5 Ways To Get Back On Track When Life Gets In The Way
We all know the story well: you are going gangbusters on your health and fitness journey - building new habits, losing weight and inches, feeling stronger than ever— then, BAM life happens (holidays, work stressors, vacations, illness, etc.) and you get off track. This recently happened to me. My husband and I have been casually house shopping for about a year and one Saturday in early June our dream house appeared and by the end of that day our life path took an abrupt left turn: in one month we would have to pack, move, and get our old house ready to sell. Needless to say, for the rest of June, my workouts took a back seat to packing, managing contractors, painting, and moving. My nutrition remained okay (because I’ve developed so many good nutrition habits over the years), but even it got a little off track while other things had to take priority.
It turns out that learning how to get back on track is one of the key skills for accomplishing your fitness and weight loss goals. This means that it is something that can be learned and practiced. But how do you do it? Below are our top 5 tips for getting back on track after you’ve been derailed.
Frame Your Derailment - life happens to all of us. If you get derailed the worst thing you can do is go to all or nothing thinking like “I’ve totally blown it” or “my life is too busy/chaotic to ever make progress” or “all is lost.” You get the idea. This sort of thinking will only send you head-first into the cookies, pizza, and Netflix binging. The reality is we all get derailed from time to time. The key to success is using these derailments strategically. At Couture Fitness we advise clients to take deload weeks every now and again and to use vacations and other times that you know exercise and nutrition aren’t going to be a top priority as a week to take a break. So instead of telling yourself “I completely blew it on this vacation” you might try “I enjoyed my vacation and gave my brain and body a little time to rest and recover.”
Set realistic expectations -if you are going on vacation, moving, or dealing with another derailment, set reasonable expectations for what will be possible during this time period and then do the best you can. Did I have time to lift for an hour four mornings a week during the month of my move? No, but I did have the opportunity to make reasonably good food choices and get a lot of steps in from packing and working on my house. This was my best and I chose to make peace with it.
Have anchor meals - have some anchor meals to come back to when you return from vacation, your work chaos has subsided, etc. - to signal your brain that you are back on track. Some of my anchor meals are scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch. We all tend to be creatures of ritual and sometimes all it takes is one small step back to our healthy habits to get back in the groove.
Just show up for the workouts - news flash: you probably aren’t going to be hitting any PR’s the first week back to the gym after a vacation, illness, or major life event. The goal when you are getting back on track is just to show up for your workouts and do SOMETHING to move your body, even if just feels like going through the motions. But, before you know it, momentum will kick in and you’ll be back to feeling like your old self in the gym.
Count your wins - defeat and overwhelm are usually what keep us off track. The best way to counteract those unproductive emotions is to count your wins and give yourself credit for all the ways you are taking step backs to your healthy habits.
What happened after my whirlwind month of moving and getting my house ready to sell? Even though it felt like my life had been turned upside down I tried my best not to use that as an excuse for staying off track. The first week after the moving chaos subsided, I set small goals of hitting my daily protein goal and going to the gym for 30 minutes three times during the week. As you can see, even health and fitness coaches don’t do it perfectly all the time. Now, a few weeks later, I am back to food prepping, logging all my macros, and lifting four times a week. And it feels so good to be back to my old self!
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