Kid Scoop
Healthy Derailment and Getting Back on Track
Ever feel so gung-ho about something and give 150% only to have a bad day, mess up once, and feel so discouraged you never go back?
Yeah, me too.
I decided 1 ¾ weeks ago to jump aboard the healthy train. Yes, I’m counting the days because adjusting my lazy fried lifestyle has taken quite a bit of work. Oh, and yes, I’m writing posts about health when I’m a health novice myself; moving on … So I got all jazzed about healthy living and I cut out the fat, started exercising, taking Calcium (my bones rejoice) and then it happened — that thing that always freaking happens — life. Yes, life. Something completely unexpected and lame happened to totally throw me off my game. Tell me this has happened to you: you stumble, self-loathe for awhile, and then wonder why you ever decided to commit to something so challenging in the first place.
The self loathing has got to be the worst part. Why should one lousy day of everything going wrong derail 11 whole days of goodness? It shouldn’t. It can’t, because if it does, why should I go back to working on myself? I’ll tell you why, because even the gesture of getting back on track means something. It means I remain committed to a personal promise.
Look, we all need leeway, cheats and all the things that make life worth living but if (or rather, when) we really stumble hard, let’s take a lesson from the experience, ditch the self-loathing and press on like the soldiers we are. If living healthy and changing your mindset was easy, everyone would have done it a long time ago.
Fifteen steps forward and one step back is still 14 steps forward friends. Keep on trucking with me and together we’ll go far!
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1 Comment
SJP commented on Jan 26 12 at 3:13 pmI can relate to this from several failed “get healthy attempts” in the past. Last summer I tried something very different. Starting June 1st I made up my own plan to get healthy — the “one change a week” plan. I made one change every week, each week adding a new one on top. Nearly 8 months later I have lost 25lb and am living a much healthier lifestyle. I could NOT do it overnight, I had to make changes little by little. I have heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. But if you’re trying to change 10 or 20 things in those first 21 days…. it’s not wonder it’s easy to fail and self loathe. My changes were major (enroll and start going to the gym) to minor (instead of ordering a burrito at Chipotle, I switched to a burrito bowl. This simple change saves about 300 calories! Since I eat there once a twice a week at lunch, this made a big difference). The key with this plan is patience. It may take longer to see the results, but they do happen and I have had no trouble sticking with them.
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