up your progress.

Hope this helps!