Falling Off The Wagon

This was another requested topic:

What do you do when you fall off the wagon - lose it - throw in the towel?

I'm very much a black and white thinker - it's all good, or it's all bad.  I'm working on seeing the gray!  So, with this type of personality, I've fallen off the wagon many times!  I used to be THE yo-yo dieter.  I had many days in the past where I would be 100% on track for the whole week and then Friday rolls around and I ran out of turkey burgers and I'm out running errands and I'm starved and Kira's screaming because she's hungry - and I've crashed.   It happens to everyone.  I ate about 20 Hershey Kisses one day due to stress...yep, I did it.  I had days that just started off crappy and I'd throw my hands up and say "forget it", I'll start over tomorrow.

While this is all fine, and rather normal, it's important to recognize it and nab it in the butt as soon as it starts.  As a trainer, I tell all my clients to have 2 cheat meals per week.  I recommend a planned cheat meal.  For me, this is usually a Friday or Saturday.  And I recommend an "oops" cheat meal.  This is when you have failed to plan, forgot your cooler, accidently ate that chocolate cupcake.  It happens!  Prepare for it!!!  Rather than throwing in the towel for the whole day, jot it down in your journal as "Cheat Meal #1 (or 2)"  and then you get right back on track before anything else bad happens.

There were so many times I'd have an "oops" moment half way through the day and then completely blow my diet for the rest of the day because I was thinking so black and white.  Chalk it up as your cheat and get right back on track.

So what do you do if you completely blow it??  Learn to FORGIVE yourself!  Everyone has done it, it happens, nobody is perfect.  Learn to forgive and move on.  If you sit around and feel guilty about it, you will more than likely make more bad choices.  This one took me awhile to learn.  I would mess up and feel SO guilty and just really give myself a hard time for not being "perfect".  The fist time I forgave myself, shrugged it off and got right back on track, I felt so ALIVE.  I didn't "punish" myself at the gym the next day or deprive myself of any meals, I just got back on track and everything was ok.  It was definitely a milestone in my journey.

So, if you fall off the wagon - get your butt up and get right back on!  A quote I tell myself often is:  "If it were easy, everyone would be doing it."  I like to add my own little twist to it and say "If it were easy, everyone would be a size 4." :)

A bit of encouragement if you are struggling with a healthy lifestyle:  Stick with it and I PROMISE it will become a LIFESTYLE and not a diet.  I fought the process for months, hated every second of it, but I pushed through, and one day it just clicked - it became habit and I no longer wanted McDonalds, I wanted clean, healthy food.  Sweets started to make me sick and I craved fruit for dessert.  I really started to look forward to my workouts.  Everything changed.  You just have to push through - resist the temptations, have small "rewards" on occasion, turn on the "auto-pilot",  but stick to your plan and your body will adapt.  You can do it!