How I Let Go of My Cardio Obsession

Leah Peters
Nov 27, 2019
2 min read

How I let go of my cardio addiction (and how you can too) At the height of my competition days I had a serious cardio addiction. I’m talking 1.5-2 hours a day of cardio, every day. It didn’t matter if I was tired or busy, I was going to wake up early and get my cardio in. I knew it wasn’t good for me and that I was way overdoing it, I just didn’t know how to stop.

I was addicted to my routine and addicted to the number on the scale. I was scared of doing less because I thought my metabolism depended on it🤦🏻‍♀️. But I knew I had to make a serious change if I wanted a normal relationship with my body again. So finally one day I started backing off. I knew I couldn’t quit cold turkey without massive anxiety, so I took baby steps (as I advise with everything). The first few weeks I limited myself to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Then, 1 hour 10 minutes, then only an hour, and so on. I started to feel better, recover better, and dislike cardio more and more. After a few months I had gotten myself down to 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week. This was huge progress. Did I gain weight in the process? Absolutely. But I definitely needed it. My period came back, my mood improved, and I felt more like “Leah” than I had in years! Eventually I pretty much stopped doing cardio altogether. Some days I would ride my bike for a little, but nothing too intense. I kept lifting weights, and that was enough. You see, I had to let my body recover. I had to let it revert back to being healthy without loads of cardio. Recently I started doing cardio again, but this time only 30 minutes, maybe 3-4x a week. Some days I’ll do 45 if I’m really on a roll with my run and it’s a nice day, but I’ll skip the lift. It’s nice to look back and see that no matter how bad I’ve screwed up on my fitness journey, I’ve found my way back to balance⚖️And you can too. Whether you’re unhealthily addicted to running, counting calories, weighing yourself, or nitpicking at your body, there is hope for you. Start slow, start small, and keep going. Eventually you’ll get back to “you”!