February 20, 2015

Free Falling

General Health

2/18/15

Week 2 of Slimdown Challenge—how are you feeling? Energized and excited or losing steam and lack of motivation?

One of the toughest challenges when making any lifestyle change is a setback and feeling like you have fallen off the wagon. You may feel defeated and want to give up on the rest of your goal, but it’s finding the strength to keep going that is necessary for achieving your goals.

I think many people, myself included, has this idea that once they ‘ruin’ a diet for the day, or don’t exercise for the day, it’s a downward spiral the rest of the week or for good. You go into a manic phase of eating what you can because well, you’ve ‘deprived’ yourself of the tasty treats and now since the day is ruined you might as well have them.  Perhaps it’s the “Agh, I’ll start again tomorrow” thought that also comes to mind also. Some people may even say “well, I failed, so it’s not going to happen” and give up entirely.  It’s ok to have a cheat meal or day, but this mentality of ‘sabotaging’ can be extremely detrimental to your long-term goal.

I equate this ‘lifestyle sabotage mentality’ to having a flat tire on your car. You’re driving along and WHOOPS!…flat tire. So you get out of your car (ok, well, in my case I’d start crying and call my dad), assess the damage, and go to your trunk of the car and get a screwdriver or other sharp object.  Instead of hoisting the car up and replacing the tire, you decide to take that sharp object and walk around the car and slash the other 3 tires. Unless you’re a bit looney that day, you probably are not going to be partaking in such activities. You fix the tire, and go on with your day.

Alright, so you had a bad day. Maybe Valentine’s day chocolate got the best of you, or Fat Tuesday was filled with the naughty stuff, or you just downright raided the snack closet—it’s not a bad week; it’s not a bad month OR a bad life. Start over the next day.

Some of my suggestions for getting back on track are:

  • REMIND yourself why you started and what your goals are
  • PLAN for the next few days—incorporate healthy food, water and exercise
  • THINK to yourself “why did I have an off day” and learn from the experience
  • STOCK UP on fruits, vegetable, lean proteins and whole grains
  • WATER and lots of it!
  • EXERCISE you’ll feel better after you get a good sweat session done!
  • SUPPORT talk to an encouraging friend/family member to boost your mood and help keep you on track
  • NEW try something new to bump up your motivation—maybe a new recipe, exercise, or fitness class
  • POSITIVE keep a positive vibe going. You CAN and WILL do this!
  • RELAXXXXXX Don’t panic over having an off day. Start fresh and keep your goals in mind.

 

With any lifestyle journey, you will have temptations and minor falls along the way. It’s easy to get frustrated and to start to believe that you are a failure and you’ll never get to your goal. Without getting back on track you’ll never know what you can accomplish, and the journey is going to be easier today or tomorrow than a week, month or year from now.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving towards your health goal!