Today was the first morning in 2 weeks I woke up without a sore throat! Holla. (literally).
Right now I can swallow without any pain and it’s a MIRACLE. A bad flu really makes me appreciate when I am in good health I tell ya. I just need to get rid of this tickly cough now!
Yesterday, I mentioned that May is going to be my ‘getting my groove back’ month. April’s injury and sickness left me feeling crappier than crappy and I’ve been feeling out of shape and just, blah.
May also happens to be my birthday month, so naturally I want to be feeling my best to kick off my 28th year with gusto.
First, let’s talk about slumps.
Slumps are also known as ruts, rough patches, potholes, *&^*#&!!, or damn I feel crappy lately.
[Slumps are different than depression though, so if you think you might be depressed please talk to a professional as soon as possible.]
Even though I blog about healthy exercise and eating, I go through slumps just like any other person. I’m human…I mess up…I trip up…I get down on myself. I like to blog about the good times and the bad times because I think both are equally important to talk about. Whether they are exercise slumps, eating slumps, business or school slumps, health slumps, relationship slumps, or even, I don’t know why slumps…they just happen.
Slumps can occur at the same time and create a vicious cycle that is hard to get out of. First, I had my sciatic injury which put me out of my half marathon training. That negatively impacted my exercise, eating, and mood. My mood impacted my eating. Then I got the flu which took me out of exercise completely and also affected my eating habits. This impacted my work and personal life. Negative mood –> official SLUMP!
It is hard not to feel down when going through a rough patch, but I’ve found that if I take matters into my own hands and create positive solutions, I feel much better, faster.
To help create a plan for myself, I first had to identify the slumps in my life and then create solutions for each.
SLUMP |
SOLUTION |
1) Sickness | Stick with healthy flu fighting habits. |
2) Sciatic Nerve Injury | My sciatic nerve isn’t sore anymore (yay) and I want to continue stretching and yoga as a preventative measure. |
3) Exercise | I was unable to exercise during much of April (except for the elliptical a bit during the sciatic injury) and I’m feeling out of shape. My solution is to create a few exercise goals that I will be able to stick to in May. More on this below. |
4) Eating | For me, it is extra difficult to eat healthy when I’m not working out. When I am working out, I find it much easier to eat healthy. They go hand in hand. My eating in April has been all over the map. I lost my appetite and taste buds during my flu so I have had no desire to eat vegetables like I usually do. This also left me craving super sweet foods. In May I need to get my eating back on track. |
I’m a very goal-oriented person so I broke the slumps down into achievable goals for May.
Exercise & Eating Goals
Exercise Goals: Strength – Stretch – Cardio – Rest every week.
- Strength: 1 Body Pump class per week
- Stretch: 1 yoga class per week (I’m going to try hot yoga soon), plus stretching after workouts
- Cardio like running, hiking, elliptical 5-6 days a week for ~30-60 minutes each.
- 1 Rest day a week, or as needed
While I was at the end of my half marathon training in March before this all began, I won’t be jumping back into training just yet. I want to ease into running and focus on my overall fitness before getting lost in a training plan again. I feel like this is a good chance for me to direct my focus elsewhere.
Eating Goals:
- Eat more veggies: wash & chop up a bunch every Sunday and keep in containers in fridge as a time saver.
- Green Monsters few times a week
- Juicing most mornings
- Structure Meals and limit snacking: Good sized breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, light dinner & treat.
- Cook! I’ve been going through a major cooking slump (basically not wanting to cook at all), but I want to get back to cooking more dinners and having more structured meals.
- Meal Planning: Along the same line of cooking more dinners, I need to plan out meals that I can cook each week. I hope to do this on the weekend before grocery shopping for the week.
Not only do I think these goals are achievable, but by the end of May (and probably sooner) I will be back in the groove. I also hope to blog more about these goals throughout May to let you know how I am doing.
Oh, and I’m printing out my goals and putting them where I can see them. :)
Right now, I’m off to do some meal planning for the week. Any ideas for me?
Do you struggle with eating or exercise slumps? How do you get back in the groove?