I AM DOING AN HOUR OF CARDIO EVERY DAY; I AM AFRAID THAT IF I SKIP A DAY OR TWO, I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE WEIGHT. AM I RIGHT?

FROM THE SERIES “ASK THE TRAINER”

By Monika Tarkowska-Carter, CPT, LWMC, HLC 2

No, that’s entirely incorrect. As a matter of fact, your body can STOP losing weight if you overdo cardio and not give it proper rest and recovery every few days. Many times people, who do a huge amount of cardio, especially at very high intensity, actually look puffy and swollen. It is often due to the fact that they cannot clear the metabolic waist products from their bodies due to overtraining. Our bodies are very smart, and if pushed too much, will respond by protesting and working against your weight loss efforts. Now, everybody is different – what is overtraining for one person may be totally OK for another, but that’s why it is so crucial to learn to listen to your body and if it’s telling you: “I am exhausted”, give it some much needed recovery, even if it’s your day of cardio. Or if you absolutely must do something, go for a leisurely walk or swim some slow laps in the pool, relax and enjoy. Too much stress on the body is just as bad as too little. Many people ignore this simple truth.

Also, it is important to realize that very long cardiovascular workouts catabolize muscle. Just look at endurance athletes like long distance runners. There is a reason why most of them look like famished skeletons. And I assure you, they eat quite a lot.