How do you get back on track? A friend of mine asked me this the other day and it got me thinking…
When you’ve been going full speed ahead on a diet and exercise plan; maybe you had a deadline or a special event looming; you’ve been in the groove for awhile. What happens when that deadline or event passes and you’ve just been eating whatever you want and not exercising for a while? You realize how “comfortable and easy” it is to just lie around and not worry about the gym, counting calories and depriving yourself. In fact, you can’t even really remember exactly why you were so gung-ho in the first place. So, how do you get back on track???
The problem is that you get into a new groove – a bad/lazy one. Now, you have to summon the motivation to not only work out and track your food again, but you have to roust yourself from the comfort zone of your couch and comfort foods. It’s kind of a double-whammy. The fact that your clothes are feeling just a tad bit too tight should help spur you into action.
There are a couple ways to approach this. You can either go “cold-turkey”, suck it up, and get right back on track, starting with three low calorie/low carb days in a row, followed by one high carb/maintenance calorie day with heavy weight workouts and lots of cardio …. or…
You can transition back into the fitness lifestyle. What do I mean by “transition”? I mean, clean up your act. Eat what you want for a few days, just make it ALL clean and healthy foods. Just don’t weigh, measure or count stuff. Re-aquaint yourself with the gym. Get some cardio in and maybe some general overall weight workouts. Take some time to stretch and refresh your memory as to how good it feels.
Then, work on your mindset. Focus on your “reasons why” you want to be fit and healthy; your emotionally charged visions and goals for yourself. Write it down; pull out those visualization pictures, and put youreslf back in the zone.
It will be tough for a few days, but just stick it out, because once you’re back into the swing of things, it will become a ritual for you once again. No, it’s not “easy”, but it will be “easier”. And, of course, if you want to avoid the pain of “getting back on track” again in the future … well, you know where this is headed … don’t allow yourself to get out of the groove!
OMG Stef, this was directed at me! I finished the 2012 Winter Challenge down 19 lbs. and felt fantastic! Then, a trip to Washington DC, some social events and I was right back in the bad habits. I decided to stop before things got ugly again, but it is SO hard to get back in that groove. I need to set some kind of deadline for myself. The only thing I can really come up with is my 25th high school class reunion this summer. I’ve not fully committed myself to that as an emotional goal yet, but I will work on it. So glad to know that I wasn’t alone in my experience AFTER the competition!
Hi Tammy – first of all, CONGRATULATIONS on ridding yourself of 19 pounds!!!! That’s phenomenal work. It’s definitely tough to get back in the saddle when you’ve been full steam ahead, and then you take a break. I was thinking about this today though, and I think we probably just don’t remember how long it took us to truly “ramp up” and get rolling the last time we were “all in”. Looking back at my journals, I realized that I had slowly tweaked things and tightened things up as I went along; not on purpose, just how it happened.
I agree that a deadline is motivating. The accountability of the challenge was motivating too… But I think you’ll do well with the 25th reunion – maybe just take some time to ramp it up!!