Missy I went to a concert recently. We had really good tickets, so good we actually could see the sweat beading on the lead singers face. My family was having the best time. I, on the other hand, was in a bathroom stall, praying for my tummy misery to end.
Dairy and I are not friends. I would describe dairy as the friend you think you are cool with. Then, out of the blue, you hear from a mutual acquaintance that your friend is saying these horrible things behind your back. You think we hung out last week, everything was fine! What changed? That is dairy for me. I can eat a cup of ice cream or eat a little cheesy dip at a party and I am good. Then out of the blue… BAAM! The cheesy plate of potatoes is recking havoc on my lower intestines. Complete agony.
In my attempt to right this wrong, I got online to find more about leaky gut, dairy intolerances, anything to heal my broken lower intestine. I pick a few reputable sites, read the articles and decided I have to go on a diet to heal my tummy. It had a long list on what I could and could not eat. I was surprised to find I had many of the acceptable foods already in my pantry~ this will be easy. A piece of cake. Wait…cake? From that point on, that is all I fixated on. Cake. I can tell you right now. Flour, sugar, and chocolate were not on the acceptable list to eat. I lasted a day on the diet.
Extremes
Extreme diets and workouts rarely work. Even for those of us, you do well on these plans, they soon find it is hard to maintain the weight loss or physique once they are off the program. So what does work? First, ask the question, what can I keep doing a year from now.
What works is adherence to the lifestyle you want. Extremes are tough to adhere. The magic sauce is being consistent. What we can do day after day.
All or Nothing
Another misstep is the belief that your healthy lifestyle needs to be all or nothing. You said yes to your co-worker’s birthday cupcake, so you decide the whole day is shot on your healthy eating. So you indulge in another cupcake, maybe some chips before dinner… pick your pleasure. Or you don’t have time to do your full workout, so you decide to skip it all together. Or worse, decide the week is shot and don’t work out at all for the week!
All or nothing is another example of extreme dieting workout. It is either good or bad, success or failure. In the all or nothing thinking, if we decide on the cupcake it is a bad thing and we eat the cupcake we then failed. By labeling the eating of the cupcake as “bad” or a “failure”, we, in turn, feel shame or worthlessness. Shame and worthlessness will cut into your motivation to keep working on your goal. It slips you into a negative mindset.
What can you do…
So what can you do to make sure you keep on track?
What health goals do you want to accomplish?
Workout consistency, like yoga, running, hiking, swimming? Eat more healthy home cooked meals? Hit 10,000 steps each day?
2. What can you accomplish this week?
First, we break down your big goal to manageable/mini goals.
Let’s take the 10,000 steps per day. This is approximately 5 miles. That is a big goal to hit on your first try. So why not start with, this week I am going to walk 15 minutes for at least 3 days this week.
Here, we are practicing. We are getting comfortable hitting our mini goals. We build on these practices. Then we challenge yourself even further the next week, 30-minute walk for 3 days or 15 minutes for 5 days. Get a calendar out.
3. Schedule it!
Mark down the days that work best for you to get your goal done and check it off as you complete it. It is very satisfying to see what you accomplished and how far you have come!
Remember~ Be flexible with your goals because life happens.
Love yourself for what you have succeeded in, not get down on yourself for what didn’t happen!
