Hi everyone! Last month we talked about how to stay on track while vacationing. This month, we’ll talk about what to do if you did not stay on track like me. Last week I went on a cruise to Cozumel. I was equipped with all the knowledge on how to eat within my means and felt totally prepared to stay on track. When I got there though, it was a lot harder than I thought and temptation was real. I ate relatively clean for the most part but I definitely indulged in the local foods, so when I got back home, I didn’t feel my best. Now I’ll go over what I did to get back into my routine and get back on my grind after a week of poor eating.
- The first thing I’ll tell you to avoid doing is to be very restrictive when you get back. How many times after a period of poor eating have you said, okay when I get back, it’s all salads and juices, because I definitely have. That is the last thing you want to do for many reasons. Mainly, it’s not sustainable or necessary. Your body is elastic and will bounce back. In the same way we talked about how losing weight is about your eating patterns 90% of the time, not 100%. When you get back, eat like you were before the slump or vacation or whatever it was. If that was successful for you, continue.
- Add in an extra walk or two throughout the week. Physical activity is great for your general health, keeping the number on the scale aside. The best way to get out of a slump is to get back to the basics and increase exercise. The ACSM recommends that adults participate in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity to prevent significant weight gain. This guideline has been around for years. After a period of rough eating, I increase this to 250 minutes a week when I’m able to and I find this helps tremendously. Not only because I burn more calories, but because I find I make better food choices when I make a workout plan and stick to it.
- If your slump wasn’t caused by a vacation or event but rather just a period of eating that led to weight gain, the first thing to do is to find out the cause. In this case, I would recommend tracking your calories for a few days to evaluate your eating patterns. Are you possibly underrating or missing your protein and fluid marks? The only way to find out is to look through a day’s eating log.
- Instead of saying, what should I take out to lose weight, change your mentality to what can I add more of. The first thing I do when I get back is focus on adding more vegetables to my meal plan. I prep my meals for the week on Sunday and I find that when I plan out a week of vegetable filled, high protein meals that are also enjoyable, I do well throughout the week.
- The most important thing is to not beat yourself up. One week in the grand scheme of things is minimal. And if it was longer, I would still say the same thing. You can always get back on track no matter how long it’s been. The most important thing is to act and start making changes as soon as you can. If you keep saying, “I’ll start on Monday”, Monday will never come.
That’s a wrap on this month’s topic. I hope you all enjoyed it. I’m including a couple websites I use to find recipes when I’m getting back on track. At the minimum, I always add a side salad to my dishes so if all else fails, that’s a great option. If you have any questions, shoot me an email at mariam@nicholsonclinic.com.
Recipes:
