OK, so I overdid it this weekend with the exercise and now I’m not feeling so great. Sore throat and slight fever, not so bad but definitely need a rest.
This past weekend, not only did I do my longest run since the marathon (with a faster tempo run in the middle) I also ran in the evening the same day, and in between I did some plank tests — try to stay in a plank position (like pushups but resting on your forearms instead of hands) and keep it that way for more than a minute. Those are tiring! I did a couple of them, more than a minute each. The day before, I was at soccer all day and was sunburnt, plus I did a bunch of pushups and pullups.
So you can see, looking back, that I overtrained. Not a problem — just take a couple rest days until my body feels better, then proceed at a more cautious pace. So I didn’t exercise today (was supposed to be a rest day anyway) and I probably won’t tomorrow either. :(
A good sign, though, is that I didn’t eat a bunch of junk food like I often do while sick. I ate healthy stuff, including oranges and other fruits, and lots of water.
Today’s report:
B: Coffee. Oatmeal w/ soy yogurt, flaxseed, almonds. 315.
S: Orange. Peanut butter and banana sandwich on sprouted bread. 415.
L: Amy’s tofu scramble. 320.
S: Soy yogurt, raspberries, blueberries, granola. 325.
D: Homemade veggie chili on brown rice. 485.
Totals:
Ate: 1860.
Burned: 1900.
Deficit: 40.
Leo, as you have learned the hard way, being in a caloric deficit hampers your body’s ability to recover. So you may have experienced a little overtraining and I’m sure the sunburn didn’t help. Don’t let this discourage you though, as with many things your body will adapt. Towards the end of my fat loss I was lifting 4 times a week, sprinting, and doing steady state cardio on a caloric deficit. Way to stick to your diet while you were sick. Last time I was sick all I ate was PB&J so your a better man than I. Keep up the good work!!
Thanks for that, Mike. I think that I just rushed into it a bit too fast. I’ll get to the point where you were, sprinting and lifting and doing cardio on a caloric deficit … I just need to take my time getting there.
Could you share more details of your fat loss? Like how you measured, how long it took, what your eating plan was like, what your workout plan looked like? If you have the time … it would be interesting to read.
Thanks again!
This is a great read. As a health conscious vegetarian, I love looking at your meals for the day for inspiration. I often find with a veg diet it can sometimes be hard to limit carbs and fats (we have plenty of dairy). One question, who is Amy? Is there a recipe for Amy’s palak paneer?
Do you want me to leave it as a comment or email it to you? Just let me know and I’ll get that to you.
I’m on day 6 of a new round of tracking all of my calories in and out (and trying to get back on the workout wagon). I just wanted to let you know that your blog is providing me inspiration. I don’t run so it’s not about the running (although it’s very impressive!), it’s just nice to see somebody else going day by day, trying to get more fit and healthy, just like I am. :)
Thanks!
@Rebecca: glad if I can inspire you! Report back now and then to let us hear about your progress. Good luck and congrats on deciding to be healthy!
@Mike: Leaving it as a comment would be great — although I might just turn it into a post on this blog if you don’t mind.
@Sandra: Yeah, I like looking through other vegetarians’ meals too. :)
“Amy” is really “Amy’s Kitchen”, a line of popular vegetarian food in the supermarket — frozen and canned foods. They’re really pretty good and aside from being a little high in salt, pretty healthy too. I like almost all of Amy’s stuff.
Oh, I should have provided the link to Amy’s Kitchen:
http://www.amyskitchen.com/
Experimenting with your body is good to some extent, but sometimes we need to listen more carefully to what it is saying.
Sickness doesn’t come because of body overtire alone and usually the best way to recover is to tune up positive thinking (what is your strong point :) ), review where you were less sensitive or attentive to yourself and people close to you.
I like treating sickness as some “zero point” where you stop and look around.
For fast recovery I would also recommend ginger-lemon-honey tea, it helped me numerous times on my yoga way.
Get well soon! :)
hope you are on the mend.
TAKE A BREAK AND LISTEN TO YOUR BODY IF YOU NEED TO—it’s all about the long haul.
Meant to pass this meal website along to you… Hope you get to feeling better, but way to go on the runs…
The Spring Tabbouleh was incredible, and felt good in the stomach.
Maybe some get-well food, eh?
http://101cookbooks.com/
As long as you are only a little under the weather it should not be so bad.
I find that sometimes I will not push myself hard enough and be disappointed in myself for that, you on the other hand can revel in your hard work and realize that being mortal means that we have to recover from those tough workout weekends.
Good for you for Leo
I’ll get that to you when I have some time. I wouldn’t mind if you turned it into a post.
Thanks for all the kind thoughts, guys! I really appreciate it. I’m feeling much better right now — just a sore throat left.
I hope you’re feeling better, Leo
Sometimes feeling under the weather is a sign that we need a ‘zero day’. That’s a day when you do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
*Forget all ‘shoulds’ for a day
*lounge about in your pajamas if you want to
*eat whatever takes your fancy
*curl up in the sun and read, or chat with your family.
May you be well
Mary
Hi Leo,
Just popped over from Zen Habits (love it!) and started reading through this blog. I am finding it very inspirational as I’ve been meaning to get back on the workout wagon for some time now.
Thanks and I hope you feel better!
Sara
Leo — I came here from Zenhabits, hoping all is well with you, your exercise, and your writing. May your energy, enthusiasm, and excellence get an extra boost of power so you can keep our motivational fires going! Thanks!
Leo, reading your posts and of course your Zen To Done provides a lot of inspiration to me (I bought the eBook although it`s published on CC-licence!).
I`ve always been looking for something like this – easy, motivating and considering every part of a good life. Well, I cannot do any job on my own without a boss or a schedule – so very many ideas are not practicable to me. But, and that`s the great thing, the rest is still enough to fit in my environment and change many things to better.
Without wanting to sound too fanatic or crazy – I`m grateful about your hints. They`re “normal” enough for me to use them and gave me a impulse to start changing habits.
Thanks – and greetings from Hamburg, Germany.
@greensocial … thanks for the nice comment! I’m glad if you’ve found some of what I’ve learned useful. And thanks for buying the ebook!