Working Through the Hurt, Rest, Slacking on Nutrition, and a Partner

Pain. That is what I felt. Being an ex-athlete, I’ve grown accustomed to working through pain. It’s almost a “must” in my circle. Or, it was…

I’ve recently been busting my butt to get to my goal. By that I mean that I’ve been hitting the exercise a little harder than usual and that has brought on some aches and pains. Normally I’d tell myself to “suck it up” but then something happened… I felt a a weird sensation on my left pectoral muscle. It was very tender. Any movement I made that involved used my chest would cause slight pain and discomfort. That’s when I knew that I had to change my mindset and, ultimately, take some time to rest.

The thing is that I’d been working through some slight aches for months. I have this nagging foot pain I’ve been dealing with for months. I did some research and it appears to be “runner’s heal.” I also have this pain that comes and goes in my right ankle. I think it stems back to that freak sprained ankle I suffered during football practice back in high school. Go Kennedy Knights! Then I also get this weird feeling in my left knee when I’m doing too much cardio. By too much I mean longer jogs and the like. So I’ve learned to deal with those aches for a while. They usually creep up on me when I’m hammer away and on a roll with my weight loss.

So what happens is I get so worn down that I HAVE to take time off from exercise. Then immediately after that I start slacking on my eating… Not caring about what nutrients go into my body. The usual “I’ll start again on Monday” mentality creeps in and before I even know it, I’m yo-yoing. It truly does suck. It happens to me and to many other people. That is why I think accountability is so key. Accountability from anyone, everyone, your dog, you cat, your boss, whoever!

To think, this all comes from those little aches and pains. If I would have simply taken a little more rest, sleep some more, taken that one day off, then I would have been fine. My body would have healed a bit more and not lead up to this huge snowball of pain, both physical and mental. So, this time around when I got hurt, my workout partner Frank and I had come up with a plan. We figured we’d take a couple weeks off from heavy or strenuous exercise and focus on recovery. We were to focus on light exercise and our eating. I had the eating part down, thanks to Nutrisystem, but the light workouts were getting to me. So much so, that I stopped working out for the entire two weeks. Well, I managed to get in a workout or two. But it didn’t feel the same. Plus I still had aches and pains. My chest was healing though, which was my main concern. Through a series of unfortunate events, we basically lasted about a month without partnering up to workout together. Having an accountability partner is so important, for me. Especially someone that is on your same level, pushes up to work harder and be your best. Without Frank for that month, I wasn’t working at my best. That sucks! I want to be the best I can be, always.

Okay, so after all this I’ve said, what’s the point? I’m not sure if there is a point. There doesn’t always have to be a point. I just felt like venting. Well, maybe there is a point. Okay, yeah, I have a point.

Here is your takeaway from all this:
1. You will stumble.
2. Pick your self up, sooner rather than later, but just do it.
3. Try to have some semblance of accountability.
4. If your body needs rest, TAKE IT.
5. Keep reading FMU.

Okay that last one isn’t a takeaway, just a favor.

Peace out for now!

Disclaimer: All products have been supplied by Nutrisystem as part of their Nutrisystem Nation Blogger program. Views expressed here are my own. If you are interested in learning more, visit Nutrisystem.