5 Tried-and-True Tips To Get Back On The Healthy Track

Whether it was a wild weekend away, a much-needed week long vacation or more months than your care to count since you’ve been to the gym, the best time to jump back on the fitness band wagon is now. These fitness and nutrition tips will help you to get back on the healthy track without the guilt trip.

You know how I can tell my clients might have strayed a little farther from their meal plans than they’d have liked? I can tell because there food journals are spot on Monday through Thursday and then *poof* radio silence come Friday dinner.

Sound familiar?

I’ve been there too. (Although I could really use one of the week long vacations right about now).

In college I was diagnosed with an eating disorder. It got to a point where my doctors actually told me I couldn’t work out. That was a tough prescription for me physically and mentally. I knew why reducing exercises to a minimum was critical at that point, but I’d always considered myself an athlete. I’d couldn’t remember a time when I wasn’t lifting weights or practicing a sport.

While this might not be the typical “break from working out”, I had a really tough time reconciling my restrictions with who I thought I was. And when I was finally green-lighted to workout again, I had to figure out the best way to get back on track without overdoing it. It wasn’t until I found a new, healthier routine years down the line that I realized how massively my ideas about healthy exercise and eating had transformed for the better.

Back to straying from the program…When my clients finally hop on their first Coaching Call post-hiatus there’s some venting. Some guilt. Some bashfulness.

Then we laugh. I tell them that yesterday is done and today’s what we’ve got to focus on. From there, we come up with strategies to improve next weekend, and the week after that, and after that.

Whether it’s been a couple of days, a week, months or years since you stuck to a healthy fitness routine, these strategies will help you get back on the fitness band wagon and stay on a healthy track.

5 Tips to Get Back on a Healthy Track

#1: Drop the Guilt

Sure, you might regret a couple of choices. You could have done better/more/less. It’s easy to latch on to the missteps and carry that guilt and criticism with you. Guess who that helps?

No one. Although in some ways guilt can be motivating, it can also hold you back lonnnnnnnng after the damage has been done. If you feel guilty, it’s because you want something more from yourself. Take that as a good thing.

The best thing you can do with guilt is to acknowledge it, recognize the why behind how you are feeling, apologize to yourself and then commit to change. If you read that and think “easier said than done”, hear me out.

The only reason that you’ve heard that advice before and brush it off now is because you’ve never actually followed through. Acknowledgement, recognition, forgiveness and commitment take conscious effort. Take 5 quiet minutes to feel what you feel, put into words why you feel that way, and then recognize you’re human and you make mistakes, just like the rest of us.

There is truly nothing you can do to change the past. Which leads to strategy #2…

#2: Focus on NOW

There is a Cherokee proverb that encourages you to “not let yesterday take up too much of today”. It’s been a minute since you focused on your health and fitness. Let it go and focus on today. No more “I’ll wait for Mondays”. Now.

Start immediately and start small.

• Stretch for 15 minutes.
• Do a 20 minute weight training workout.
• Swap one lunch or dinner for a giant salad with lean protein.
• Ditch the caloric beverages for a day.
• Get up 30 minutes earlier to walk the dogs.
• Drink 80 ounces of water.

What can you do in the immediate future?

Even if your ultimate goal is to lose 30, 40, 50 or more pounds, or run a marathon, or do 5 pull ups in a row…you know that takes time. Break your big goals down into smaller focuses that you gain realistically attain in the next day or week or couple of weeks. That way you will feel like you’re about to cross a finish line constantly – talk about motivation! Your new healthy track starts now, and it’s only moving with forward momentum!

#3: Build a Schedule

Most of my Coaching Calls are scheduled for Monday. That’s on purpose. It doesn’t matter if you’re still in school, work a 9-5 or do shift work, there is something about Mondays that feel like the Start.

When my clients are feeling off track, I’ll ask them to bring their Passion Planner or calendar with them to our call. (Click the link for 10% off your 1st Passion Planner – I’m obsessed!). I help them work through the week and block out time for exercise, meal prep and “me time”. It looks a bit like this:

First, grey out any time that you know you are busy. Maybe that’s a work schedule or class that can’t be shifted. Next, block off time for movement every day. That doesn’t necessarily mean an hour at the gym, but when you’re coming back from some time off you want to get back into a routine as quickly as possible. Schedule strength training 2-3 times per week, cardio 2-3 times a week and a little bit of time for stretching. Check out any local class schedules in your neck of the woods and try something new!

After that, open your refrigerator. Do you have enough healthy options to last you a couple of days? If not, plan on hitting the store today. Stock up! Grab the ingredients to a couple of quick meal prep recipes that you can knock out, and healthy options for breakfast and lunch when you’re less likely to have time to get creative.

Finally, decide on 3-4 daily goals that you feel 99% confident you can nail this week. Can you drink 80 ounces of water? Can you turn your phone to silent by 9 pm? Can you spend 5 minutes meditating? These are all fairly simple, healthy habits that can turn the tides and get you back on track quickly.

#4: Reach out for Accountability

You can Google thousands of different workouts. Look up “weight loss diet” and you’ll get thousands of hits. But you can’t download accountability. Whether you reach out to a friend, a personal trainer, a nutritionist or a life coach, it can really help to have someone holding you accountable.

Friends and family can be good for general encouragement and accountability – as long as you choose wisely. Enlist a friend who is gung ho about fitness, or who really wants to get in shape themselves. You don’t want to ask for support from someone who has no interest in what you’re up to!

If you’re looking for more than that though – maybe an expert who can help you cut through the noise – consider reaching out to a coach who can help you cut through the noise. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there without the excess baggage that comes with wondering “is this the right program for me?”.

#5: Do a Kitchen Makeover

Do you ever open your fridge to grab lunch and see…nothing? Or instead of nothing you see left over pizza, ice cream in the freezer and who the heck bought chocolate covered Oreos?!

I have a theory that if a food is in your house – healthy or not – someone (you or a loved one), will eat it. Maybe not today when you’re full of motivation. But at some point, it will be consumed. So if it’s not healthy, if it doesn’t support your goals, or if you know that it will spur mindless snacking…throw it out!

If you want to get back on a healthy track fast, prepare yourself ahead of time. That includes getting rid of obstacles that you know slip you up.

Here are the ins and outs of a real Kitchen Makeover.

Take an hour to sort through your refrigerator and cabinets. Make a “save” pile, a “donate” pile, and a “throw out” pile. If you have questions about whether or not a food belongs in the save or the throw out pile, follow these general guidelines:

• If it doesn’t have an ingredient list, aka it’s in it’s most natural form, keep it.
• If the ingredient list is 5-6 ingredients long and you can pronounce everything on it, keep it.
• If the ingredient is miles long, toss it.
• If there are ingredients in it that sound like they belong in a lab or a Crayola box, toss it.

Need a little extra help with your Kitchen Makeover? Join the Transformation Club, my free FB support group, and download the Checklist!