Falling Off the Wagon

Not only did I fall off the wagon, I drug it into the woods, set it on fire and used the money to buy ______ (enter your favorite cheat)!

We’ve all been there! Working and succeeding at hitting your health and wellness goals and then it happens – you fall off the wagon. Whether its friends and family visiting, a trip or just a stressful week (or many weeks), we’ve all been there and had it happen to us.

Here are 3 tips for getting back on track! 

The first thing to remember…DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP.  This is normal, and it happens to all of us.  The added stress of telling yourself you are awful or a failure isn’t going to help you get back on track any faster.

#1 Water

It seems so simple right – water?  Yes, water is key for flushing out all the toxins in your body.  Those toxins come from eating or drinking foods that cause inflammation and bloating.  The additional water re-fuels all your cells.  And, when we are properly hydrated it keeps us from eating when we aren’t really hungry.  How much should you consumer?  The simplest way to keep track – take your body weight and divine it by 2.  Whatever that number is, have that many ounces of water per day.  And yes, I said water, not tea, coffee or soda water.

#2 Sleep

For so many of us, eating off plan or out of balance usually goes along with lack of sleep.  When we are traveling our body clock is off, we stay up late, we get up too early or we way oversleep which isn’t beneficial for our body either.  To get back on track, go to sleep at your normal time, even if you can’t fall asleep, get in bed and let your body relax.  Try out this meditation from Dr. Kelly.  I caution you though, don’t go to bed with your devices thinking that they will help you fall asleep faster, in fact, they should be as far away from your bed as possible.

#3 Nutrition & Workout

Along with don’t beat yourself up mentally is don’t physically punish yourself.  The fastest way to get back on track, is do just that.  Return to your healthy nutrition and your workouts.  You don’t need to restrict carbs or calories, or run an extra hour a day; all this will do is further stress your body.  If you’ve taken a really long break from both, be sure you ease into it.  Add in a short walk, then after 3-4 days or even a week, add back in your weights.  For nutrition, if you’ve got a plan made for you or one you know that works, return to it.  If not, remove one bad habit every couple days until you are back on track.  As a heads up, if it has been a long detour, you might benefit for our 21 day detox that eases you back into healthy nutrition over 21 days with a MAJOR BONUS – you reset your hormones priming you to feel better and burn fat.

Simply remember, we’ve all been there, we've all fallen off the wagon; even your health coaches. The key is to get back up, the great thing is our body has memory and wants to feel good again!  You’ve got this!