10 Ways to Get Your Exercise and Food Back On Track!
We all go through days where we feel like giving up seems like the easiest and most logical thing to do. You binge on some food. Or you quit your workout half way though - or don’t even work out at all. It’s very simple for this to happen depending on what kind of environment you’re in. If you’re around a lot of people who do not eat healthy and exercise regularly then it can feel like an uphill battle at the best of times. Slipping off track every now and again is not terrible, but not readjusting your mindset and getting yourself back on track is. Here are some simple tips for getting your fitness progress back on track:
1) Understand your weaknesses
What was it that made you fall off track in the first place? Are you someone who likes to go out for a few too many drinks with friends? Or are you a bit to partial to pizza? Get a bit lazy when it comes to exercising? Just find the trigger that keeps causing you to go off track.
2) Remember why you started
Take some time to actually sit down, be mindful and remember why you wanted to start eating healthy, looking after your body and exercising in the first place. If it helps, write it down, or find some photographs that you can keep in a place where you will see them consistently.
3) Set new goals
Even if they are small, you need to set some realistic goals. EG, “tomorrow I will drink 2L of water”, “tomorrow I won’t have any junk food”, “I am going to exercise 4 times this week”. It’s good to have a long term goal in sight, but you need smaller, more realistic goals in order to be able to step up and fulfil your long term plan.
4) Reset. Refresh.
If you fell off track a while ago and you haven’t been nourishing your body a detox can be a fantastic way to help curb cravings and see some weight loss immediately, a small amount of weight loss at the start will help boost your confidence and get you into the rhythm of eating correctly.
5) Support system
Going at it alone is hard. Find some people who have similar goals to you and talk to them! Or train with them. Sheer willpower alone can only get you so far, we are human and we do need the support of others. A coach? A personal trainer? A gym buddy? What will suit you?
6) Find what your excuses are
Are you making excuses not to exercise? Or making excuses to be able to eat bad food? What are they? Start writing them down and see if you recognise a pattern. Find a way to adjust this behaviour. For example, if you notice that you say you are tired a lot when it comes time to work out, move your exercise to the morning. Once it’s out of the way for the day you don’t have to worry about it.
7) Find inspiration
Find images or stories of people who inspire you to continue to better yourself. This will help keep you motivated.
8) Food diary
Write down everything you are eating. The trick to this is honesty, which can be hard even if you’re the only one seeing the food diary - because you don’t want to admit to some of the things you are eating. If food is your biggest obstacle this is a critical step to take. You need to know exactly what and how much you are eating, and then you will be able to address the problem.
9) Don’t be so hard on yourself
No-one is perfect, and everyone does make mistakes. You aren’t going to reach your goals overnight, so don’t punish yourself if you do slip up (that doesn’t mean you can slip up every day). Just try to recognise what you have done and why you did it, relax, breathe, and figure out what you’re going to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If you are one of the people who ‘punishes’ themselves with (for example) 10 burpees if you eat something bad, please don’t do this. This type of thinking can lead to disordered eating.
10) Attitude
Try to keep your attitude about weight loss and health positive. It can be an entire lifestyle change for some people, and that takes time. A positive attitude will help you enjoy it a bit more, and will make life so much simpler for you.
