To Workout or Not To Workout...with a Cold

The last week and a half has proven difficult for me. I started feeling ill a week and a half ago, as if I was starting to get a head cold. But I decided to fight through it. I was going to fight this cold till the end. The first few days, I thought I was winning. Boy was I wrong. Suddenly, BAM! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been out of commission all week and am still recovering. I know most of you have been in this similar situation. What makes this hard for me is that I have broken my daily exercise routine that I so desperately worked hard to maintain. For some, this might not seem like a big deal. But for someone who struggles with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, this was like hitting a brick wall.   

I decided to do some research on whether it was beneficial to work out while sick or just relax and let your body heal. In doing my research, many sources stated to trust your body and the way it feels. They also suggested continuing your workout routine as long as your cold was from the neck up. With that, I decided to push myself so I could maintain my workout routine. Lord knows it took me months to establish my daily workout routine. I didn’t want a silly little cold to get in the way. Unfortunately, I made the wrong decision. I pushed myself for three solid days just to be hit with major flu like symptoms completely rendering me helpless. I couldn’t go to work. I didn’t have the energy to do anything. I was stuck at home bound to my couch for days feeling absolutely miserable and useless. This also did not help my eating routine. I found myself losing track of my daily eating habits. I was so exhausted that I didn’t have the energy to prepare my meals for the week ahead of time. I was also miserable to the point where I didn’t have the energy to stand in the kitchen to cook dinner for my family. Needless to say, we ordered out the majority of the week. Once again I found myself miserable due to illness but I also noticed I was even more miserable on the days after we ate out. I felt heavy and run down. Instead of feeding my body right so I could rebuild my immune system, I fed my body trash. I guess in a way, I figured if I was going to feel this miserable, then what difference did it make. After three or four days of eating whatever I wanted, my body was screaming at me. I knew that I just needed to stop. It’s a hard realization to come to grips with but I made a vow when I started this fitness journey to be honest with myself and with what I share with others. You won’t find any “sugar coating” here. I made poor decisions and I needed to own up to them, not wallow in them. It is what it is. You can’t change the past but you can change the future.  

I now know from experience that I should have listened to my body and let it have time to recover. I should have also maintained my healthy eating so I could feed my body the food it needed to aid in my recovery. Now, instead of missing a couple of workouts, I have missed a week’s worth. So my advice would be to listen to how your body feels and make your decision from there. I’m not saying use being sick as an excuse to skip a workout or two which can lead into three or more. All I’m saying is give yourself some time to recover if you feel you need it. But stay focused and maintain your goals so when you feel better, you can jump right back in the game. Falling off the wagon doesn’t have to be permanent. Like I tell my kids when they fall down, pick yourself up and shake it off! That is just what I plan to do.

Happy and Healthy Living,
Neisha

Back on Track!

Wow, it’s been ten months since my last blog or should I say my first and only blog! Life always seems to get in the way. In this case, it definitely did! I received a promotion at work shortly after starting my blog. So combine my new work duties with going to school full time and raising three kids, I kind of have my hands full. I’m not stressing out though. I am happy where my life has taken me. I have a great job that I love and an amazing family to go along with it. So here is what you missed over the last almost year of my life.

Things have definitely not been easy. In November of 2011, I hit a rough patch with my weight loss. It was not that I quit working out or eating healthy, I just hit a plateau. I was going to the gym five to six days a week along with eating healthy, for the most part, and not losing any weight. Even though I hit a plateau, I didn’t give up. I kept at it which brings me into March 2012 and still no dramatic results. I lost about 3 more lbs. which didn’t seem like a lot considering all the hard work I was putting into my workouts. Working hard and expecting different results makes it difficult to not fall off the wagon and return to my old ways. I knew back in March that I needed a change. Not sure exactly what kind of change but something different. My body was obviously getting used to my daily exercise routine which was prohibiting me from any further weight loss. It was in April that I decided to try a different workout.

Up to this point, I had lost 29 lbs. over the course of the last year going to the gym, 22 of which I lost from May 2011 to November 2011 when I hit my plateau. I felt stronger than I did before so I decided to give P90X a try. I bought the DVD’s for my husband a couple of years ago and they have just been sitting on the shelf collecting dust. I started P90X in April 7, 2012. I have to say this has been the best decision of my life! I feel absolutely amazing! Better than I’ve ever felt before. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s hard, real hard sometimes, especially in my first month of doing the workouts. There was many times where I thought to myself, “What the heck was I thinking!” But as Tony Horton would say, “Do your best and forget the rest!” I continued to push play. In my first month, even now that I am entering my third month, I couldn’t keep up with the reps in the workout. But instead of quitting, I just modified and did the reps at a pace I could keep up with. I am seeing some amazing results. I am down 14 lbs. since I started P90X. I am also down 3 inches in my waist and thighs and 2 inches in my chest and arms. It may not seem like a lot considering all the hype you hear about people losing extreme amounts of weight and inches in the first month of P90X but it means a lot to someone who hasn’t been able to lose a pound in months! I also incorporated Shakeology into my daily diet. I substitute one shake for breakfast. I can’t even express to you how amazing I feel. I have all this energy now!

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are days when I don’t feel like doing anything at all. And there are days when I still struggle and even fall off the wagon every now and then. But when I do, my body feels miserable and it is not a welcomed feeling. I know that in order to stop feeling this way, I need to feed my body right and get back into my exercise routine. I just started phase 3 of P90X and look forward to these final weeks. I am still undecided on which program I am going to do next, another round of P90X or Insanity! Not sure if I’m ready for Insanity yet! We shall see.

I am also going to try to blog about my journey on a daily basis. I am hoping that this blog will not only help me stay on the right track but help others as well! I wish everyone the best of luck in achieving their life goals no matter what their goals may be!

Happy and Healthy Living,

Neisha