One of my Code Red Mentors has a sign on her fridge that says, “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.”

Another Code Red Mentor shared two similar quotes that she looks to:

1) Resting is part of the process, even if it’s not part of the plan.

2) Rest is not doing absolutely nothing. Rest is repair.

If you’re a driven person, or just want to be done losing weight, you may not wanna hear stuff like this.

I get it, because most of the time, I am 1000% someone who’d rather suffer more in the short-term and get where I want to be faster.

But some people do MUCH better when they take things slower and spread the “suffering” out so they aren’t hit with so much at once.

It might be tied to their personality, but it might also just be a season of life they’re in, where they don’t have the bandwidth to push themselves at a higher level.

In these cases, knowing how to take a break from weight loss, except WITHOUT regaining all the weight you lost, is a way to “rest.”

Seriously, rest is absolutely necessary for all of us at different points in our lives, and can be extremely beneficial.

Take lifting weights with the goal of adding muscle.

Did you know that the muscle you add isn’t built while you’re in the gym lifting weights?

It’s actually built while your body’s resting and recovering.

Your muscles need to be pushed so they grow, but they also need enough time and support to recover.

If they don’t get what they need, you won’t add as much muscle…or any muscle at all, depending on how hard you’re pushing.

Bottom line: Rest has a place, including in weight loss.

If the choice is between taking a rest and staying where you are or saying “screw it” and gaining back all your weight, take that rest.

It’s SO much better for you to rest and go again sometime down the road – or even to stay where you are – than it is to gain the weight back again!