Hi

I'm new here - decided it's time to join a community of like minded people.

I have been really good with checking my calories and regular exercise for the past 2 months. Then I got an infection about a week ago and therefore could not exercise. I'm still pretty beat, so this is the 5th day I will be missing out on exercising. I have also gone a little off track with comfort food and even ordered a pizza !

I'm back in the right mindset and hopefully I can start exercising again soon. Does this mean I will have to start again from the beginning? In desperate need for some motivation.

Goal is to loose at least another 3 pounds by the end of the year.

I have to ask; how much of it was really due to the infection? It seems to me that if a THROAT infection is enough to keep you from doing any amount of exercising that it would be bad enough to prevent you from eating pizza. Not exactly a soft food that's easy on the way down...

You only get out of fitness what you put into it. If you REALLY want to stay on plan, you will find a way. You'll eat low calorie foods and do lunges up the stairs in your house if you have to until you can resume regular exercise. Besides, THE MOST important factor to weight loss or gain is your diet. If you were chained to a bed all day you could still lose weight simply by making smarter choices.

You're definitely right; it's about your mindset. Now that you're back in the 'right one' as you say, just pick up where you left off!

I think you'll find this forum to be very supportive but the ladies and gents here also aren't afraid to tell you like it is if needed.

Thanks, I appreciate your honesty.

To quickly come up for myself a little bit: Doctor specifically told me that I am not allowed any exercise at all - I felt beat so decided to listen to him. He is in the medical profession, so I'm thinking he knows better than I do. And my throat infection, strangely enough, not so much affected my throat, but more my voice and body as a whole (like the flu) -so was able to swallow mostly anything. I live alone, had zero energy to make something and pizza is the only food in my area that delivers. I had to eat in order to drink medicine. Vicious cycle and may sound like excuses, but there you have it.

With regards to making healthy choices, I have gone out of my way to do that, but I'm always open to new ideas!
- i always take the stairs (and I live in the 5th floor)
- I replaced all full cream products with low fat
- I don't snack
- I carefully monitor my calorie intake (even with the pizza - i ate it over like 3 days to at least TRY to minimise the damage)
- I monitor portions

My biggest concern is my fitness level and that when I get back on the "horse" (hopefully tomorrow) my hard work of the last 2 months would have basically been undone. Guessing there is only one way to find out.

I am very very serious about my weight loss goals. Thanks for reminding me of that

I hope you're feeling better!

good luck getting back on plan!

Thanks for humoring me and explaining your post a bit more. It sounds like listening to your doctor is the responsible way to go, and a lot of people DON'T... so good on you for that.

With regard to having to 'start all over' in the gym I'm sure you'll notice that you aren't feeling quite as fast/strong, but that you'll bounce back quickly. Our bodies are amazingly resilient!

Besides, what other option do you have? If you suddenly can only run 15 minutes instead of 20 will you just stop alltogether? No, you'll just work your way back up to 20 and keep going.