If you’re regularly exercising to lose stomach fat or shift your post baby weight, yet you are feeling run down, you could be overdoing it.
Overtraining can lead to serious injury if it goes unchecked. It can also hinder rather than help your results, so it’s important to include a couple of rest days per week, especially after a big training session.

Why do I need to rest?

Planning for rest days allows your body to recover from your previous day’s workout.
So if you did some strength based training your body will be building muscle.
If you went for some HIIT (more on that here) your body will be burning fat on your rest day.

Signs you are overdoing it

If you have constant muscle aches and pains, it could be a sign that you are working out too much or too hard.
This is different to the regular soreness that you might experience after hard training (which tends to go away in 24-48 hours).
You might have trouble sleeping, or even the opposite, excessive fatigue. You need to listen to your body and if something is amiss, consider the exercise that you are doing.
If you have soreness in your knees, shoulders, or neck for instance – that might be from too much exercise. Try to have a rest day after a big workout to give your body time to recover.
Also check your form – you can become sore or injured if you regularly perform an exercise incorrectly.
Regular illness is another sign. If you feel as though you are catching every cold going around, your body could be run down from too much exercise. Regular headaches is another sign that something isn’t right. Ignoring these symptoms won’t make them go away, you need to take action now before it turns into something more serious.

Can I reduce it instead of rest?

If you really enjoy exercise, the idea of taking a few days off per week can feel like a wasted opportunity. So instead of doing nothing, try some active rest.
It could be a gentle swim in an ocean pool; a meander to the school drop off instead of the short drive; or a 10 minute stretch session from the Healthy Mummy Post Pregnancy Exercise DVD.
Working different body parts is another option. So if you did a leg workout yesterday you could focus on arms today.

Mix it up

Your body can become used to the same exercises over and over, and you have to push yourself harder to see results.
Instead, try mixing up your workout routine so that you are trying new things.
For instance you might love running, but by including a swim once a week you will be strengthening your legs and lungs in a different way – it’s still going to be beneficial to your running but it’s a new way of doing it.
If you’re interested in being given a guideline for exactly what exercises you should be doing in order to lose pregnancy weight, why not consider joining our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge?