When You Fall Out Of Your Routine
When the holidays, or life, derail your routine, it is hard to be kind to yourself. You start looking at your failures in your diet and/or exercise routine. But life happens, not everyday is perfect. I went on a big family vacation for my birthday in November. Only to come back and have my husband’s surgery, overtime at work, and the Christmas holiday. All of this threw my routine out of control.
Well a few things can happen here. One I could really get down on myself and give up. Otherwise, I can give myself grace until I can get back on track. Now we have all been at this cross road multiple times in an average health journey. I have not always taken the self supporting road. I have mainly focused on how I failed and gave up for the moment.
This time I am cutting my self some slack. I have had a lot of stress in the last month. I can only do so much with everything I have going on and that is okay. One month of not getting in all my work out. Along with one month of not eating the best is not going to set me so far back that I can’t recover. If I choosing to throw in the towel and give up, I will not recover from one month of chaos.
Small Steps During The Chaos
Now most days, the last month, were not good healthy eating days, or full workout days. I did see my weight fluctuate. Slowly start to creep up by a few pounds in the last few weeks. Somewhere towards the end of July until the middle of November I lost 18 pounds. I started to see my body toning up during this time. However, I recently seen four to five of those pounds sneak back up. I know the croissants, that are left over from Christmas dinner, are not helping with maintaining my weight.
Up until the last week, Christmas week, I may not have gotten in my full workouts. I did make a point to sneak in what I could when I could. But during the week of Christmas I had way more on my plate. Between preparations for our family dinner, and the clean up of post Christmas dinner. Today was the first morning in five days that I could do any kind of a work out, even if it was just a light one.
Starting back small when you get off track is easier than just jumping back into it. It is amazing how long it take to make gains, but how quickly they disappear. So I start by getting back into the routine. I use a lighter weight than I did at my last session and focus on just getting back into the routine. I change my focus from progressive sessions, to small victories so that I build back my routine. In time I can build back to progressive workout sessions once I am back into the habit of working out.
Enjoy The Vacation Or Holiday, Then Get Back On Track
Enjoying our vacation or holidays. These days are not our normal eating habits. I know I don’t keep croissants in my house except for Christmas. After they are gone, I will rarely eat them. So enjoy the foods you love on those special days, just don’t make them your habit. After your family get together, you just go back to making the better choices.
Now that the holidays are done at my house, I will go back to meal preparation focused on nutrition. I am meal planning for the upcoming week. I will shop for my healthy go to snacks, and fill my refrigerator with the foods that are healthier for me. It will be a year before I bake another pumpkin pie, and top it off with way too much whip cream. I will enjoy more fruits instead. My dinners will not be a days worth of calories in one meal. Instead my meals will be balance and nutritious, but still delicious.
Becoming a healthier you is not depriving yourself of the things you love in life. Build a lifestyle of healthy habits that you always go back to when life gets chaotic and we get a little off track. Until then do the small things to get you back on track.
