The Golden Jubilee Independence celebrations around May 26, were full of fun, fetes, food and frolic.
There was much celebration with friends and family and in the aftermath of the binge eating, drinking and nights out, your fitness level might have taken a step back, or two.
I am sure we can all relate to having an off week or month or sometimes a lot longer. For some of you, you might feel like you are right back where you started.
Not to worry. Here are some tips to get you back on track.
Get back to basics – Start tracking again, count your daily glasses of water, go for a walk (even if you don’t do any other workouts), just start moving again.
Do what worked for you in the beginning – This has been a key one for me as I feel that I fell off a bit during the last two weeks when there were many festivities.
I dusted off my diary and went back to my foundation workout regimens and eating plans.
Be positive – Positivity goes a long way and that includes not being negative about the way your body currently looks. You may want to change the way your body looks, but constantly saying negative things about yourself is not going to help. You can still love your body as it is at the time and work on changing it to make it healthier.
Take it one day at a time – If you have made lots of changes before, you might think about making all of them at the same time again, but that is a quick way to feel overwhelmed. Just take the day as it comes and make small changes. Maybe start off with healthy breakfasts for the week and going for a walk. Then the next week move on to upping your workout.
Plan and prepare –Sometimes you can get by without planning but I think it is my planning that helped me stay on track so much. Plan out a realistic workout schedule and stick to it. Schedule in workouts like you would a meeting and don’t back out of them. Plan your meals for the week and do an hour or 2 of food preparation on a Sunday and you will save yourself a lot of time.
Cut out the alcohol – Again, this isn’t an issue for everyone, but it is for me.
I really enjoy a glass/bottle of wine (Obikwa is my brand of choice) a couple of times a week, but apart from the alcohol itself being empty calories, I don’t exactly feel like eating a salad when drinking. I associate drinking with junk food, so my food choices are never good when drinking. Also, the next day I don’t feel like a healthy breakfast and I certainly don’t feel like working out, so it has a knock-on effect
.
Get some support – Let your friends and family know that you are back to being on the fitness track and that you would appreciate their support. Chances are you will know someone who is wanting to get healthy too, so support each other, go for walks together and motivate each other.
Get on with it – I am a fan of tough love. Yes, it sucks that you have gained some weight and it is so much easier to just sit back and not do anything, but if you want to feel good again, you just have to get on with it.
Sure it is going to be hard, you are going to get angry and frustrated, but remember that it will all be worth it in the end.
