Unfolding the bones
I’m at the age where missing a day at the gym, never mind a week or two really hurts. This weekend was a case in point. I had a paper due (today) and aside from a couple of walks in the cold and some crunches, I was pretty much attached to my laptop. And yeah, it feels good to have completed the work, by my body is an aching, creaky mess from spending hours at a time curled up on the couch with bad posture. For breaks, I cooked meals, helped by daughter with homework and talked over the points of my paper with my husband, but I was pretty much engaged with writing for two days.
And the reckoning? Aside from an extra pound on the scale, I’m faced with that “starting-over” feeling!
Solution? Sun salutations, lots of stretching, really gentle shadow boxing and a brisk walk! Abs can come later. This sort of unfold-the-bones workout can be really helpful whenever you’ve been through a period of shall we say intense cerebral activity, aka, lying in bed watching TV, after a brief illness, or as in my case, when you’ve been on a deadline in a work or other context and have needed to type on a computer for long periods of time.
The point is not to despair — but to work it out. I always find that a couple of days of modest meals also helps. Not to the point of hunger, but just enough to feel as if I’ve given my body a real shot at dropping that extra pound before it gets to happy hanging around with all those other extra pounds.
Girlboxing 
As someone who has often gone cold-turkey with exercise for no good reason and lost my momentum, I’m finding that two-day rule (don’t go more than two days without exercising) I implemented back in April has really worked to keep me on track. I rarely go that long without exercising, but there are times when it happens. Because of my rule, even if I’m really busy, I’ll go for a short walk. The point for me is to keep up the momentum of a regular practice of exercise. If my workout that day isn’t as challenging as usual, so be it. Sometimes a workout is more for my brain than my body.
Today I’m back on my plan, detoxing from excessive consumption of pumpkin pie. 🙂
That is a great plan. And you’re right. Even a brief walk or a 15 minute something keeps the body moving. You might still be “creaky,” but at least you’ve down something!
As for the pie, I’m certain it was worth it! 😉