Are You Exercising Too Much?
I'm sure you know that exercise is important for your health. But when it, like anything, is taken to the extreme it can become unhealthy. Too much exercise is actually bad for your health, and what leads to over-exercising can be an indicator of poor mental health. So let's camp out here for a little bit and talk about whether or not you're exercising too much!
I love to move my body. My ideal day includes waking up and throwing on some gym clothes and spending my "me" time either on a trail running with my dog or at the gym with my husband. But I haven't always loved to move my body. Yes, I exercised because I thought I had to, but the love-affair with exercise wasn't there. We've been hot and cold, exercise and I. But now I can say that I truly do love almost all forms of movement! And the reason isn't anything except that previously my mindset around exercise wasn't good. And that lead to exercising too much.
Exercise isn't all or nothing.
I used to think that in order to be healthy I had to exercise like crazy! I thought that time at the gym had to be maximized and that any shortcoming, any time that I spent maybe running slower on the treadmill or just pausing to see if what I was doing actually felt good was a waste of time. I didn't listen to my body. I wasn't respecting it. I let outward influences dictate how I moved my body instead of taking time to listen to my body. Believe it or not, exercise isn't all or nothing! And you don't always have to move in a way you thought you would. You can get started in your workout and realize that the movement you're doing doesn't feel as good as you thought it did and slow down or change your weight or completely stop and call it a day!
The beauty of listening to your body with exercise is that when you do you allow yourself to be open to enjoying your workout. You don't have to workout until you're puking to feel good about yourself. You can workout to a level that you feel good about and stop there. You're empowering yourself, trusting your body, and learning to move in a way that feels good. And "feel-good"movement is the movement that sticks for the long run...not hours spent on an elliptical watching the calorie burn go up excessively!
Want consistency with working out? Workout less.
On that point, if you want to be more consistent with your workout, you've got to nail this one thing.WORKOUT LESS. That's right! You have to allow yourself to workout in a way that feels good and that means not over-exercising. When you workout in a way that feels good instead of using exercise as a way to control, when you enjoy every minute of your workout and don't leave feeling like you've been hit by a bus, you'll be more likely to keep up exercise in the long run! Ever heard of burn-out? Well, this happens with exercise too and the way to fight exercise burnout is by learning to listen to your body and move in ways that feel good to you and stop when it feels good for you to stop.
So, I know as I write this some people may say..."but if left to listening to my body I'd never want to go to the gym!". Well, good news for you...you don't have to go to a gym in order to find joyful movement! You can go for a walk outside, you can do some pilates or yoga in your house. You can even just play with your kids or your dog in a more active way! It's not a complicated thing, but we think too often that exercise has to be this super planned out and perfected routine. Exercise can be done everywhere and in any state if you just move. I like to say "move more, workout less". That's my mantra.
Exercise is more than just burning calories.
The focus with exercise often is burning calories. In a world where our health seems to be measured by a number on a scale, it's no wonder we're confused and think that calorie count is everything. And believe me, I know! I was a calorie burning junkie for many, many years and really all I focused on with working out was how many calories I was burning. It was kinda like a game for me, and I know it is for a lot of other women, also. Naturally, being able to control something and see that we have control in something feels so rewarding...in the short term. That's how it is with exercising to only burn calories. You get that quick instant gratification of burning "x" amount of calories, but there's always more you could burn and so on. It can quickly get out of hand. Not to mention that calorie burn is only a super small benefit of working out. There's also the mood boosting ability that movement provides, the hormone regulation that occurs, the bone strengthening, and the muscle building. Exercise is a wonderful thing! But when we limit it to just burning calories we miss out on all of the other benefits. Focusing only on calorie burn can actually be negative for your health if you're not adding in less calorie-burning intense movement such as weight lifting. We need balance with all things in life and that includes the way that we move. So try focusing on the many other benefits of exercise, one of the greatest being mental health, and notice your mindset shift to a more positive one with your mind and your body.
More is not better when it comes to exercise. So if what you want is a consistent workout routine and sustainable health, you may need to re-evaluate how intense your workouts are and tone it back a bit. If you're wanting a more positive relationship with your body, focus on the mental benefits that exercise and movement can give you instead of just the physical. And if you're tired of signing up for gym memberships and never using them after the first month or two, remember, exercise can be done anywhere and in any body. You don't need a gym or structured exercise to truly reap the benefits that exercise provides!
Let's talk!
How do you feel your best with movement?Do you feel like you exercise too much? Have you lost the joy that comes with moving your body?