A chocolate bar, a bag of chips, and a greasy burger. What do these all have in common? They're delicious, but not great for your health. You do not have to be perfect to be healthful, it's not sustainable. We have to give ourselves space to enjoy these treats and not feel guilty about it; however, we cannot allow these choices to become our norm. So how do we stop bad choices? How do we break the chain? Below are two useful rules to govern your decisions.
One bad choice is not permission
to make more bad choices.
Don't strive to be perfect.
Strive to bounce back quickly.
You've eaten clean for two weeks, have done all of your planned workouts, and are feeling great. An obligated work lunch poses a threat to your perfect streak. The lone food truck has only greasy, fried food. So you get the burger and fries. How you respond to this situation defines the path forward. You could get home and feel guilty about the burger and indulge in whatever snack food you have around or you can acknowledge it was a circumstance that did not fit your goals and reset. One hiccup doesn't mean that the day is lost, what matters most is your response. Make the right choice for dinner, plan for your meals tomorrow. Bounce back, realign yourself to the plan.
A personal example, I missed some workouts last week. I had time to fit something in on an obligation-free weekend, but after feeling lethargic and getting over a stomach-bug from the prior day, I never made it. Monday I could have continued to feed into the negative emotions, felt bad for myself, and been totally unmotivated to go, instead I decided it was time to start a new streak. Yes, I missed a week, it was not great, but I realigned my priorities and got an awesome workout completed. The better you get at bouncing back, the more likely you are to make the positive choice.
Onwards and upwards.
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