Help Please: Feeling sick.... how should I change my workout?

[Kyle K.]

Alright guys, first I'll give a brief intro of what I've been doing for the past 2 or so months. I finally got motivated enough to seriously drop the extra weight I've been carrying around, so at the beginning of February this year I started my new workout which consisted of lifting relatively easy 5 days a week (back, chest, legs, bis, tris) and doing 30 mins of cardio after each workout. I started at about 280 and now I'm down to a little over 260.

Anyway, in the past week I've started getting headaches at random points during the days, stiff neck, sore throat, exhaustion, etc. I tried to go like normal through my workout last week and it just didn't work. I ended up only being able to do 2 of 3 sets on most of my workouts, and then I completely skipped arms (thurs. and fri.) thinking that I might have overtrained (even though I seriously don't think that can be it) if I got a few days rest I'd be able to hit everthing well again on monday. Well, I rested up this weekend and now I'm still feeling pretty crappy (sore throat, stiff neck, headache), and I really don't want to take more time off because I seriously want to get down to my target by summer.

So now, after all that, my actual question is this.
If I just take time off of lifting and continue to do my cardio until I start to feel better, which by the way things are going may be a week or two. How much muscle mass will I be giving up? What are the possible downsides?

BTW, sorry for the really long post. If you've made it this far thanks a lot for reading it all.

Thanks in advance.

[nateakabear]

Just take a week off and rest up. Keep your protein intake high and if you feel good enough get a couple cardio sessions in during the week. If your actually sick start getting some vitamin c into your system and drink a ton of water. Otherwise just rest up and let things come back.

[fmusclekg]

Well that wasn't brief at all, and I don't have the time to read it. But Bump to whatever Boner said above me

[BigWard]

If you have a cold or a flu, your body releases excess growth hormone. I'm not advocating to train while you feel like ****, but it's something to consider. I have a 'bug' myself and just pushed through a great leg workout. I didn't have nearly the endurance I usually have, but I felt like a champion when I finished.

One other thing consider. I'm not sure, but lifting can have a negative or positive effect on the immune system. You'll have to refer to another member on this one.

Good Luck.