A pain in the back

I said yes to the dress, it fit!

If you read my last blog, you will know how I was worried about not fitting in my dress for my brother's wedding after having a little break from working out. The devil in my head was wrong, it fit like a glove!

It was such a beautiful day and I learnt that I need better makeup because it is not tear proof!

Although, some sad news! My back/shoulder seems to be getting worse even though I have just been doing cardio and HIIT’s. It’s looking like I may have to take a couple weeks off from any type of intense exercise until it is fully healed.

At the moment, I can’t bring myself to take a break as it’s now summer. I have a fear of losing all my progress and not feeling comfortable in certain clothes again.

This is not my only worry. I use working out to help cope with my mental health, so to add to my list of horrors, I dread that I may take a step back on my mental health journey.

But at the same time, the pain in my back is also affecting my mental health as I haven’t healed enough to start working out my upper body again, and so I am losing that progress and notice myself getting weaker.

This constant battle needs to end, and there is only one way out! That is to take the break, no matter how long it takes it needs to be done and when I’m in tip top condition I can get back into it and not have these problems on my shoulders any longer, no pun intended.

Now, a break doesn’t mean I have to stop working out completely, there are some low impact workouts I can do, including walking and swimming while taking care. This will allow me to move my body while avoiding hurting myself.

Although this is not what I want to do, I know it will be helpful for that silly brain and body of mine.

It is important to understand that muscle injuries take time to heal and not taking a break will only make it worse, again I have learnt this the hard way, I need to start taking my own advice!

Although I will likely be burning less calories, I also know it is important to not eat too few calories as my body needs the nutrients to heal effectively.

I have also decided to only follow positive instagram accounts that won’t make me feel even worse for not working out, @hollyb_fitness is a great example, reading her posts has helped me lean more towards accepting that it is ok to take a break when needed and you will be able to get back into it before you know it!

She also has some amazing calories and protein friendly recipes that you need to try asap!

Anyway, I’m out and will see you again in two weeks time to tell you all about my healing journey if I manage to put my big girl pants on and ignore my worries.