I keep scheduling rest and then doing everything else

Rest day just means no gym, apparently. Been there. Salty soup always lies on the scale.

I renamed mine "do-nothing-ish" and it stopped my brain from rebelling — cooking and laundry count, but vacuuming and errands don't, because the whole point is no shoes and no "while I'm up anyway." One thing I've learned the hard way: a day of 8,100 stop-start errand steps feels nothing like a real rest day the next morning, soup or no soup. Mine shows up as puffiness even when I barely ate salt. Gentle question — was yesterday mostly on-your-feet fragments, or did you get an actual stretch of sitting/laying down? Also, do you weigh the morning after a rest day, or skip it and just read the trend line? I skip, mostly so I don't get grumpy at a number that isn't telling me anything yet.

lol my “do nothing” day somehow includes vacuuming too—rest day is a myth until I hide the to-do list.

The 8,100 steps made me laugh—rest day with a step count is my specialty. One thing that helped me: define rest by zero output, not zero movement. Errands and vacuuming are output. I keep a short list of true rest options (library, bath, movie, coloring) and pick one. The salty soup bump is probably just noise; your trend line will catch up. Sharp question: what time of day does your do-nothing day usually fall apart? For me it’s right after breakfast, so I front-load a slow ritual—coffee on the porch, no phone—and it changes the whole day.

Fellow overachiever here: my “do-nothing” days got easier when I made a tiny allowed list—coffee, one book, couch, maybe a 20-minute sit outside. No errands, no vacuum, no step goal. And 8,100 steps plus salty soup is a perfect storm for a fake 0.7 bump; I’d watch the 7-day trend, not this morning. Sharp question: what would make your next rest day feel genuinely restful by 10 a.m.? Maybe pre-schedule a morning block where nothing has to be productive. You’re not failing—your rest-day definition just needs sharper edges.

lol my rest days always turn into side quests too. vacuuming is the final boss apparently

Girl, my do-nothing days somehow grow a to-do list too. Salt gets me every time!

With two kids, 8k steps is just a Tuesday. I had to stop using step count as my rest gauge because school run + snack-drawer refills + laundry stairs blows past it without a single “workout.” My true do-nothing day now means: no errands, no vacuum, no planned walks/lifts, and one actual sit-down thing before dinner. Steps can be whatever. The salty soup bump is likely water; the trend line needs a few days to catch up. Question: what would count as rest for you if steps weren’t allowed to be the scoreboard?

your “true do-nothing day” may need a looser definition: rest from planned exercise, not from being a person. I count errands/vacuuming as daily movement, not training—otherwise I’d never clock a rest day. My rule is no structured workout, no obligation after 3pm, and I still might hit 6–8k steps. The salty soup 0.7 is almost certainly water noise. What does your 10-day trend line actually look like? If it’s still flat or down, yesterday doesn’t matter. Maybe rename it “no-training day” so the guilt doesn’t make you schedule a fake rest day.