Just Keep Going!

If you’ve been trying to get healthy or are already in the action stage of your transformation, you know that starting over after every “slip up” is a thing. We begin a new diet and are all gung-ho for a few days or maybe even weeks, but then something happens. We start to feel overwhelmed by the diet or forget to prep our lunch. The office has doughnut day, or our cravings somehow take over. Either way we decide we’re done. We say to ourselves “Just one doughnut won’t hurt,” and then end up spiraling all weekend. “Well, guess I’ll start again on Monday.” Wouldn’t it be great if you could just start…and keep going?

I truly believe that if we listen to our bodies in those times when we’ve chosen something unhealthy to eat, it will let us know how it feels about that choice.

Have you ever finished a meal and felt extremely tired, anxious, or just stuffed? If you’ve been eating the Standard American Diet this probably happens after most, if not all, of your meals. But if you’ve changed your eating habits you probably know what foods make you feel good and what foods don’t.

If you haven’t figured this out yet, try listening to your body for a few minutes after each meal. After you eat, just sit and be with yourself to see if you’re feeling any discomfort. For me, when I eat something that isn’t so good for me, I get an instant reaction.

If I have pasta or something sugary, I feel anxious, have trouble sleeping, and sometimes I experience hot flashes. I make it a point to get whatever is making me feel bad out of my system asap. I usually take a walk or do some strength training.

You’re probably wondering why I would eat something that causes stress on my body when I clearly know better. The thing is that we all pretty much know what’s healthy and what’s not, but sometimes we make decisions based on our emotions even when we know the consequences. This journey lasts a lifetime, we’re going to veer off the path sometimes.

None of us are perfect, so occasionally we will make choices that aren’t necessarily the best for us. What matters is what we do after the fact. Do we spiral out of control and just eat all the things, or do we get back on track and try again? Each day is another opportunity to choose better for our bodies.

Life happens, our response to it is what’s most important. We should all try to eat healthy at most of our meals, but if you have something that doesn’t make your body feel good, do better next time, don’t just throw all your progress out the window.

I used to start a diet on Monday and by Thursday I would “cheat”, so I’d tell myself, “I’ll just start again next Monday,” and spend the weekend gorging on all the foods I was about to give up. Now I try to focus on all the delicious, healthy foods I have added in.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many Mondays I’ve started something new. I would set dates to start and stop diets, not realizing I was setting myself up for failure. We can’t look at eating healthy as a limited time thing or a diet. It must be an ongoing journey. It’s a lifestyle change not a quick fix. Let’s be honest, the quick fix never lasts long. We always end up back at square one, usually on a Monday.

If we create good habits and routines, we are more likely to stick with them. Instead of setting a stop date, make a healthy decision every day for the rest of your life. Even if it’s something small, it will make a difference. We are all human, so don’t beat yourself up when you have that pint of ice cream, just eat something super healthy at the next meal. Live life from moment to moment, not from Monday to Monday. I promise, it feels so good to wake up knowing you are on a journey and not just a pitstop. Let’s not start over anymore, let’s just keep going!