Can you stay motivated to lose weight when you are sick? Is it even realistic to try to keep up your weight loss and exercise program when you are sick?
I don’t usually get sick, however I have been for about a week now. It has been several years since I was this sick and I truly believe much of the reason is due to how I eat (and exercise), however that is another topic.
So what do you do when you are sick? Do you maintain your healthy eating and exercise habits, or do you revert back to old eating habits because you feel poorly (and you think you deserve it)? Does all of your positive work fly out of the window? Can you stay motivated when sick?
I believe it depends on just how sick you are. If you are suffering from a mild cold, you will need to be honest with yourself to determine if you are using it as an excuse to get out of exercising and eating at the optimum level. If, however, you have really been taken down and are out of commission, I think it is highly unrealistic to push yourself to exercise.
While I am proud of how positive I have been able to keep my thoughts (when in the past I would become quite negative while sick), my body still has not had the energy to workout. I thought to push myself the other night and worked out on the treadmill, however this completely drained me. I wouldn’t recommend doing this yourself; I’ve experimented on myself so that you don’t need to. 🙂
It is much better to simply slow down, relax, and let your body rest so that it can recover. As far as how you eat, it doesn’t make much sense to try to “diet” while sick, however I would not recommend eating refined sugar and reverting to old eating habits (if you even have the desire to do so). Sugar actually increases the acidity level of your body, and acid is what disease lives in, however this is also another topic. Suffice it to say that sugar can keep you ill longer.
I know that part of the reason that I became sick is because I was not following my normal way of eating. I did take a trip overseas and while I did very well with taking as much healthy food as I could (that would fit the requirements of customs), I did not avoid all processed foods during my week away.
A couple of days after returning last week, I was really wiped out by this cold, flu, whatever it is. This is a good example of how your diet can affect your health.
Honestly, I rarely get sick, and certainly not like I have been for a week now. There were likely other reasons, too, because I really pushed myself to see as much as possible on my trip, and I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep. Overall it was worth it though, and I did the best I could with the food that was available. At least I wasn’t sick while on my trip. 😉
The last point that I think is important to touch on is to avoid negative self-talk while sick. You probably will not be working out or eating like you normally do when you are well and working towards your weight loss goals.
You can only do what you can do, and I think it is perfectly natural that your motivation won’t be high to lose weight at this time. In fact, it would be too much to ask of yourself to even be thinking about it. I wanted to mention this though, because you may be one of many who are so focused on your weight loss goals that you would still be thinking about them when ill.
In my opinion, I think it’s more important to just let your body recover, and treat yourself like you would treat your best friend. Be kind to yourself. Eventually you will move past your cold, flu, etc., and you will be able to resume your weight loss and exercise program. It will not help to put yourself down for not working out or eating (to get healthy and fit) as you normally do. Rest, relax, and recuperate. 🙂
