I know some of you need to hear this: give yourself a break!
Fall off the exercise or healthy eating wagon? Don’t beat yourself up! It’s so common, and, frankly, so normal. I mean, who can be perfect all the time? Certainly not me!
Life happens.
Ever been on such a roll with a workout plan or healthy eating plan, then life happens? Something happens that just completely throws you off. You say, “Ugh, I just can’t work out today,” or, “Forget it, I need that pizza,” or, “I’ll pick up a quick meal instead of cooking,” or, “Today sucked, pass the brownies.” Yeah, it happens to everyone.
And those examples? Those things are fine in moderation, anyway. Too restrictive in your eating and you may end up unable to keep up with it. Pushing yourself physically when you’re just so burned out isn’t good, either. Yeah, pushing yourself most times is good, but you have to learn to find that line. You have to learn to recognize when you’re just so physically drained that you need a break.
Sometimes it’s emotional, too.
Periods of stress make it easy to temporarily put off working out or eating a healthy dish, and that’s ok. It’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world. In fact, it might help you reset and re-evaluate how everything’s going. Maybe you were crushing it before. It had become easy. Maybe now you can up the ante a bit. This break will give you time to sit back and say, “I can up my workout program.”
Taking a break, when you need it, can help you come back stronger. So don’t beat yourself up, don’t despair, thinking everything is lost. It’s not. It’s just a blip or a much-needed break. You can reset, refresh, and hit everything harder when you start again. I promise!
Related articles: Check out this article about holiday eating tips, and this one about what to do if you miss an event or goal for tips about those specific situations.