Got Knocked Down

[Canuckssie]

Last week I finally got my butt to the gym 4 times and I was all pumped and gun-ho and then WHAM!!! The cold that my housemate brought back with him on July 1st finally found me. And it hit me hard.

I felt it creeping up on me on Friday but I ignored it it and still pushed through my workout. On Saturday, after working a 6 hours shift at the restaurant, I felt that I needed to hit the gym before going home even though I wasn't completely feeling all that great. And again, I pushed through and felt kinda good afterwards. Sunday rolled around and all hell broke loose. My shift at the restaurant was during gym hours so I wasn't planning on going to the gym after work. But I broke out in sweats all day and crashed as soon as I got home.

Monday saw me get up, work 4 hours and then I was sent home as I lost my voice and was "too pale" looking.

So I came home and slept. And I spent Tuesday and today resting up as well.

My question is: how do you know it's safe to go back to the gym and how much physical exertion should you put out after you've been sick?

Sadly, I have to admit that being sick and being housebound led me to eat the last of the chocolate I had hidden out of site for the month and I attacked my crackers too. So much for my "no sweets this month" goal

Also, if you have any advice to sticking to a diet while sick I'm all ears. Also note that I am taking vitamins, one which includes zinc, garlic, eucanachea and vit. C.

So yeah...

[shortstuff]

I see alot of people recommend what I have came to think of as the neck rule. Anything below the neck you should rest, anything above the neck you should be good to go. I would recommend listening to what your body is telling you, and how you feel though and using that as a guide as to how long you should wait. When you do go back to the gym, you could always try to take it a bit easy just to see if you feel ok and have gotten fully over your cold, to avoid overdoing it just in case you aren't.

[Morrigainz]

I don't like the neck rule. I'm sorry, but when I'm stuffy and sneezing and my nose is running...I'm not feeling up to the gym. I'd rather rest and let my body get better. Besides, what if I have 140 lbs on my back and all of a sudden I have to sneeze? No bueno...

Just listen to your body. The most important things are rest and fluids. You'll know when you are ready to go back. If you're really eager to do something, take a walk, or go for a bike ride, or something not too strenuous.

[EnygmaEve]

I pretty much never stick to diets when I'm sick. I'm kinda a wuss like that I suppose. If you do your best to get over the cold as quickly as possible (rest, fluids, proper medication if required) and then jump right back into eating right and exercising, I don't see the harm.

[Corbab]

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I have a weird back injury at the moment, so I'm working on the same "should I get started again?" train that you are. Like MirGSS said, don't do anything foolish, and if you're really uncomfortable, it's better to take it easy than injure yourself and end up missing more time. Also, it's really hard to completely mess up your diet in a couple of days (provided you're not trying to), so don't worry about a couple of slip-ups—anything you've gained will come right off when you start again.

As far as cold remedies go, I'll add tinctures of olive leaf and goldenseal to the mix (ask at a health food store or WF). They don't taste great, but they shorten colds by a lot.

[EnygmaEve]

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I WAS SO CLOSE TO DOING THIS but I decided not to lol. Funny thing, I heard on the radio yesterday that the band just recently broke up. I kinda don't understand how you can be a one-hit wonder and then still hang out together for another decade or so before deciding to call it quits.

[Canuckssie]

Am working on getting up again

Well, I feel like this week was a total scratch. It's Thursday and I kept my appointment with my new PT but this was just a "get to know what you want" session. There was no training. Just filling out forms and giving my trainer an idea of what I want. First training session with her will be next Wednesday. But she also said to take it easy and that though this week feels like a loss, there are exercises that she can show me that will put me back on track to my goals. So that was good to hear. I am feeling better during the day, it's just sleeping at night with the cough that's still causing me issues. One step at a time right?

[Pat G]

Rest well, eat well while you are sick. Plenty of time for that now compared to hamstringing your future efforts by training while your body is still trying to return to health. Go out for some strolls this week just to get moving.

And RIP Chumbawumba.