Fitness Friday

I considered not writing a Fitness Friday post this week, because the honest truth is not very much fitness has been going on. But I figured I've learned a lot this week about listening to your body, and more than anything else, just giving it a bit of a break. And that's just as good a lesson as any in fitness. So here we go.

Weekly Update
As I've mentioned a few times already, I haven't been feeling too hot this week. Now, I've not been that ill. I've not been bedridden or anything, but here lies the problem. When I'm ill, but not so ill I'm forced to stay in bed, I tend to just go on with my life like everything is normal. This tends to result in me pushing myself too hard, not giving my body the time or the care to recover, and generally ended up being ill for a longer time.
It all started on Saturday when I decided to do 30DS within half an hour of getting up, and then going for a 4 mile walk. Big mistake. Despite being a morning person,  working out in the morning doesn't work for me at all. I'm just not awake or energized enough, everything hurts more and the effort I put in is much lower than usual. Plus I end up feeling exhausted for all the rest of the day. So, on Sunday I woke up feeling lousy and I have felt lousy all week. I gave 30DS its first break day on Sunday, but, despite feeling dreadful, got back into it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which may have not been my best idea. While I haven't been running this week (C25K would probably have killed me) I was still trying to get my cardio in. When it got to Thursday I decided enough was enough and I just needed a few days to relax and get over whatever this was (I've had flu-like symptoms, but not full-on flu). I absolutely hate not getting any exercise in but I know I have to listen to my body. It's tired, it feels lousy, it just wants to rest. So I know I have to just give it a few days of not working out to fully recover so I can feel better for next week. It's been a hard, but necessary lesson to learn. I absolutely hate taking a break from goals, especially things like 30DS which I really wanted to do every day for the full 30 days, and I'm worried about losing the drive to get back into it, but I know I'd rather do it full pelt and take 40 days, than do it in 30 knowing that 10 of those 30 were not my best efforts. I did start Level 2 this week though and so far I love it! I am all over Anita though, but when I'm feeling better I'm gonna allow myself another 3-4 days of Anita before trying Natalie!

Foodie Finds
Saturday was my first cheat day. I knew I was going to be hanging out with my favourite family friends and we always have a great time and yummy food and I didn't want to sacrifice that. I did a lot of exercise in the morning (see above!) I think I still just about came in inside my calorie goal, but it was nice to relax for one night. 
I've actually relaxed a lot more this week, but most of it has been to do with being ill. I know not eating enough calories is going to slow the process of getting better down, and plus when I'm feeling lousy, a bit of chocolate definitely cheers me up! Without exercising I have been finding it hard to stick to 1200 calories as I had been eating my exercise calories more, which I talked about doing last week. We also went out for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate my new job and I did have a couple of glasses of champagne!
Like with exercise, I'm going to get back to normal next week, but with being ill I've been making sure I well and get what my body needs. I know I'm only going to feel more ill and more exhausted if I don't. Plus eating this way has helped me adapt to the idea of this being more of a lifestyle change. There are going to be days when you want to let go and enjoy yourself and days where you want to celebrate, and those have a place in your life too.

What I've Learned
- You have to listen to what your body needs and act accordingly
- Sometimes you need to have a break
- I have definitely been pushing myself a bit too hard and need to relax a bit with that
- Not managing to achieve my exact work out plan every single day is not the end of the world, so long as you pick it back up again
- Days where you want to celebrate are going to happen, this is part of life and is not worth stressing out about
- Working out in the morning does not work for me
- Also, doing 30DS before my cardio is not a good idea! 
- Walking is a great way to get cardio when you don't want to run
- Weight loss is not always an accurate measure of success. According to the scale my weight hasn't changed in almost 2 weeks, but I definitely look and feel different. I've heard this a lot about Jillian's DVDs so I'm going to try checking measurements as an indicator as well as weight.
- I need to give my body some time before I can get back into my workout routine

Next Week's Goals
- Get back to full health and get back on 30DS and C25K!

Another thing worth touching on, next week is the last week I'm off before I start my new job. This is obviously going to have a huge impact on my free time and my exercise. I work from 9.30 until 6 and it takes me about an hour to get to and from work, so figuring out my new exercise plan is going to be tough. For the first few weeks until I get used to my new routine, I think I will just come home and do 30DS every day after work, and get cardio in on the weekends. After a while I'm thinking of walking the 30 minutes to the bus stop instead of getting the bus, which will make sure I get 30 to 60 minutes of cardio in a day and won't add any extra time to my day, and then doing the DVD when I get home. I'd like to work out in the morning but I always find it really difficult to do, although I don't have a problem getting up early, I just find I can't work out to the full extent of my ability that early in the day. Advice is much appreciated!