This is a guest post by Robin Treasure, certified wellness coach, who blogs at www.robintreasure.com. “Just do more cardio, and you’ll lose that belly fat and get a surge of energy”, right? Wrong!  While some form of exercise is beneficial for nearly everyone, it’s important to pay attention to what type of exercise your body responds best to, because you might be sabotaging your own efforts without realizing it. We’ve spent decades glorifying the “burn” of intense exercise like P90X and marathon running. But what about the countless people who sweat out their lives on treadmills and in spinning classes, only to feel chubbier and more exhausted? What’s going on there? The answer has to do with your overall stress load. Endurance exercise and intense cardio can be perceived by the body as a stressor, which results in a surge of the hormone cortisol. Made by the adrenal glands, cortisol is a vital hormone that’s supposed to follow a natural high-to-low pattern over the course of the day. But if you’re faced with high levels of stress – from your job, your relationships, an overly restrictive diet, processed foods, or even your exercise routine – your cortisol levels will remain unnaturally high. What happens when your cortisol levels are unnaturally high?

• You hold onto stubborn belly fat despite dieting and spending hours at the gym
• You have trouble sleeping at night, even if you feel tired during the day
• You crave sugar and maybe even a few glasses of wine to unwind in the evening

If that pattern of unrelenting stress continues unchecked, your body may stop producing enough cortisol, resulting in a condition known as adrenal fatigue, or burnout. You can think of it as “burning up” your adrenal glands (or more accurately your stress response system). Here are a few signs that burnout may be affecting you: You feel tired all the time, regardless of how much sleep you get at night

• You feel exhausted after a workout – especially the following day
• You catch every bug going around
• You’re overwhelmed by challenges that you used to cope with easily

Long duration cardio alone may not lead to burnout, but with our stressful, fast-paced lives, it’s important to exercise in a way that relieves your stress rather than adding to it. So you may be wondering “all right then, what’s the best exercise for me?” Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer, as it all depends on the individual. For many people, just three 30-minute sessions of High-Intensity Interval Training per week will bring many health benefits and is far better than traditional endurance training. But if you struggle with fatigue, especially adrenal fatigue, and if you find yourself feeling more tired after a workout, you need to dramatically cut back on the intensity of your exercise. And if you’re facing a lot of stress – as many of us do! – the goal is to find a form of movement that calms your stress response system, like a leisurely walk in nature, yoga, pilates or moderate resistance training. You might think that reducing the amount of cardiovascular exercise would mean weight gain, but you’ll find it actually helps you lose unwanted pounds simply by reducing your cortisol levels, for the reasons I mentioned above. When you’re driven, it can be difficult to let go and do less, but when it comes to adrenal health, as well as your waistline and energy levels, less really is more. When you find a form of movement that works for you personally, you’ll feel a shift in your energy and overall wellbeing. In health… Robin Treasure has helped professional women from a dozen different countries enjoy increased productivity, all-day energy, resilience to stress, better digestion, and freedom from cravings. She trained as a certified wellness coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and has been featured as a guest expert on international radio shows and telesummits including “Women, Food & Desire”. Would you like to achieve all-day energy and mental focus? Schedule your complimentary Energy Breakthrough Session with Robin Treasure now.