Emily's week 22

Nothing, nothing, and nothing! We've all been sick, so I've either been caring for sick children or being sick myself.

Next week we're on vacation up at my parents' house, and I'm not sure what that will mean for exercise. I'm kind of guessing it won't happen, though. We'll see. With some luck I'll get back on track in week 24. :)

Emily's week 19

Not a thing this week - the stomach flu really wiped our family out.

Emily's week 18

Saturday - restorative yoga (60 minutes)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - restorative yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - stomach flu :(

Walk Away the Pounds for Abs - 3 miles

I dunno about the abs part, but this was exactly the ticket for the slowly-recovering me today.

I don't think I've done this DVD since right after my first was born, but I was glad I kept it, because it was just what I needed to follow that article's advice about working out at about half your normal intensity when you're sick. This was about 40 minutes long, but it's basically just walking - with a few kicks and knee-lifts and such thrown in. There's a goofy-looking resistance belt that they use, but I don't have one, and so just moved my arms half-heartedly along with them . . . again, perfect for today.

Along with being good for sick days, this would be a great DVD for someone who wanted something low-impact, or who was just starting out, or just wanted to replace her usual neighborhood stroll on a day with nasty weather. It gets your heartrate up, but doesn't demand an all-out effort. I really think there's a niche (or three) in the workout world for this sort of DVD. It's not my normal thing, but I'm glad it was there when I needed it. It felt good to work out again after a week of blah.

-Jess

quick follow-up to the last post

Just after I posted about being sick, this article showed up as a link in my feed-reader. It's about exercising when getting over a cold. Timely!

Makes me think I might try my (one) Walk-Away-the-Pounds DVD today for a few minutes and see how it goes. It's very low-key, low-impact, and trying it out might be a good way to gently start getting back into my routine. The article says:

Also, according to a CNN medical expert, people with colds should begin working out at 50 percent intensity. If symptoms improve in the first five to ten minutes, you can gradually increase the length and effort up to about 80 percent of your normal workouts. On the other hand, if your symptoms do not improve, you should only engage in mild exercise such as walking. And remember, over-doing it with heavy and intense exercise may actually reduce your immune system function and prevent you from getting better!

So, I might go that route today. We'll see.

-Jess

ugh, sick

I just posted my week 20 summary, because I hadn't done it yet, and I'm realizing that Week 21 is going to look very, very sad.

The thing is, I've caught some horrible respiratory bug, and haven't worked out all week. I miss it so much! It's terrible. But when I'm sitting here all day feeling like I just inhaled a lungful of pool water, and being achy and exhausted even though I've done nothing but sit and nap all day . . . well, I don't think I ought to work out.

Anyway. Here's the weird thing: I've lost three or four pounds this week I've been sick. What's the diagnosis, ladies? Is it because I'm not working out and I've lost muscle mass? Isn't that too much muscle mass to lose in just a week of not working out? That sounds way too fast for me. I'd guess a pound of it is actually from eating less (food doesn't taste good right now - no sense of smell = no sense of taste), but not all of it - I have still been eating. Or maybe since I'm not working out, I don't have any muscle-repairing inflammation? <-- I bet that's part of it. I know the kind of workouts I like cause a bit of (good) damage daily, and I know you retain a bit of water when your body's repairing muscle.

Probably all three, plus getting past the time of the month. It's just weird though. It's not how I'd planned on losing weight, and I really don't know whether to be happy about it or not. It's just not terribly normal. I guess I'll be happy about it if I don't bounce back up the scale as soon as I get well! :D

-Jess