Linda, there’s lots of different approaches to deloading but basically it’s to back off on the volume and intensity of exercise for a short period every now and again. It can last from 5 days to 3 weeks. Some people take a week and cut their lifting poundages and sets in half. Others like myself just take the week off from the gym and the only activity is walking and stretching/foam rolling. I never experience any loss in strength and often come back stronger with fuller muscles due something called the overcompensation effect. How often you deload depends on how hard you’ve been working out and age. During the deload week, my temps and sleep improve. It’s kind of like hitting a reset button to make sure you’re not chronically overtraining.
My temps to begin with were only in the 96’s. I didn’t exercise the first month at all. Then when I did start I found I could only do 1 set of 1 exercise per day without going backwards! I think it’s just good to concentrate on making progress slowly but surely by adding a rep at a time, or a small plate to the bar.
What are your temps now and what were they when you started?