
It is easy to get discouraged. You've been able to make some changes to your fitness and/or nutrition routine and then you have a slip. You ate too much dessert, had an entire meal that was less than ideal, or you missed two days in a row at the gym. At this point you have two options...blow the whole thing up and sabotage yourself or get right back on track. It is common for us to look only at that one negative thing that happened and decide that's who we are. This just isn't true. We are likely to be extremely hard on ourselves and call ourselves a failure and beat ourselves up. The truth is we are human. We are going to make mistakes. Life is challenging and when we are attempting to establish new, healthier habits and routines we are going to have meals or days that are less than "ideal". We must show ourselves some grace.
The truth is, one meal isn't that big of a deal. If you eat 3 meals per day and you have one "less than ideal" meal, that's less than 5% of your meals for the week. A good general rule for balanced nutrition is 80/20. Do great 80% of the time and 20% of the time you can be more flexible. If that's the case, after the one meal you still got 15% to play with. So, you just get right back on track your next meal. Say to yourself, that was delicious, and move on. Better yet, ask yourself, if I don't get back on track now, what will my life look like in 6 months? Because we all know that veering off course can go really sideways and it can take months or years to snap out of it.
The fitness side of things. You missed two days in the gym this week. Let's say you made it on Monday and never made it back this week. Again, we are at a crossroads. Our heads say, I'm a failure. Not true. If you go to the gym 3 days a week (which is enough by the way), then you've missed 1.3% of the workouts for the year...that's it. Heck, you can make those up but even if you don't who cares. It's a drop in the bucket. What we really need to ask ourself is, how will I feel about myself in 12 months if I don't make it back? Again, this is a much tougher question to answer to ourselves and questions like this can help us be more disciplined and keep us focused on our goals.
One mistake or life circumstance doesn't make you anything but human. You've got goals and goals require work. They require some sacrifice. This is an inside job. I can tell you all the right things to eat and what workouts will benefit you the most. But I can't make you do it. That's up to you. And since we are human, we are going to fall short of our own expectations for ourselves because for some reason we expect perfection. But that's just not realistic. So when you're not perfect, show yourself some grace and remind yourself what you really want. Point yourself back to your goal and take action to get back on track.
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