When you fall ill

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126siany
126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Please, if you are ill, bump your calories up to maintenance until you are well.

I have so many lovely, kind, motivated and motivating young ladies in my friends list and I cherish them all. But several have recently fallen ill in one way or another, and worry so much about how to hit "goal" while sick.

If you are ILL--combating an infection, virus, fracture, etc.--please eat at maintenance until you are better. Your body struggles to combat these issues on maintenance calories. It utterly fails on restricted calories. Your immune system needs the calories to make you well.

I wish this was a common sense situation, but it's apparently not.

If you are legitimately ILL, you should not be adding additional stress to your immune system by restricting calories. Please, for your own health and welfare, bump up to maintenance for a few days and allow your body to heal/fight off the infection or virus. You won't gain weight, you'll just hit the pause button and regain your health.
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Replies

  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    bumping
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Well said. And back off the exercise and get some rest.
  • steven_goldilocks
    steven_goldilocks Posts: 46
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    Yes. Rest, hydration, adequate nutrition. These are the things that make colds and flu go away.

    For me it comes down to a really simple question: would I rather be ill for a week while feeling like garbage as I try to eat at maintenance and rest so I get better, or be ill for two or three weeks while feeling like garbage as I try to eat at a loss and exercise really badly?

    I know which I choose when I get ill.

    S.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    Please, if you are ill, bump your calories up to maintenance until you are well.

    I have so many lovely, kind, motivated and motivating young ladies in my friends list and I cherish them all. But several have recently fallen ill in one way or another, and worry so much about how to hit "goal" while sick.

    If you are ILL--combating an infection, virus, fracture, etc.--please eat at maintenance until you are better. Your body struggles to combat these issues on maintenance calories. It utterly fails on restricted calories. Your immune system needs the calories to make you well.

    I wish this was a common sense situation, but it's apparently not.

    If you are legitimately ILL, you should not be adding additional stress to your immune system by restricting calories. Please, for your own health and welfare, bump up to maintenance for a few days and allow your body to heal/fight off the infection or virus. You won't gain weight, you'll just hit the pause button and regain your health.

    Brilliant... I was off last week and didn't actually change my settings, but did exactly what you are saying, focussing on Vit C by the bucket load which pushed up calories, but for a week I really didn't care as I wasn't even able to exercise much past stretching...

    Hopefully I won't have a cold again soon, but if I do fall ill, that is the first thing I will do.
  • tommygirl15
    tommygirl15 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    I wish I had known this 5 days ago :(
    It's funny though, yesterday I actually went over by almost 300 cals and felt really good, so there's probably some truth to this...
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    Plus a good nice fever burns calories - ATP release for thermoregulation!

    Personally, depending on the type of illness, I'll increase cardio because I just like the pushed through it feeling. Lots of liquids.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    Shameless bump as I have a few too many friends who are ill. Get well, luvvies!
  • hestia1986
    hestia1986 Posts: 21
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    I feel I am getting ill, but unfortunately I can't eat more, cause I feel nauseous... or well, I suppose I could make myself eat but I doubt it would do me any good, if it came out the same way. My son just had this a couple of days ago and I had to do a lot of cleaning everywhere :) which in itself wasn't a bad thing. In his case, it passed in 2 nights and with a fever peaking at 39 C (102 F) - I hope I'll get away with it as easy.
  • hellraisedfire
    hellraisedfire Posts: 403 Member
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    I agree too :) I try to eat more when I feel sick, although usually I eat way less cause I don't feel good. :(
  • Dragonflag07
    Dragonflag07 Posts: 64 Member
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    Wise words. Echo the 'no exercise' comment as well above - your body isnt capable of repairing properly so it makes it worse.
  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
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    Good advice. It sucks when being human interferes with your goals and timeline, but when it happens, do the smart thing for your overall health longterm!

    Oh yeah, and get as much sleep as you can. Sleep cures!
  • gjulie
    gjulie Posts: 391
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    if you feel really sick and cant eat drink as much water as you can sipping little amounts on a regular basis its important to keep hydrated and then eat as your appetite allows! dont exercise and give yourself time to feel better you wont do much damage in a few days!:wink:
  • sgtrowley
    sgtrowley Posts: 246 Member
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    Good tip.. Im Currently sick.....
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    I didn't even think of that. Thanks. Bumping up to maintenance.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    very good advice. Though, one of my big problems when i'm really ill is that I really lack an appetite at all. Sometimes it's all I can do to force myself to have some brothy chicken soup or something. Certainly once my appetite comes back, I usually eat to maintenance and often a bit more until I'm all better.

    And most definitely DO NOT worry about exercise when you are ill.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    If I'm really sick, I like to eat at a surplus. My body can use the extra calories to heal. Plus, as previously mentioned, having a fever makes your burn more.
  • eyouse
    eyouse Posts: 26 Member
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    Bump
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
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    Yes. Great post, OP.

    When I start to feel like I'm getting sick, I clear my schedule as much as possible, take a huge dose of Vit. C, and chug some Nyquil to help me sleep like the dead for a day. I usually bounce right back and never actually get sick. My husband refuses to do this and will get colds that last a couple of weeks.

    Also, yes, eat well and stop the exercise until your body has healed.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Please, if you are ill, bump your calories up to maintenance until you are well.

    I have so many lovely, kind, motivated and motivating young ladies in my friends list and I cherish them all. But several have recently fallen ill in one way or another, and worry so much about how to hit "goal" while sick.

    If you are ILL--combating an infection, virus, fracture, etc.--please eat at maintenance until you are better. Your body struggles to combat these issues on maintenance calories. It utterly fails on restricted calories. Your immune system needs the calories to make you well.

    I wish this was a common sense situation, but it's apparently not.

    If you are legitimately ILL, you should not be adding additional stress to your immune system by restricting calories. Please, for your own health and welfare, bump up to maintenance for a few days and allow your body to heal/fight off the infection or virus. You won't gain weight, you'll just hit the pause button and regain your health.

    It all depends on your "illness." With a GI problem or the stomach flu, the last think that you need is to overload your stomach, especially if by doing that you get nauseated or you need to purge (both ways).

    Many people, me included, lose appetite when they get sick, so food is the last thing in their/my mind. However, staying away from exercising, getting a lot of rest, and keeping hydrated, if possible, is much recommended.
  • aekimz23
    aekimz23 Posts: 112 Member
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    Well said, I've actually been sick for the past few weeks with bronchitis and throughout the whole time I've avoided counting calories. To me it doesn't matter if I lose weight or not while I'm sick, I figure I can jump straight back on the wagon when I'm feeling up to par again. I'm sure I've been consuming fewer calories than maintenance on a lot of days, but I've been eating based on how I feel. If I'm full, I'm not going to shove some hot dog or something down my throat. I've been keeping up with the soup, tea, water, etc that I need because I would rather keep my actual health up than stress my body worrying about diet and fitness while I'm sick.

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