Healthy Eating-How To Deal With Unexpected Break?
We understand that sometimes it can’t be helped.
Unexpectedly running into an old friend from work demands a brunch or a movie night at your friend’s place calls for a pizza party. Maintaining weeks of determination and it all bursts as soon as you pick up that one slice. We never know what’s going to happen the next minute of our life, therefore we can’t expect to strictly stick to a schedule. Life makes it impossible to go on with a perfect diet score.
The all-or-nothing mentality inhibits us from practically dealing with most of our tricky situations, unintentionally breaking your diet is one of them. The guilt of letting yourself go and the promises of starting again from the next week or waiting until the “correct day” to make a fresh start only keeps you from achieving the goal. Instead of following a perfect idolized diet, it is essential to accept the imperfections, unexpected changes and total chaos a person comes across in life to maintain long term dietary habits.
Challenges in Maintaining the Healthy Diet
Inculcating new habits into your daily routine is never an easy task. Wavering determination or straying away is totally natural. One is bound to feel like taking a break on a vacation or skipping the morning jog after an absolutely exhausting previous day, yet stressing over the break and making up excuses to rationalize your actions isn’t the solution. Being a little flexible and amending the schedule to make up for the straying once in a while is the healthy behaviour you must opt in your daily life.
The all or nothing attitude setting in- “Let’s have a cheat today as I already skipped the gym this morning”, “I had pizza with friends on Friday so let’s ditch the diet until Monday”, “I ruined my diet because I was sick, I am going to make a fresh start from next month”.
An overall consistent attitude is the key rather than being 100 percent perfect. A few missteps will not matter but the steps you’ve been regularly taking for yourself impacts your health in the long run. The perfect diet dream or nothing behaviour is often observed in those who regret deeply after breaking the streak of healthy habits. Rather than dwelling on the break, one must strive to begin again and overcome any type of guilt.
Let’s look at the 2 major strategies to imbibe a consistent and positive attitude towards your healthy dietary habits.
Get Back On Track As Soon As Possible
Getting back on track after a relaxing break gives off an incredible amount of stress. When you know that you must follow the routine again the next day, the next week or next month, you might start feeling anxious. Such anxiety is a result of the mental block created in your mind as you’ve felt relaxed and now you must begin again with the healthy practices.
To get rid of that mental block, try breaking down your whole day into achievable goals. For example, break down what you consume in a day to breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner. If you fail to eat healthy during lunch because of some appointment, cover it up with the next meals. If you skipped the mindfulness practices of the day, make sure to get a good night’s sleep and a 30-minute walk. Make up for your missteps with other alternatives as soon as possible which slowly gets you back on your routine. This won’t cause much stress as the mind will not feel like it’s beginning with the healthy practices all over again but just opting for alternatives in trivial day-to-day situations.
Plan Ahead
As mentioned before, we never know what’s going to happen the next minute. Unexpected get-togethers, health issues etc. are unavoidable which are bound to shake your dietary habits but situations which can be dealt with a little bit of planning before are very helpful. Sometimes getting out of your cosy warm bed feels as if it’s impossible or resisting amazing buffets at a wedding feels like a crime, but these are some of those situations which can be handled with a little bit of planning. Rather than waking up for that morning routine, opt for an evening workout, take the stairs or park your car a little farther from your office to cover for the usual morning jog. Make sure to eat smaller and healthier portions the rest of the day to satisfy your soul at the wedding buffet. Planning ahead is always better than making excuses for your guilt. Choosing healthier alternatives to adapt to the change you know might happen is always helpful to maintain your diet.
Remember the key is consistency and not perfection. Take steady steps towards your goal and look for healthier and easier alternatives available in your day-to-day schedule when you want to catch up. Unexpected events are a part of life and how you act under such pressure is what makes you a better version of yourself!
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