Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Rest or Push Through?

I know I only really weigh myself on Mondays but today the scale was really nice to me this morning!  I needed it too because yesterday after work instead of exercising I went home and fell asleep watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey (cra-zy!).  I meant to watch for only about ten minutes while I ate my new favorite snack - those Kraft 2% milk cheddar cheese slices.  60 calories and a cheese fix DAILY, it does not get better than that.  Ok it does, but nobody sells 60 calorie cupcakes with delicious frosting!  Anyway I woke up about 2 hours later and just didn't have the time to exercise later.
Here is how I did yesterday:
Burned 2626 calories
Consumed 1480 calories
Deficit of 1146 calories

I realized a little while after dinner that I was pretty low on calories and had a delicious glass of 1% milk with 2 cookies.  SO yummy, and so deserved after a day loaded with fruits and veggies and super healthy everything.

Today however...I'm sore! I have a gross blister on my heel! I'm tired! I feel sniffly and may be getting sick! Oh my gosh, I actually really could go on. Physically I am feeling like crap this morning. My mind is right there urging me to go go go but my body is like, please take a break!  I'm toying with the idea of not going on the walk today.  I really, really want to go and not lose my momentum but I haven't had a day "off" from exercise in about two weeks.

It's feeling like a tough thing because I'm scared.  Scared that I'm not doing well enough, scared that I'm doing too much, scared that if I skip one day it will be easier to skip another, scared that I'm going to make my blister worse.  Scared that I'm JUST FINE and only making excuses.  The thing about OCD that makes it really difficult for me is the paranoia.  When I was a kid it made me terrified that friends would abandon me, I was so defensive and thought everyone was out to get me.  As an adult I just find myself being a worrier.  It makes me somewhat indecisive.  In fact right now I'm tempted to just say - hey readers, a quick poll...let me know if you think I should go on the walk.

But I know it's only up to me and I know that I have to weigh all the pros and cons.  I need to learn when to just push through and when I really, truly need a break.  No excuses, no nothing, just a good rest.  Then again, knowing the sense of accomplishment that I'll have if I do the walk and turn out okay is pretty appealing too!  So tell me, my dearest readers...how do you know?  How can you tell when you should take a day off from working out?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are there. When I physically hit a wall and I am pulling myself rather than pushing. I take a break. My trainer actually builds in 2 off days for me each week. They are awesome days! I may be feeling it a bit today after a long night of Vamps and Weres, oh my! I asked for a night off but I may go and swim which is a tinsy bit easier. Brig

Fat Girl vs. World said...

do some other exercise?

Kylie said...

I'd say take a break. It's ok to have a day off here and there, as long as it is not 10 in a row! lol.
Otherwise could you go for a swim or something instead?

You are doing great. I just found your blog and love how in your profile you say you are working on everything, not just weight. Everyone should do things that way!

Good luck with it all.

screaming fatgirl said...

I would take a break, because if being injured or ill and taking time off throws you completely off your plan, then you probably need to know that. It's important to be able to take a day off or to eat more than usual and prove to yourself that you can get right back on track. In fact, it's as important as being on plan regularly to know you can get back after being off. This builds confidence and trust in yourself. If you just do it everyday, you have no faith that you can rest without failing for good.

KyokoCake said...

Thanks ladies...I did end up going on the walk today thinking I would just go a mile instead of the 3 we normally do - and ended up going really quickly!! It was actually this whole revelation...which I will talk about tomorrow ;)

@Brig it is just making me smile that you like your trainer :) I know I need to build in my time outs! I will work on it!

@Fat Girl vs World - I was planning to bike this evening too in a little bit...seems like I am becoming a little bit of an exercise junkie!

@1million - Thank you for coming by!Glad you like it :) swimming is the one thing I don't have real access to, which is so sad because I love to swim!

@screaming fatgirl - I know I need to trust myself...in the past year any period of time I wasn't losing weight started with me either being sick or injured! It's hard to get back to trusting myself about the one thing I was horrible with before.

Karen said...

Hi, I think you asked a good question because I'm wondering the same thing :)

Anne E said...

I'm glad you decided to push through and at least do something active :) I don't think "taking a break" necessarily means you should be sedentary.. sometimes it just means taking it a little easier!

I love your blog and just found it. The way you designed it actually makes me hungry. I'll be tuning in! :)

 
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