Working out with a cold is just as much fun as you would expect...

Photo courtesy Tallasiandude, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA

... that is, not at all fun.

In the spirit of starting fresh (yes, I know, starting fresh again - luckily there's no limit to picking yourself up and dusting yourself off), I dragged myself out of my sickbed this morning and did a workout.

Not the full amazon-woman type workout that is my custom on normal days, but a pitiful workout suitable for the phlegmatic.  Tee hee - "phlegmatic".  See what I did there?

I still have coughing fits and cannot breathe through my nose, and I was concerned that a workout, even a short workout, would be too stressful in my weakened condition.  So in a rare burst of sensible thinking, I did an easy workout of 30 minutes' walking on the treadmill at 3 mph, with a brief 10 minute elliptical session at the end with the usual tension and stride rate.  My big concern was overdoing it so that I would end up more compromised than before, and unable to stop coughing. 

I found the elliptical more physically challenging than the treadmill, and even this brief 40 minute workout was enough to exhaust me.  But I experienced only mild coughing, easily controlled - - no massive coughing fits.  I felt good having done a workout after a few days off, and I know that I should feel 100% better tomorrow.  That's the way these colds are.

I also measured myself this morning, to set the new baseline.  I had previously been taking my measurements each month, but once the weight started going back on (due to my unbridled snacking and binge eating), my dimensions ballooned up and I felt terrible looking at the tape measure each month.  Enough of that crap - - today sets the new high water mark, and each month I will be able to track progress again as I maintain my program. 

Why does this matter?  I realized over the past few days how much I need the positive reinforcement of my tracking graphs and logging.  Keeping a record of things and seeing linear progress helps me stay motivated and on track.  Just hopping on the scale and seeing a number without logging it is somehow less empowering for me, even if that number is lower than the number before.  It turns out I need to track my progress to help me keep seeing progress - - no tracking, and I find it simply too easy to cheat on the food, and ease up on the workouts.  When I track and I feel the desire to cheat, I can look back at my progress graphs and see all the good work I have done memorialized there, and it helps me stay on plan.

Enough is enough.  I have started fresh as if this is the weight I have had to lose all along.  No more coasting on my past successes.  I know my plan works when I stick to it, so I am just going to hold myself accountable and track as much as I did before so that I get those positive bumps when I see progress.  Give me 6 months, and let's see where things shake out. 

But yeah, colds suck.  I hate that I have 16 sinuses in my head, every one of which is full of phlegm.  And my lungs are full of junk as well - - I feel like I am breathing through a sponge.  Ick.  Tomorrow will be better, though.