New research suggests cramming in a workout every day of the week may result in burning fewer daily calories, but not for the reasons you may think.

Published in Exercise & Science in Sports & Medicine, the study found that previously inactive subjects (female senior citizens) who began exercising two or four times a week felt energized and burned more calories per day than before instating their workout routine. The women who began exercising six days a week, however, burned fewer daily calories than they had at the experiment’s start. These participants’ chief complaint was not feeling overworked or fatigued but of lack of time. This is perhaps because the subjects who dedicated six days a week to exercise began cutting corners for efficiency’s sake, like taking the elevator instead of stairs or driving very short distances. If you’ve ever jumped behind the wheel to zip a quarter mile to yoga class, you know exactly what they’re getting at!

Photo: Neoprene dumbbell set, courtesy Dicks’ Sporting Goods