Overdoing it and losing perspective

For anyone paying attention I'd thought I'd post a quick health update and a comment about how we can get really caught up paying attention to the wrong things and lose our perspective.

I had a severe setback with my lung condition about 3 1/2 weeks ago that knocked me totally on my ass. Since then I've been diligent about my supplements, taking it easy, have added daily meditation and deep breathing to my routine, and slowly, very slowly, but surely I'm getting better. I went to Pilates twice last week and twice this week. It just makes me feel better, mentally and physically. Talking, cold air, and exertion all stress my lungs, but while I'm worn out and my chest is tight by the time I go to bed at night, I'm waking up each day feeling a little better. Trying to take it one day at a time and keep an optimistic attitude about my recovery.

Looking back on those months of killer workouts and calorie restrictions to drop 5 pounds seems really fucking stupid. Highly functioning immune system much more important! I was just too impatient. I wanted those pounds gone NOW. So now it's 4 months later, once I stopped killing myself 3 of the 5 pounds came right off and have stayed off, like it would have if I'd just been patient and kept to my old healthy routine. Sure, it would be great to hit my "fighting weight" which is all of 2 1/2 pounds below where I'm at now, but I look great where I am, and I'm at my average weight for the past, oh, 15 years or so. But because I pushed myself so hard to speed up the process a little now I've got a whole other set of much more serious issues that may now plague me forever. Lesson learned.

So anyone who's feeling like they're pushing themselves too hard at the gym, being too obsessive about their calorie intake, try to learn from my experience. Regular, but not killer, exercise and healthy choices will get you there. Extremes are NOT required to get where you're going. Taking it slower may not get you there as quickly, but you can only push yourself so far. And when your body has had enough it isn't necessarily a "hey, maybe I should slow down" moment, it could be an "oh, fuck, I really overdid it" moment. And the road back is a bitch, let me tell you.