With summer coming to a close and back to school season gearing up, it’s easy to miss a workout or several. It’s even easier to resort to junk food when you’re crunched for time and feeling stressed. Before you miss one more workout or order one more fat-laden dinner, read through the list of what not to do when you’ve let your healthy lifestyle habits slip.
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Give up! Whether it’s been two days of unhealthy eating or two weeks of missed workouts, do not give up on your long term health goals. It can be frustrating to see the number on the scale inch up or realize your clothes have gotten snug, but don’t let one bad week (or even more) become an unhealthy lifestyle. Plan healthy dinners in advance, meal prep when possible, and get back to FitClub immediately. Just making the commitment to put on your workout clothes and walk through the front doors of FitClub is a step forwards towards a healthy lifestyle. You slipped one day at a time, and you can correct the slip and move forward one day at a time, too.
Beat yourself up. While it’s good that you recognize that you’ve made less than healthy decisions of late, don’t spend too much time dwelling on your mistakes. Instead, recognize how you feel when you make unhealthy decisions. Do you feel bloated? Lethargic? Stressed? Recognizing the way you feel when you aren’t eating healthy meals and working out may be enough motivation to get back to your healthy lifestyle habits. Judging yourself or criticizing yourself is not only an unpleasant experience, but it’s also counterproductive. Give yourself a break and get back to work.
Try to correct two weeks of bad habits in one day. While you want to start eating healthy meals and working out again immediately, don’t try to undo two weeks of bad habits in one day. You won’t be able to lose the extra weight in one day, and trying to by starving yourself or pushing yourself to the physical extreme will only lead you sore, burnt out, and miserable. It might also be dangerous if you severely restrict your caloric intake or workout past the point of physical fatigue.
Lose sleep over it. Instead, consider quality sleep of seven to nine hours to be an integral part of your healthy lifestyle. As the days begin to get shorter and the back to school rush begins, now is the perfect time to prioritize your sleep to ensure that your body and mind are able to function at their best throughout the next day. The high quality sleep will be crucial to ensuring that your next workout is efficient.
Set yourself up for more bad decisions. You know how it feels when you’re not living your healthiest life. Maybe it happened because you were busy, traveling, or just soaking up the last few days of summer. Instead of allowing the same circumstances to occur the next time you’re busy, make a plan for living your healthiest life every day. Plan your meals and healthy grocery lists, your workouts, and your sleep schedule. Knowing in advance that you have a group exercise class to get to and healthy food at home will eliminate excuses when you feel tired or stressed.
How do you overcome a slip in your healthy lifestyle?
