How to Skip a Week of Workouts without Messing Up Your Results
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Let’s be real: it’s not realistic to think that we can work out every single week for the rest of our lives.
However, I know so many women who get anxious when they have been working their butt off consistently and are then forced to skip a week of workouts. Maybe because they are going on vacation, or life just gets busy. But this does NOT need to cause you anxiety.
That's why in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I teach how you can skip a week or two or three of workouts without fearing you're tossing all your results down the drain. You can maintain your results until you get your motivation back or until your season of life slows down by using the tips I share in this episode!
P.S: If you’re tired of feeling anxious when you can’t work out, but are unsure how to properly dial in your nutrition, I have a program for you! It gives you all the tools you need to set you up for success in terms of your nutrition, which you will greatly benefit from in other aspects of your life!
You can get access now by heading over to macrocountingmadesimple.com
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. Let's be real. It's not realistic to think that we can work out every single week for the rest of our lives. But I know so many women who get anxiety when they've been working their butt off and then they're forced to skip a week of workouts. Maybe they're going on vacation or life gets busy. You get sick. But this does not need to cause you anxiety. And in this episode, I'm going to show you why it doesn't need to be anxiety inducing. Plus, I know some women lose motivation to work out, and just because you don't have the motivation to workout doesn't mean that you need to toss in all of the hard work that you've been putting in and thus not seeing any results. You can at least maintain your results until you get your motivation back or until your season of life slows down, by using the tips I'm about to share in this bonus episode.
But before I do, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Bobbi Ish. She gave a five star review and said, "I'm so thankful I found Julie and this podcast. I'm eating more than ever, feeling so confident all while building the body that I want. I'm moving my body and enjoying it. This isn't a punishment anymore. It's an enjoyable part of life. And I'm so grateful. My only wish is that I would have been able to find Julie, her podcast and her workout app, Movement with Julie, sooner."
Thank you so much, Bobbi. I love this all so incredibly much. The fact that you're not punishing your body anymore, the fact that you're enjoying it. You're eating more than ever, and you're feeling so confident all while building the body that you want. This is all of the things. This is all of the goals that I have for this podcast. So thank you for kind of wrapping it all into one. And I'm just so grateful for all of you guys. Thank you for subscribing to the podcast. Thank you for leaving a review. All of those things truly do mean the absolute world.
Okay. So how can we skip a week or two or three or four of workouts without tossing all of our results down the drain? Well, first things first. Here's what you need to know. Muscular strengths stays about the same for a period of three to four weeks of not exercising. How crazy is that? You can go a month without working out and not lose your muscle mass. There is a caveat to that, which I'll share next. But with that being said, you can and will lose cardio or aerobic fitness more quickly than muscle strength.
This can start to happen in, honestly, just a few days, but here's the thing. Just because you lose your aerobic fitness doesn't mean that you're losing results. Your aerobic fitness has nothing to do with your body composition. Body composition has everything to do with your muscle mass, and you don't lose muscle mass for, like I mentioned, up to a month. Plus, aerobic fitness can come back fairly quickly, so it's not really something to worry about. With that being said, like I mentioned, there is a caveat. Nutrition is super important. Keeping your carbs, fats and protein dialed in during this period that you're not working out is going to be key. Especially, hear me when I say this, especially your protein intake. Your protein is the building blocks for most stuff in our body. They're like Legos that can be broken down and reassembled in different ways.
If we don't eat enough protein, our body will start to plunder it from parts that we need, such as our muscles, so we have to constantly replenish protein by eating it. And I have a perfect example of this. So my friend and podcast producer was on crutches for four months and she couldn't do a proper workout out for those four months, but she focused exclusively on her protein intake while on crutches, and she still saw positive changes in her body composition even while she was on crutches for those four months. This just goes to show how powerful protein can be when it comes to building the body that you want. Nutrition is way more important than working out. So if you can't workout, focus on nutrition, and you truly have absolutely nothing to worry about.
With that being said, no, I'm not recommending not moving your body and exclusively just focusing on nutrition. However, if that's all that you can, do it. But I'm a huge believer in movement, because movement in and of itself has so many positive benefits. So on the days, weeks and months where working out is not really an option, I want to encourage you to still find ways to honor your body with movement and incorporate them into your day to day. So for example, park your car further away from the door in the parking lot. Take the stairs when possible. Walk around while you're talking on the phone. Use a bathroom that's further away from your desk, either at home or your office. Take your dogs or your kids for a walk a few times a day. Make yourself get up from your chair every hour.
I know that all of these suggestions are very cliche and ones that you've likely heard, but they actually make a huge difference when it comes to not being able to get a proper workout in. Because these simple ways of moving your body focus heavily on your nutrition, between these simple ways of moving your body and focusing on your nutrition and hitting your macronutrients, your protein, carbs, and fats, with the emphasis of making sure you eat enough protein, just remember you will not actually lose your muscle mass for about a month, so there's really absolutely no reason for you to stress out not being able to work out when life gets in the way.
And this is also a good reminder if you are sick. So many people have come to me, especially with the vid going around with so many different people, they're stressed because they're not working out for a week or two weeks. Do not stress about that. The one thing that you can control, number one, is your attitude. And two, focus on your nutrition. When you focus on your nutrition, when you focus on hydrating your body, and then as a bonus, trying to incorporate other creative ways of incorporating movement into your day to day that are not high intensity workouts, that are simply just getting your body moving, you will be just fine.
If you're tired of feeling anxious when you can't work out, but you're unsure of how to properly dial in your nutrition, I do have a program for this. It really sets you up with all the tools that you need so that you can learn how to properly fuel your body, which will greatly benefit you in so many aspects of your life. If you want to learn more, you can go to macrocountingmadesimple.com. Again, that's macrocountingmadesimple.com, and you can learn all about the program, what it entails and what you will receive. You can also click the link in the show notes below if you want to learn more about that.
But I hope that this encouraged you, I hope that it just reminded you that you are going to be a okay. There are so many other things that you can focus on, and when you simply focus on the things that you can control, you'll be so much better off than dwelling on the things that you can't control. Okay? Capeesh? I love you so much. I mean it. And I'll talk to you in the next episode.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. JulieALedbetter. Yes. It's with an a in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart and check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.