When sick (severe bronchitis), diet? Excercise?

lizzyfit2

Im sort of new to the excercising, (about 8 weeks) and have done very well with a sensible weight loss diet at the same time (not much to lose).
Ive actually been enjoying my new daily routines, and even been happy with my diet.
BUT!
I somehow developed a horrid case of bronchitis/fevers since over a week ago, on meds for it but its kicking my butt...
My question is..
Is it ok to continue my workouts despite being sick? How about the diet, i know its not a pass to pig out but is it ok to remain on carb restricted, high protein diet that I had been on?
My husband insists I do no excercise right now, and I want to know if adjusting my diet right now is good or bad?
This newbie thanks you in advance....

kimny72

I'm no doctor, so take this with a grain of salt.

I have always been told that if you have a fever or chest congestion, exercise is a hard no.
If you are some other type of sick, you should go by your energy levels. You should never push through fatigue when you're sick because you want all your energy to go towards getting well. That feeling of wanting to curl up in a ball and sleep for a week is your body begging for rest so it can do it's thing.

I think getting plenty of fluids is more important than what you eat. But honestly, I would eat at maintenance and replace your "exercise" time with at most a light walk until at least the fever is past and your breathing is normal. Continue logging so the habit remains, but give your body plenty of fuel and fluids.

Feel better!

snowflake954

I'm sick today with a bad head cold and sore throat and cough. I usually go to the gym. I decided not to because I feel tired and shi**y. I'm someone who usually goes to the pool and gym no matter what, but today I said no. If I'm better tomorrow, maybe. You can make things worse, and resting up is just a blip on the screen, if you're in this for the long haul. Take care of yourself, as said, eat at maintenance and heal.

lizzyfit2

Thank you both so much. I'm downing my water, had a nice cold protein shake this morning with good balance of P,C&F.... will have roast chicken and greens for dinner. Thankfully my food consumption problems are usually not ENUF food on most days (i do log everything), but wasnt sure if i needed to cut back/add to any group now without my daily excercise intake.
Im not going to worry about it now, thank you.
And that feeling of wanting to crawl in a ball and just sleep?! OMG.... overwhelming...
A bummer compared to the lovely rush of blessed energy the excercise was giving me every day.
I'll just look forward to that, hopefully in a few days. This sucks.
Feel better Snowflake954

ladyreva78

During my bouts of bronchitis this winter, my doctor forbade me any strenuous activity. Then again, even the walk to the bus stop (15 minutes) nearly did me in. If I could have, I would have just curled up into a tiny little ball and slept the day away. Worst was having to walk up to the 5th floor once because the elevator had fizzled out and died. My lungs pretty much threatened to do the same. One of my profs ended up carrying my bag for me.

Take care of yourself.

cwolfman13

lizzyfit2 wrote: »

Im sort of new to the excercising, (about 8 weeks) and have done very well with a sensible weight loss diet at the same time (not much to lose).
Ive actually been enjoying my new daily routines, and even been happy with my diet.
BUT!
I somehow developed a horrid case of bronchitis/fevers since over a week ago, on meds for it but its kicking my butt...
My question is..
Is it ok to continue my workouts despite being sick? How about the diet, i know its not a pass to pig out but is it ok to remain on carb restricted, high protein diet that I had been on?
My husband insists I do no excercise right now, and I want to know if adjusting my diet right now is good or bad?
This newbie thanks you in advance....

First off, what would you tell your kids? My guess would be to rest right?

And no...with a chest illness, you don't want to do any kind of vigorous exercise...you will only push it deeper into your lungs and prolong your illness.

When you're sick, you're body is under a great deal of stress trying to fight off the illness...stressing it out further with exercise is not a particularly good idea...

lorrpb

No, I have no idea why someone would think it good idea to exercise with severe bronchitis. Maybe you could do some light yoga or stretching.

Lounmoun

lizzyfit2 wrote: »

Im sort of new to the excercising, (about 8 weeks) and have done very well with a sensible weight loss diet at the same time (not much to lose).
Ive actually been enjoying my new daily routines, and even been happy with my diet.
BUT!
I somehow developed a horrid case of bronchitis/fevers since over a week ago, on meds for it but its kicking my butt...
My question is..
Is it ok to continue my workouts despite being sick? How about the diet, i know its not a pass to pig out but is it ok to remain on carb restricted, high protein diet that I had been on?
My husband insists I do no excercise right now, and I want to know if adjusting my diet right now is good or bad?
This newbie thanks you in advance....

I would just rest and eat what helps you feel better. You can eat at maintenance calorie level until you feel better. I would not worry about restricting carbs if all you want is toast. I think this is a time to listen to your body and not worry about diet or exercise.

Zodikosis

I would reduce/stop your workouts, especially if it's at a gym you share with other people. You don't have to just lay on the couch -- you can go for some walks, do some light yoga, etc, but I would keep it at a low intensity, especially if it causes you to cough/wheeze. Try to rest until the symptoms are (mostly) gone. As for diet, obviously still try to keep it nutritious, but I would either eat at maintenance or a very modest deficit (no more than 250 calories for me), depending on how you feel that day.

SoFloGuy78

your health is the number one thing. So I would say no, rest and get better. If you have a fever, can't keep stuff down, and stuff is coming out of you from both ends. you need to rest follow our Dr. or medical provider. and get better.
with that said if you are feeling better, go for a walk, maybe even a light jog, light weights, something to get you heart rate up. if after you feel a bit better after then increase your work out, day by day. If you start to feel like Sh*&T, stop and rest. Listen to you body, and slowly get back into your route. I would stay away from gyms till you 100% fine, you don't want to get reinfected or pass something. Don't rush it, & hope you feel better.

lizzyfit2

Thank you so very much for your replies and well wishes. This is really kicking my butt. Still feverish during the day, and hack up lung stuff at night. I've not even considered going to my gym (or anywhere to be honest except the ER a couple days ago). I caught this last week on a cruise, no way would I risk giving this to anyone else.
Im taking it real easy, loads of water and keeping to my healthy food diet (food allergies make that easy lol). Taking meds and a breathing puffer the ER docs set me up with. See my GP again Monday am, will see if he thinks I'm gettin better.
No excercise for now, i really appreciate your input on that. It may seem dumb to those if you that are well versed with "excercise", but this has been my first ever need to try to excercise recently, and i truly didnt know if the increase in hr/blood pressure/adrenaline would be benificial to speed the healing process along or not. I know now after reading your posts, why I shouldnt, makes sense.
Thank you again ...

MikePfirrman

lizzyfit2 wrote: »

Thank you so very much for your replies and well wishes. This is really kicking my butt. Still feverish during the day, and hack up lung stuff at night. I've not even considered going to my gym (or anywhere to be honest except the ER a couple days ago). I caught this last week on a cruise, no way would I risk giving this to anyone else.
Im taking it real easy, loads of water and keeping to my healthy food diet (food allergies make that easy lol). Taking meds and a breathing puffer the ER docs set me up with. See my GP again Monday am, will see if he thinks I'm gettin better.
No excercise for now, i really appreciate your input on that. It may seem dumb to those if you that are well versed with "excercise", but this has been my first ever need to try to excercise recently, and i truly didnt know if the increase in hr/blood pressure/adrenaline would be benificial to speed the healing process along or not. I know now after reading your posts, why I shouldnt, makes sense.
Thank you again ...

I saw this thread the other day, I meant to post, but honestly, I must have what you have because I couldn't get my butt out of bed on Saturday. First time I've had the flu this year (thought I had avoided it and hit my like a ton of bricks on Saturday, my normal "off" day).

I normally workout, like clockwork, 6 days a week pretty hard. When I'm sick, though, I don't. No way. I've been fortunate in that I haven't been sick, except for a day or two here and there, for over a year. This one has the looks of keeping me out of working out for perhaps a couple of weeks.

The general rule of thumb is if it's a fever or in your lungs, never work out. The only reason I posted is to also caution you when starting back. I usually wait until I feel back to "normal" and then wait another day or so until I gently start back. If you go back too soon (I've made this mistake), you can set back your recovery. It's very frustrating! I'm beside myself right now. Last thing I needed was to be sick at this time a year.

Just try to rest and take it easy and then start back slow. Your HR will also likely be elevated for at least a week when you go back to working out (so workouts will seem actually harder than the effort put out).

Hope you're starting to feel better!

mbaker566

noncreamy soups are often not bad calorie wise and feel great on a sore throat. and leaves room for ice cream or frozen yogurt.
bronchitis, rest is important.
but if you feel up to it, go with it. at half pace.

lizzyfit2

Thank you for all your help and support here.
I believe I've turned a corner. No more coughing, no fevers. I took all your kind advice, and I'm better for it

rowlandsw

Yeah if it's something involving the lungs I'd give it a rest but then again I also have asthma. You can still diet though but avoid stuff that causes more congestion.

lizzyfit2

Thank you! I've stuck with my diet this whole time, and other than a little weight gain I haf on the 2 weeks at sea cruising (where i caught this

MostlyWater

Diet is one thing. Pushing yourself, when you need to heal, is another.

lizzyfit2

Oh am I feeling all of this today
I felt so much better this past couple days, have "behaved myself" for almost 3 weeks now so I thought that was why, Im getting better!
BIG MISTAKE. Last night, within just HOURS, the fever was back, congestion slammed back in, no voice and now have a sore throat sooo back theres actually dark red splotches in the back of my throat. This is some nasty germs out there right now, havent been this sick in many years.
Urgent care coming up ...

If i hadnt had your advice, Lord knows I would have overdone it before now, could be even worse! THANK YOU AGAIN!

lizzyfit2

Oh am I feeling all of this today

lizzyfit2

My diet hasnt been an issue  to stick to (dont eat much to begin with, appetite is lousy right now). I think the CICO makes weird senss right now while sick, its the same as before calories IN, but my "obvious" calories OUT has been soo minimal compared to before sick. Still losing weight, just realize its because my body is working like mad to beat the germs, NOT excercise! So Im eating lots and very clean, loads of water. And back in bed!