Whether it’s holidays, boredom or work stress, falling off track with healthy eating happens to the best of us. Whatever the cause, it happened and it’s time to pick yourself up and try again.
Here are some top tips to help you get back on track:
Lose the guilt: Don’t turn the slip-up into a moral issue, accept it and move on. Feeling guilty is only going to damage your relationship with food and lead to a downward spiral.
Don’t punish yourself: Restrictive dieting and excessive exercise in attempt to make up for the ‘slip-up’ may help you lose weight in the short-term, but you’re almost sure to gain it back. More importantly, this punishment can really damage your relationship with food and lead to unhealthy eating patterns and anxiety around food.
Learn from your experience: Identify what led you to fall off track in order to develop healthier coping skills to manage these stressors when they next arise. It can be helpful to write down a list of situations that trigger you to overeat, and then plan an alternative for each.
Focus on consistency: Try and look at the bigger picture and remember that successful weight loss requires a decrease in calories over time, and that one day or week in the scheme of months and years is not going to have a significant effect on weight management in the long-term.
Remember your why: Falling off track is a sign that your motivation is lacking and signals that your reasons for setting weight loss goals may need to be renewed. Take a moment to reflect and ask yourself; why did you first start your weight loss journey? When you were following your program, how did you feel? Reaffirming those feelings can help you get your motivation back.
Plan ahead: Planning meals and snacks to keep your hunger in check is a great way to help prevent overeating. When we let ourselves get too hungry, it’s all too easy to overeat. When you’re on-the-go, ensure you pack lots of healthy snacks including fresh fruits, nuts, homemade muesli bars and protein balls to keep you satiated.
Don’t deprive yourself: Removing all of your favourite foods is bound to trigger feelings of deprivation that can lead to binge eating. Instead, try incorporating small amounts of your favourite foods into your diet throughout the week, that way you shouldn’t feel as restricted with your diet and are less likely to overeat.
Enlist social support: Find an accountability partner. Whether it’s your partner, a friend or family member, having someone who will provide you with encouragement and motivation will help you purse your goals.
