Weight loss isn’t always a straight line journey. In fact, it very rarely is. When you’re undergoing a radical lifestyle transformation, there’s going to be times when you face a really difficult challenge. That challenge might see you fall off the wagon, so to speak.
Falling off the wagon can take a number of different forms. Sometimes it’ll be a case of you drinking too much one night. Other times it’ll be a weekend binge. Sometimes it might be more, such as an indulgent holiday!
The point is that falling off the wagon doesn’t look the same each time.
The good news is that falling off the wagon needn’t kill your weight loss efforts. Sure, it’s a bit of a blow, but if you take steps to arrest the impact of falling off the wagon quickly, you can negate the effects in a short period of time.
Here’s 5 steps to help you get back on the wagon…
Step 1 - acknowledge it and own it!
You’re human. You’ll make mistakes. Depending on your motivation, your goals and your lifestyle history, this was likely to happen.
If you’ve spent a lot of your life indulging yourself and enjoying high calorie foods, switching your diet dramatically is going to have consequences. One of those might be an overwhelming temptation to indulge after a few weeks of restricting yourself.
What’s important is that you acknowledge what happened. Take ownership of it. Understand what, why and how it happened, then course-correct.
Is your diet too restrictive? Did you simply not exercise enough discipline? What kind of food/drink/situation was it that tempted you? Once you know these, you can make amends for them in future. You can learn to change your behaviours in future to make sure that you can allow for indulgences without it becoming too big of an issue.
Once you’ve owned the situation, it’s time to move on. You can’t dwell on it forever.
Step 2 - take action!
This is where the recovery process starts. Once you’ve identified the cause, you can stop it from happening again. If you were tempted by an unhealthy food or drink, make it more difficult to access! Take your booze to a friend’s house and ask them to keep it locked away safe! Throw your junk food out! If it was a social occasion, make plans to drive, or make it part of your calorie allowance.
The point of dieting and lifestyle change isn’t to stop having a fun time with food and drink - it’s to make sure that when you do have a treat, it’s just that - a treat.
When your treats become a daily/weekly thing, that’s when your progress begins to slide. At this point, we have to rely on our old friend ‘discipline’. That’s the reality of weight loss - it requires a degree of mental strength and an ability to say ‘no’ to the majority of the temptations you’ll come across.
We’d all love to eat chocolate and lose weight. It’s just not that likely though.
Step 3 - take quick action
The best way to get yourself back on track with your goals is to take some quick and rather large actions. This will help you both physically (helps to get your body back into movement) and mentally (you’ll feel as though you’re beginning to undo the damage your binge has done!)
The kind of change you can make depends on what you’ve done in the meantime. If I’ve had a large food binge, I like to do a training session, eat some protein and then fast for 24-36 hours. Not only does this reduce my calorie intake, it also gives my body a break from food for a while.
You’ll lose a lot of water weight that way as well. This can be a great motivator as you see and feel the changes.
If I’ve had a lot of alcohol, I’ll go on a long walk in the fresh air and drink a lot of water - I always find that helps. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it has a dehydrating effect on your body. You need to replace this water. It also impacts your sleep, so a long walk in the fresh air followed by an early night works. Low intensity exercise outside seems to help you sleep well!
This immediate action always helps you to feel better quickly.
Step 4 - get back on plan
Once you’ve taken some quick action, it’s time to get yourself back onto a sustainable plan. That might be a calorie-counting approach, a fasting approach, a high exercise approach. It doesn’t matter what you’re following, it just has to be stuck to.
If you are following a plan, it should allow room for an occasional indulgence. Real life happens - birthdays, parties, social events and so on all have to be factored in. That might mean you ‘save’ calories in the week for a big weekend, or you train extra hard in the build up to your event. As long as you’ve made a plan for the indulgence, you’re good to go.
You just have to remember that weight loss requires a level of denial of indulgence. It’s as simple as that. If you want to lose weight, improve your health etc, you’re going to have to say no occasionally. Saying no to booze or high calorie treats might seem like an issue, but it’ll help your weight loss goals in the long term.
Step 5 - get yourself some professional help!
When you’re undergoing a lifestyle transformation, hiring a personal trainer is the best way to do it. Having a professional who has helped lots of other people do this is a health and fitness cheat code.
When you work with an AdMac Fitness personal trainers you’ll be guided through your lifestyle transformation by the best personal trainers in East London. If you have an event coming up, such as a party or a holiday, you can chat with your personal trainer and they’ll give you strategies that mean you can enjoy yourself without impacting your overall goals!
Working with a personal trainer means you’re in good hands the whole way through your lifestyle transformation, making it easier and more successful than if you went alone!
If you want help with your health, AdMac Fitness is the place to go!
We help people using tried and tested fitness approaches. Our expert team of personal trainers, based in both Bow and South Woodford can help you get a grip of your health and fitness. With our guidance you can see your health and fitness reach new levels!
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness Bow: Arch 457 Robeson St, London E3 4JA
AdMac Fitness South Woodford: Unit 4 Marlborough Business Centre, 96 George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1AD.