My 2nd Favorite Exericise…..

I remember when Mondays would mean the start of a new diet and exercise plan…

Usually one so ridiculous that by the end of the week I was exhausted from exercising excessively and cranky because I’d rather give birth to a porcupine than eat another piece of chicken. It never mattered how tired I was though, I would still get in my workouts…. And if for some reason, I missed one, I would just make up for it by doubling up at my next session…

 

I honestly thought this is what was necessary to get results….EVEN THOUGH I wasn’t getting results doing what I was doing…you know that definition of Insanity right? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result…..

 

I was of the mindset that more had to be better. The more I could exercise, the leaner I would be… I couldn’t maintain that pace, yet I was so afraid to stop because I was sure I was going to gain weight…..Rest days? Non-existent. Why would I rest?

It wasn’t until I saw a naturopathic doctor (because I never got my period) that she asked me to cut WAY back on my exercise. Like WAY back. Like just walk…slowly.

Ummm….what? Walk? As my WORKOUT?

But you know what happened? My body finally started to change….doing LESS exercise than ever.

Hormones play a huge role in fat loss. Cortisol is one of those hormones and I was doing just about everything I could do to keep my cortisol levels super high (lots of cardio, stressing about dieting and exercise, not sleeping enough etc..), and not enough to lower it (naps, leisure walking, and sleeping more to name a few).

Nowadays leisure walking is my second most favorite form of exercise (strength training being number one). I do it everyday, as much as I can and I highly recommend it to my clients. It’s a great way to take those cortisol levels down, and give your body a well deserved rest.

You don’t have to kill yourself to get results. In fact, I think that in some cases, the more you do, the more you are killing your chances of getting results.

What do you think? Do you like walking or do you feel like it’s not really a “workout”?