Do you love going to the gym a little too much? This post will give you the 3 tips you need in order to finally understand how to stop over exercising and take back your life!

I know what you’re thinking “But I love going to the gym, I enjoy it!” And that’s fabulous! But it’s SO important to balance that love for the gym the rest. And to not use exercise as a way to earn your food or burn off anything “bad” you may have eaten.

End Exercise Obsession

Are you over exercising?

You may be over exercising if you are:

• tired all of the time
• prone to injury
• have lost the joy of working out
• saying no to socializing in order to work out
• not letting yourself take a rest day
• feeling extremely guilty if you miss a workout

Tip #1

Plan it out

In order to stop over exercising you need to… stop exercising as much. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. When we leave it up to “oh, I’ll just cut back” it likely won’t happen. So, go grab your planner right now and plan for a couple days over the next week that you’ll take off. And stick to it!

Tip #2

Add Low Impact Movement

Allow yourself to slow down in order to connect with your mind and body. This will allow you to learn how to listen to them to prevent over exercising in the future. You’ll be able to hear it when it tell you “Hey! I need a break!” Rather than just plowing through like you have been doing. This can look like adding yoga, stretching, meditation, etc. Anything where you slow down and listen to your body and really get in touch with it.

Tip #3

Redefine What Exercise Means

Exercise isn’t just going to a gym with a bunch of sweaty people. Exercise is any form of movement that you love and that makes you feel good. This can be walking the dog, doing housework, taking a bike ride, playing with your kids, etc! When you find the type of movement you enjoy it makes a WORLD of difference!

Tip #4

Find An Exercise Partner

Having a friend to workout with can be a way to prevent you from over exercising. They might say “Hey, maybe we just take one workout class today” or maybe “Let’s go out for coffee today since we went for a run yesterday”. They can be the checks and balances you need! They can also give you the interpersonal interaction you need, since when we over exercise we sometimes can isolate ourselves.

Tip #5

Do Some Mind Work

It’s SO important to not only do these things, but to make a solid mental shift to prevent over exercising from happening in the future. So, when you’re taking a rest day, rather than biting your nails out of anxiety the entire time use a mantra or affirmation. Maybe you say “I’m giving my body rest so that I can connect with it.” or “I know this rest day is hard, but it’s what is best for my body.” Start to show your brain a new way of thinking about exercise and your body. Over time these thoughts will happen automatically! It does take that constant effort at first to actually HAVE these thoughts though, which is why I love mantras and affirmations.

That’s it! My 5 tips on how to stop over exercising. Now I know that along with over exercising there might be some worries about the food portion. How much should you eat on rest days? What should you eat? etc. If this is giving you a little anxiety just thinking about it be sure to snag my free e-book, The Ultimate 5 Step Guide To Food Freedom which can be a huge help for that. You can snag your copy here!

Leave a comment with which tip you’re going to implement first and how you’ll do that! Can’t wait to read them!

XOXO

-Colleen

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