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?
i have basically the same goals as you! I’ve felt out of my element for a while lately and now I’m ready to get back on track!!
I love your recommendations for dealing with slumps Angela! I find your daily blog completely inspiring and post topics so intune with my own life. It is uplifting to hear about someone else going through the same triumphs and struggles. Thanks for everything and good luck with the “get back on track” plan! I too am recovering from being sick so I’m trying to get back on a healthy kick for May and will look forward to hearing about your success! Wahoo!
i would really love to win a copy of Tina’s book!
I totally agree that it’s harder to eat healthy when we are not exercising! This post really inspired me to set some more ‘steady’ exercise goals. I never really put the goals on paper but I will try to do it, thay I can visualize the goals.
Oh and btw, the other day I was searching ‘the3 0 day shred’ on YouTube and I came across your video. You are too cute and love your voice too!
Love that you mapped out the slumps and solutions! Makes me think about setting goals to get out of my slumps. Thanks for the inspiration!
I definitely experience food and exercise slumps and the hardest part is digging my way out it. I think my biggest motivation is remembering how good I feel when I have exercise and good healthy food in my life.
I recently read how people fail to utilise their professional knowledge in personal affairs. This article suggested we approach our private lives as if we were running a business and try to identify major problems and efficient solutions.
As I read this post, I see just exactly what was meant by it. You have an uncanny gift of recognizing your triggers and instead of procrastinating you make a sensible and most importantly an achievable goal. I find many people make the typical mistake when planing that they set their goals too high leaving no room for a set back, bad day, other unforeseeable events and when they inevitably fail to achieve the goal they fall into an even deeper slump.
I think I may be falling into the slump you are just coming out of! I’ve got a cold/flu thing going on and obviously eats and exercise are suffering – hopefully it doesn’t take 2 weeks for my throat to get better. I was healthy pretty much all winter and now that it’s warmed up, I get sick.
I need to get better about setting and following through with goals. I hate knowing there is something I have to do, it pressures me and makes me want to rebel and not do it at all. Yes even if it’s a good or fun thing – it’s like there are 2 sides of myself, one that wants things to get done and the other side who doesn’t wanna follow instructions. It can be tough to sort them out sometimes!
Good for you! I am following your lead! I was sick in April, still not 100%, slacked on exercise and I feel gross!!! I’m not a runner, but yesterday I actually jogged 3 miles in 43 minutes, thats really good for me It was nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine and not to mention I actually had energy! May as you said is the new beginning and I am following that too!! Time to eat healthy and exercise! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one that feels the way I do! Have a great week! Cook up some healthy dishes, and share with us and take it easy on your workouts, since your just getting over being sick!!
I totally agree that eating healthy and exercising go hand in hand… when I’m working out regularly it makes me want to eat healthy to fuel my workouts and feel energized. When I go through slumps in either my fitness or eating habits, I do the same thing you just did – write down what’s been bothering me and what I can do about it and set some new fitness/healthy eating goals. Works every time :)
I feel like I’ve definitely been hitting a slump too. It’s even gotten to my emotions – not necessarily depression, but they have been so up and down. I think May needs to be my “get my glow back” month – time to re-find my confidence, happiness, and zest for life! I know that it never really left, I just haven’t let myself find it or live in it yet!
Good look with your may goals!! :) I’m sure it will be a great month for you :)
I’m trying to come out of a slump too so thanks for this post. One thing to consider, in Eat, Pray, Love there is a discussion of how being in balance sometimes requires time out of balance. I don’t know if I’m explaining this well, but I try to remember that it’s my time out of balance that ultimately leads me back to balance. Thank you for writing :)
I hear ya! I had a month-long slump in March – foot injury, vacation, then sick. So frustrating! It’s hard to get back into the swing of things, but once you have a few green monsters and great sweat sessions, you’ll crave it again. : ) Good luck.
Very Inspiring post! When I don’t exercise my healthy food routine goes out the door too..
Great advice :)
It’s easy to just want to give up and say “woe is me” when bad things keep happening, but we gotta remember, it’ll pass!
good luck with your goals!
Looks like you have a pretty good slump fighting plan! I am the same way with exercise and eating well. If I’m not exercising I have less of a desire to eat well, seems kind of backwards.
Hi Angela,
I really look forward to your posts every morning. Today’s was just what I needed. I look forward to your menu. I hope you post it. I have wheat berries in the frig that I cooked last night in order to prepare your Back on Track salad. I can’t wait to try it. Keep the posts coming.
Glad you are feeling better! Good luck getting your groove back!