80 degree Saturday mornings are not meant to be spent in Urgent Care!

My husband got me sick...finally. He's had bacterial bronchitis for the past 2 weeks and it's finally caught up with me. We live about 2 miles from an Urgent Care Clinic, so I headed over to get checked out this morning. Ends up, I'm a mess.

Apparently, I have a polyp in my NOSE which could explain my excessive snoring here lately (does anyone else snore?? Badly...?). I also have the standard cold with chest congestion pretty deep into my chest. For the first time, I got a cortisone shot and some beloved Z-Pack. Hopefully I'll be back to good here soon!

I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss cortisone shots as my initial thought was, "Ahh! Weight gain!" Cortisone is naturally produced by the body, so noted or adverse side effects are rare. The most common systemic side effects included elevated blood sugars (caution with diabetes), facial flushing, injection site soreness, and/or some generalized pain after injection. Doc said maybe some increased appetite, too.

Has anyone else received a cortisone shot for cold-like symptoms? 

It was my first shot I've ever received in my tushie!! 

My friend Andrea sent me this AWESOME article on loving your body and I wanted to share it with you all. Here it is:

How to end 'fat talk' and why you should love your body

So we all like working out to lose weight, maintain weight, look good and keep our tummies tight, but how many of us do it simply because it makes us feel good?

Sure it may be a happy side-effect… ya know, the endorphins and all that science that proves that exercise makes us feel better, but for most of us, it isn’t THE reason that we work out.

The more I started thinking about this, the more I realized…it SHOULD be! Why shouldn’t the main reason we work out be that it makes us feel better about ourselves? Let the fitness level and lowered body fat be the happy side-effect!

Once we start switching our focus to the positive energy that exercise brings, our increased fitness level and tighter body will come with it.

According to Heather Hausenblas, a University of Florida exercise psychologist, “people who don’t achieve workout milestones such as losing fat, gaining strength or boosting cardiovascular fitness feel just as good about their bodies as their more athletic counterparts.” Hausenblas study is published in the September issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

“You would think that if you become more fit that you would experience greater improvements in terms of body image, but that’s not what we found,” she said. “It may be that the requirements to receive the psychological benefits of exercise, including those relating to body image, differ substantially from the physical benefits.”

The study analyzed all previous (from June 2008) studies on the wide-ranging effects of exercise on body image. From the 57 publications, the researchers found conclusively that exercise improved the way people see their bodies, regardless of the actual benefits.

“While the frequency of exercise mattered for boosting body perceptions, there were no differences for the duration, intensity, length or type of exercise, the study found.”

I find this study so interesting because it really does drive home the fact that exercise, if we allow it, will make us happy! So why is it that so many people make it such a negative thing? It’s their focus.

Too much focus on exercising to lose weight or “having to lose this last 5 pounds,” or “not wanting to be fat anymore,” or “being able to fit into skinny jeans.” Stop making it all about your looks! STOP the fat talk.

I invite you all to think about why you love your body and what makes it beautiful. Why are you thankful for your body? START letting the reason you exercise be that you want to feel good about yourself. Not only will those endorphins start working for you, but before you know it you’ll have the body that better represents your mind-set: healthy, strong and beautiful.

Half-time is over. GO ILLINI! Resting up this afternoon...sad not to be out for a run, enjoying this GORGEOUS day! Have a wonderful Saturday!!