Sunday 19 December 2010

Are You Listening To Your Body?

I have been hearing from friends who are trying to lose weight that they are proud of themselves for working out when they were not feeling well. Depsite feeling sick, they managed to run that mile or went to the gym or did whatever their normal exercise routine was, and, for this, they were proud of themselves. And they should be proud of themselves.

BUT

They should also be proud of themselves if they have taken a day off from exercising to wait until they feel better. They should also be proud of themselves if they have listened to their bodies' needs and realized that their bodies needed to rest.

I am just as guilty of making myself exercise even when I am ill. A part of me feels like I have let myself down when I skip exercising for the day, but I need to stop feeling that way. There is nothing wrong with resting when I am sick. In fact, sometimes resting is exactly what my body needs, and I need to listen to my body.

I have a really bad cold this week. It is not bad enough to keep me from exercising, but my kids aren't well right now either. Some of the younger ones have been taking turns keeping me up all night long. I'm really, really tired.

My body is telling me to take a day off from exercising, to rest. I am going to listen to it. Are you listening to yours?

3 comments:

  1. Amen!!! So many things people are proud of in the blogosphere make me sad. This is a perfect example. Thank you for pointing this out. This is something I am guilty of sometimes and I appreciate the reminder to listen to my body.

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  2. Excellent post. I do sometimes read blogs that brag "Oh, I had both my legs hacked off below the knees by a bunch of hungry piranhas, but I still managed to cross the Gobi desert and scale Everest afterwards."
    Me, if it hurts I try to run (or whatever exercise) through the pain. If it gets worse, I stop and do RICE (Rest Ignore Complain Eat).

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  3. Am so very guilty of this n you are right must rest when needed or else we will ony to damage to our bodies rather than good n end up being to weak to exersise for longer than we like (learnt that one a few weeks ago, overdid it and then was in agony for two days very foolish) You are like the voice of reason as always ;)

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