A GOOD YEAR: A body in motion stays in motion?

I love science and analogies, so this entry by Cathy has me happy on all fronts.  She is so cerebral with her science analogy! I think a lot of people can relate to the havoc created by colds.    I too have had a head and chest affair that has lasted multi weeks.  Getting sick disrupts the flow of life!  Laundry piles up, the house gets unorganized, and your diligence with dieting can be tough to focus on.  You must slow down to let your body heal.  When your better, you are regaining strength and rebuilding your energy stores.  Initially, getting totally pumped about your workout may be challenging.  One potential fix I will offer to Cathy and one I offer to my clients who are struggling, is a week of a lot of "buddy" workouts.  Engage a support system by recruiting a friend, upping your workout frequency with your trainer, or scheduling classes at the gym and text a buddy when you are going.  I would enlist a friend who is positive and supportive and do some daily talk or text to keep exercise light and motivating.  We will get you moving Cathy!  Now… in a fabulous turn of fortune, Cathy is coming to Portland this week, and I have her for a full week!  I promise you Cathy, we will have fun with our fitness and find that groove!

From Cathy:
In Newton's first law of motion he posited that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  On the flip side he explained that a body at rest tends to stay at rest.  I get that, but what about the transitions?  What happens when an body in motion slows down? And how do you get a body at rest to move more?

This is where things fall apart for me.  The last time I put on a lot of weight, there were a number of factors in play, but the one that stands out the most in my mind is that I got sick.  Not just a little cold, but a knocked on your behind, down for the count for a few weeks, sick.  Somehow, I never really got my body in motion after that.

Here we are three years later and I'm on the mend right now from another no-joke virus.  I've been told that this strain tends to take three to four weeks to leave the system and I'm at the precipice of week four.  I still get dizzy and lightheaded if I stand up too fast or walk up a set of stairs and I'm tired a lot of the time.  Combine that with a couple of stressful weeks and I'm a body at rest with a tendency to stay at rest... and eat, a body at rest that stays at rest and eats.

Halls cough drops wrapper making a feeble attempt to inspire me while I battle the plague...

Up to this point, the plan Beth outlined for me has been something I've strictly adhered to.  Everything about my routine had been going extremely well.  I just figured that my success was due largely in part to my new perspective.  But this week it has been very hard for me to get up and get back into my routine.  I started walking again about a week and a half ago but it hasn't been as natural an instinct to get out.  I haven't been as drawn to movement as I was prior to getting sick.  And I really haven't put much effort in when it comes to making good choices about food.

My therapist and I have spent time lately focusing on gratitude and thinking about all of the things I'm grateful for as opposed to all of the things that aren't working for me or are frustrating.  I've even been keeping a gratitude journal where I write down eight things I'm grateful for each day and why.  As cheesy at that may sound, it has been so useful to refocus on the positive things in my life by  reflecting each day on what I'm grateful for.  It isn't always easy to feel grateful but every day it gets easier.

On Friday I wrote, "I am grateful that tomorrow is a new day. I didn't get my workout in and I haven't been in the best frame of mind but tomorrow I get a chance to try again and I am so grateful for that."

Saturday, I made myself to do my weight routine and today Leslie Sansone and I went on a forced march in the dining room. I am planning to spend more time with Leslie tomorrow.  I am hopeful that Newton was right and this whole Newton "inertia thing" works out. It is not easy but maybe in the end I'll be grateful for that.