Week 2: From Sick to Healthy in Less Than a Week!
Week 2 of my nutrition and fitness experiment is complete! This week was much more difficult to keep healthy. For one thing, the holidays are here, and it seems as though everywhere I look there is a tempting food. Plus, many of my students have been sick with the flu – stomach flu and other. So, I’ve had to battle that. Read on below to see how my week went.
Sunday, December 2nd:
I woke up this morning with the flu. Many of my students have had this the past week. Fortunately, I got the flu where I am achy and fatigued, not the stomach flu. Although I don’t feel good, I’m thankful that Sunday is my day off work this week. So, I got plenty of rest, ate very healthily, drank lots of fluids, and did a workout that I felt would promote getting well quicker.
The workout I did today was a nice walk with Tom and the hour P90X X-Stretch. It definitely helped me start to feel better. It was great to ease out the aches in my body and release toxins.
Day 8 complete, and I made it through feeling better than when the day started!
Monday, December 3rd:
Today the 4:30am start was much easier than expected considering I’m still battling with the flu. On my break, I took a lovely nap to help me get well faster.
I ate healthily and did a workout.
Overall, I felt better today and hoped I was starting to get well again.
Day 9 complete and feeling progress!
Tuesday, December 4th:
I’m still feeling a bit run down today. However, my TurboFire box set from Beachbody.com has arrived! Chea and I found TurboFire at the Black Friday Beachbody.com sale, and we thought it looked like a fun, difficult workout program to start next.
So, I’m super excited to do my first TurboFire workout today! I decided to do the 5-Day Inferno Plan (which is an optional start to the plan) and then follow the normal version. TurboFire is a 12-week plan with DVD workouts.
The first workout of the Intense 5 day is: Fire 55 EZ Class + Stretch 10 Class. [Basically the numbers are how long the class is.]
The workout was tough! Chea and I were jumping around and laughing as we started the workout. We looked at each other and said, “This is definitely going to be different than P90X!” Upon finishing the TurboFire workout, we both agreed it was a more difficult cardio workout than even the P90X Plyometric workout! I felt great and excited for the next 12 weeks!
Day 10 complete and excited for more TurboFire!
Wednesday, December 5th:
Today was TurboFire 45 Class + HIIT 20 Class + Stretch 10 Class.
[This is two normal workout days on the 12-week plan, combined together for the 5-Day Inferno Plan.]
The workouts on their own would have been tough, but put together they were super difficult. I definitely felt my second wind! One thing that stands out for these workouts is I can get a second wind, and I feel like I’ve done a long and fast run. Most workouts don’t make you feel like you’ve completed a run (except running). Plus, I find it much more enjoyable than a run!
Once I finished work at 7:45pm, I felt pretty rotten. I started losing my voice earlier in the afternoon. After 5 hours of straight-through coaching, I didn’t sound good.
For dinner, I had gluten-free quinoa pasta with rice cheese and kale. Rice cheese is a wonderful vegan cheese that tastes very much like dairy cheese. You can find it a Whole Foods and Sprouts/Henry’s.
Day 11 complete. I need some rest!
Thursday, December 6th:
I felt much worse when I woke up this morning. It feels like my flu has taken on more cold symptoms with a sore throat, congestion, and headache.
I decided that doing the 5-day Inferno Plan may not be the best idea for getting well. So, I started doing the normal first-week workouts of the TurboFire plan. Still very difficult, but today’s workout was shorter.
Today was TurboFire 30 Class + Stretch 10 Class.
I definitely felt like I had less energy working out today, but I felt like I made the right decision to do the 1st week of the normal TurboFire plan.
I particularly have been enjoying making Peanut Butter/Banana/Whey Protein smoothies this week. In the New Year, I will be sharing the recipe!
Day 12 complete and ready to start feeling better!
Friday, December 7th:
Today I felt fairly similar to yesterday morning. My voice sounds way worse, though. I’m super congested, so I keep having to clear my throat.
I did TurboFire HIIT 20 Class + Stretch 10 Class. Loved it!
I ate healthily but after finishing work at 5:30pm, my voice was definitely worse. I needed to run a Christmas errand at the mall, so Tom and I decided to try out the new organic restaurant True Food Kitchen at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. It was lovely, and it was easy to find a vegan, gluten-free dinner there. I had the Organic Tomato and Roasted Kale Pizza on Gluten Free Crust. It was a non-dairy pizza. I really enjoyed the kale on the pizza, which I’ve not had before.
Day 13 complete and thinking positively about tomorrow!
Saturday, December 8th:
I woke up after a good night’s sleep and felt much better today. I’m finally starting to feel healthy again! At the start of the day, I felt only slightly congested and that’s it.
Today was my rest day for workouts. Once I finished work at 2:45pm, I got to spend a relaxing afternoon of putting up Christmas decorations and spending time with Tom.
By the end of the day, I felt healthy again! Yay! I’ve conquered the flu this week!
Day 14 complete, and I feel great that I’m doing this nutrition and fitness experiment!
I really feel like my nutrition and fitness helped me get well again quicker this week. Even though I ended up catching what was going around the ice rink, it seemed that I recovered quicker than most. I know that I may still have some congestion for a few days, but all in all I’m excited for the next week! 🙂
Be sure to check out my original 6-Month Nutrition and Fitness Experiment post for a list of all my posts and recipes!
My own variation of a sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free vegetarian diet:
Sugar-free consists of no sugar, sugar substitutes, honey, or other equivalent except for a small amount of preferably natural sweetener that is already in a product such as bread or whey protein.
Dairy-free includes a few exceptions. I’m including whey protein. I also have times of experimenting with Greek yogurt and regular yogurt to see if they are beneficial to me. In addition, I include eggs in my diet, which is a variation from a vegan diet.
Gluten-free also includes a few exceptions. I include Ezekiel Bread or sprouted bread, which is close to gluten-free in how it’s digested but not actually gluten-free. Some gluten-free plans say oats are fine and some do not. I include oats in my plan.
My fitness plan:
My exercise consists of workouts 6 days per week. The only exception can be if I do an additional workout on a day to count for one of the days or on a recovery week every few months.
You don’t know, what a helpful post it is, definitely for me!Most of the time of the year, I feel sick especially – cold and fever and different types of pain. Doctors can’t give me any solution. I am quite hopeful that your experiment will be much effective for me.
Getting healthy and getting a healthy lifestyle full of good habits if the foundation of overall health.
Thanks for the great tips. I just got over a flu and wasn’t able to workout as much as I normally do. Your tips will come in handy the next time.
With this type of regimen you are breaking down your workout sessions into 3 or 4 throughout the day. These are then broken down into 10 to 15 minute sessions. You can start with those exercises which are more practical and warm the muscles up, or you can jump right in.
Thanks for provide such a great information.