Just Cough On It: Working Out While Sick

I love exercising. Sure, it might be mostly because it's my quiet time to read at the gym, but that doesn't matter. I like it. If I can't get to the gym, I will jump around while watching a favorite TV show. I have made exercise a part of my me time and I have a very difficult time separating the two. Which is probably why I kept working out even after I got my cold last week.

Now, The Mayo Clinic will tell you that it's okay to work out if you have a cold - if all of your symptoms are above your neck. While I generally trust the Mayo Clinic web site and its advice, I'm pretty sure they are not entirely correct about this cold thing. When I worked out last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all of my symptoms were above my neck. Runny nose, headache, sore throat, you know.

By Saturday night? I had a terrible cough.

My immune system doesn't really work properly, though. I have ulcerative colitis and allegries, so my immune system tends to be attacking me rather than the cold viruses my children bring home.  I can't say for sure whether the continued work outs prompted the cough and slight fever.

I can say that I didn't work out Sunday or Monday and now I feel much better. So much so that I did a light work out today. I guess we can see whether I continue to feel better or whether my hacking cough comes back with a vengeance. Not that this is an exactly scientific study, but it'd be nice to know whether I should take a break every time I get a cold, or whether I'm going to develop a horrible cough no matter what I do.

What about you? Do you exercise when you're sick? Do you follow the Mayo Clinic's above the neck rule?

Weighty Wednesday: One Small Step

Ironflower and Lovebug were born 15 months apart. I was pregnant and/or nursing from March of 2004 until June of 2007.

To say that I was tired during this period is an understatement. And nine months after I (finally) weaned Lovebug, I got pregnant with Hugmonkey.

So, except for a nine month break, I was pregnant or nursing from March 2004 until December 2009. And I went from a person who spent most of her day standing and some of her free time dancing, hiking and exercising to a person who was always searching for a moment to sit down. Except when she was sitting down and nursing. 

I tried to go for walks. I was always standing and moving at home and on the playground (except for when I was nursing, which was pretty often with both of the boys). But I was never sweaty. I was never breathing hard. And when I did have a moment to myself all I wanted to do was lie down. 

When Hugmonkey was 18 months old, we finally joined the YMCA. I managed to actually work out and sweat again, but I didn't magically lose 20 pounds like every other time I had committed to exercise in my life.

I almost gave up.

I think I would have given up, if not for one thing; I actually started to have energy again. Not a lot, but some. It was the first time I had felt even somewhat like myself in six years. 

I have slacked off here and there, including about 5 months when I dealt with the whole repeated strep throat and tonsils out incidents, but I keep going back. It's not about losing weight (since apparently that only worked when I was under 35) or even having my clothes fit better (though they do), it's about wanting to actually do stuff again. It's about actually being able to help my husband move a piece of furniture. It's about having swimming races with my kids. It's about guilt-free me time each day. 

I would probably burn more calories in a Zumba class. But I know I wouldn't get a sense of peace and calm in a Zumba class. So I'll read my magazine on the Arc or the elliptical, and that's okay. Some days all I do is march in place while I watch a TV show. Because I love my TV shows. 

Back when I was overwhelmed with small children and pregnancy, I saw exercise as something that required me to work full out for an extended period of time. If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't bother. I wish I could go back and smack myself. Anything helps - even if it's just standing instead of sitting during the local news. And any exercise you actually like is worth doing because that's what you'll actually stick with. When I first started exercising again, I had this idea that I'd start running. The more I forced myself to run jog slowly, the more I hated it. I dreaded the exercise, so any poopy diaper was an excuse to quit for the day. 

Now I am ticked if I can't go to the gym, because I actually like what I do there. Okay, I also probably like the quiet and the opportunity to read uninterrupted as well. But still. I urge anyone who thinks they don't have the time or the energy to just try to find something they like doing. Or to stand up during their favorite TV shows. Just do something, no matter how small. 

Weighty Wednesday: A Box of Waffles

Last summer, I blogged about weight for the first time. And then I got distracted, or possibly I chickened out and I stopped writing about it. If I don't blog about it, I can ignore it. Besides, I wasn't sure that my voice mattered; most of the weight loss posts and articles and pins that I see are about people who've lost 117 pounds, not 17 pounds like I have. Also, they all seem to include people talking about how they don't eat entire boxes of waffles as a side dish anymore.

I mean, I've never eaten a box of waffles as a side dish, or even a meal. By that standard, I should be skinny. And yet. . . .

There I am, hiding behind my children in yet another picture. Lovebug looks thrilled about it, doesn't he?

This whole self-acceptance thing is hard, yo.

So is eating healthier, especially when your colitis flares and you can't eat vegetables, citrus and whole grains. You know what I CAN eat when my colitis flares? Bagels. You know what doesn't shrink your waistline? Bagels.

I've gotten my ass to the gym every week day, at least. 50 minutes of cardio 5 days a week. I've started paying more attention to my heart rate, instead of just following the routine on the machine or trying to keep my pace up. I've been going to the 80% rate, instead of the 65% like I have for the last year.

Sometimes I feel like I want to cry when I get off a machine. You wouldn't think 15% would make such a huge difference, but it does. At least as far as how I feel during and after the workout. Also, I haven't gained any weight on my bagel diet. And all my jeans have gotten super baggy in the waist again.

Someday I will find a pair of jeans that fits me in the hips and the waist. Sure, I haven't since I was 18 and first got hips, but what is life without hope?

Actually, I have a pair of curvy jeans from Kohl's that worked pretty well until recently. I probably need the next size down (woohoo!). . . .except they don't have them anymore (bastards).

I think I'm going to try to check in every Wednesday about the whole weight loss/self-acceptance/exercise/clothes that fit issue. Would you all mind? I don't promise any diet tips or exercise tips or post cohesion, but I will be honest. And realistic.

Getting Healthy After Forty

Actually, it was really after 35 that my body forgot how to lose weight. Up until that point, whenever I made any kind of effort - eating less, exercising more, not eating McDonald's at 3am - I lost weight. Since having Lovebug, and turning 35, though, the whole weight loss thing has gotten much harder.

I started exercising in earnest again 3 years ago. Three. Years. Like, 60 minutes on the elliptical trainer 4 or 5 days a week of exercise. For absolutely no weight loss whatsoever.

Not exercising much. 

Exercising. 

Recently, though, I made the decision to exercise and to eat less. At the same time. When I did that at 28, the weight melted off quickly and I looked AWESOME. In this case, after a month, I'd lost 3 pounds. It was disheartening, to say the least.

Then one day the gym was super crowded and I couldn't spend 60 minutes doing intervals on the elliptical trainer. I got on the stair climber and felt like I was going to die.. . . after 10 minutes. I suddenly had a light bulb moment about maybe I needed to switch things up a bit - even if My Fitness Pal said I burned the most calories doing the elliptical, I knew my old body needed to step out of it's comfort zone.

I spent the next week switching between all the cardio machines at the gym. . .and lost 3 more pounds. In a week. Of course, that level of weight loss hasn't happened every week since (dammit), but it's definitely come off faster than it did at first.

Of course, I am not a trainer or a doctor. I can find plenty of exercise sites and magazines that will back my claim up, but I'm more inclined to trust things I read from actual scientific studies and medical websites - none of which showed up in my admittedly cursory Google search. What do you think? Do you think changing things up in each work out is the path to weight loss? Or is it yoga, as I've read recently? Or running?

I really want to know. I have a strong suspicion that my machine switch up routine is not going to work forever.

Dancing Queen

When I got the latest blog blast assignment from the Parentbloggers, I laughed. What in the world did I have to say about staying active? My mother exercises more than I do. But when I checked out the Ryka sneakers involved, I decided to give it a shot. Because the sneakers are seriously cute and I could use some seriously cute apparel in my life. Not to mention motivation to work out.

Because of my children's sleep habits, our tight budget that doesn't allow gym membership and my inability to get up at 5am, I have to work out WITH my children. This effectively eliminates all the Pilates moves I used to do, as any time Lovebug sees an adult on the floor he takes it as an invitation to jump on said adult. For the record, twenty-five pounds of toddler can, in fact, bruise your kidney. With Pilates out and free weights banned (yes, a toddler can lift an eight pound weight over his head and drop it on your toe), the only exercise I get is of the aerobic variety.

For a while I was forcing the kids into the stroller and walking them to the local park. (No, my children will not stand for a walk that does not involve them getting out somewhere and doing something fun) Naturally on these excursions I dressed in workout gear and put my hair in a ponytail. Sometimes I would even sweat. Ooops. The other women at this park wear skirts. And cute shoes (see? This is why I need to win those Ryka sneakers). And although I startled one of the children of the cute moms by actually climbing on the equipment with Lovebug, ("Moms can't do that!" he exclaimed), their cold shoulder at my sloppiness is disheartening day after day.

So the kids and I have "dancing time". We learn body parts by shaking them and sing along with the Wiggles. It's not dignified, and it probably doesn't burn as many calories as my walks, but I bet it makes me laugh harder than anyone else does while working out.