Tips on How to Stay Fit While Sick

It's cold and Flu season. You've gotten your shots, and your sanitizing your hands every 30 seconds. And yet somehow you end up sick. It starts off as a runny nose and then next thing you know your coughing with a sore throat and a fever. How do you not gain a lot of weight while sick? Well first off let's consider some of the mysteries of being sick and weight fluctuations. I have observed that there are some strange things going on when your sick. For example how can you blow your nose so much and you never lose any weight. I can't count how many tissues I've used and yet the scale doesn't change even an ounce. How can that much stuff come out of me and I not lose weight. Which leads me to mystery number two. When you have sever stomach trouble why don't you lose weight? Case in point. I went to go visit my in-laws. We stopped and ate on the way there. We got there and I saw a handy bathroom scale. I weighed myself. Then I got sick. Rally sick. No food, no fluids for over 12 hours. I finally managed to hold down a small amount of medicine. I decided to weigh myself. Did I lose weight? NO, I gained 2 pounds. How do you lose everything in your body and gain 2 lbs.? Anyway here are some helpful tips to keep yourself on track while sick.

Tip #1. Do eat with out concern about calories. Don't even think about tracking calories while sick. The moment you lose your lunch (through either exit) consider that meal gone. Eat anything you can keep down. If that is ice cream by golly eat ice cream.

Tip#2. Do not exercise. I don't care if you passed out for 18 hours and now feel like you could run a mile, wait. I have seen that sudden relapse of sickness after you feel well. Usually brought by over exerting yourself. Give yourself at least a day or two of rest.

Tip#3 Do not go overboard. When you are starved for days and can't hold anything down you may think hey I could eat a whale. Please understand your stomach is like a flexible balloon. It expands when your full and contracts when it's empty. If you don't fill it for awhile it contracts even further. So as you sit wolfing down food your (now tiny) stomach doesn't have enough room. End result: You either lose toss your cookies or wish you had.

Tip#4. Ease back into your workout. You have been laying on a couch or bed for a couple of days. Do not expect to get up and run marathons when you feel better. Start off with a 10 minute light workout and go up from there. If you rush back into things you will hurt yourself.

Tip#5. Don't overindulge. I realize in my first tip I said eat anything you can hold down. You've probably gotten sick of Gatorade, Sprite, or the other sweet things that seemingly calm your stomach and hydrate your body. However your mind will get hooked on the sweet and as you recover that cake looks like a tempting experiment. Eat what you can but don't go overboard.

I hope these tips help if you become sick. You don't have to gain weight from being ill and you also don't have to come out with less muscle.