“I messed up and ate a doughnut for breakfast so the rest of the day is shot I might as well eat everything in sight today and start again tomorrow.”
Can you relate to this train of thought? The all-or-nothing mindset is detrimental to your goals, yet it gets the best of a lot of us. I honestly struggle with this still to this day, over 2 years into my fitness journey. Though I don’t have a solution that will fix this problem every single time you’re faced with temptation, I do have protocol that I follow after a day of overeating. Whether it’s a planned day of indulging or an accidental slip up, here is what I do and don’t do.
DO DRINK WATER. Water will help with digestion. Eating more than usual, or eating foods you don’t normally eat, could make you constipated. Also, overeating is positively correlated with salt intake, meaning you need to catch up on your H2O.
DO CRUSH A GYM SESSION. You’ll either (1) have a lot of energy to kill a training session from all the extra food you ate or (2) you’ll feel sluggish from eating an abundance of foods that you don’t normally eat and have a terrible workout. Either way, get there and get it done.
DO EAT BALANCED MEALS. 1 meal = complex carbohydrate + protein source + loads of veggies.
DO GO FOR A WALK. There is nothing like strolling outside getting some fresh air to refresh your mind and body.
DO REALIZE YOU’RE ONLY HUMAN. Perfection is not our reality.
DON’T FEEL GUILTY. You’re only human, remember?
DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP. This is an effective way to stay off track for longer, or worse, to discourage you from remaining on your fitness journey.
DON’T GO TO EXTREMES. Don’t run a marathon and fast for 24 hours. Okay? Live like it’s any other day.
DON’T STARVE YOURSELF. Starving yourself will not compensate for all you ate the day before. It doesn’t cancel out. It shocks your body and ruins your metabolism.
DON’T KILL YOURSELF WITH CARDIO. You can’t undo anything with excessive cardio. You will only develop a terrible relationship with it.
DON’T GIVE UP. You had a bad day, week, or month. You have your whole life ahead of you. You’ve got this.
The bottom line is to jump right back on track instead of beating yourself up about it. You did not blow it. You did not throw all your physical progress out the window, so stay strong and get your mental progress back on track as well. It’s not realistic to think that you’ll never mess up, but the important thing is your ability to deal with it and resume normal activity.
Mandi.