Vacations, sick days, having friends in town, snow days, office/holidy/birthday parties, eating out. All these things can throw off our normal routines.
We’re creatures of habit. We’re comfortable sticking to our usual routine, taking our usual classes at the gym, eating our own food, sleeping in our own bed, waking up, starting our day and running on a schedule.
When something happens to throw off that routine, we can get pretty wigged out.
>We might have to skip workouts
>We might have to workout somewhere different
>We might not have access to our usual foods
>We might not get the best night’s sleep while away from home
So if we’re used to doing this our way then we travel or get sick or something throws a wrench in what we consider our normal routine, what the heck do we do?!
I talk to my clients about this a lot. They go on vacation and find it’s a lot harder to stick to their routine. They can sleep in instead of getting up to workout. They can indulge more often because there are foods around that they don’t normally indulge in. They drink more alcohol than normal. Their sleep is off.
When they come back from vacation they feel totally thrown. They were just completely off routine for a whole week and now they have to get right back to it?
Tough, right?
So how do we stay on track when we’re away so that coming back to normal doesn’t feel so jarring?
My best advice:
Make the commitment.
You can enjoy yourself and keep your goals in mind. The goal is to make this a lifestyle after all, right? Whatever you’re current goals are- be it fat loss, improving nutrition, keeping up with your exercise routine, etc- you can keep them high priority no matter what…if you decide to.
I’m going to show you how simple it can be to keep your exercise and nutrition goals in mind even if you’re completely thrown off your normal routine.
Exercise
Get your workouts in because you can literally workout anywhere.
It doesn’t matter if you’re walking on the beach, doing pushups in your hotel room, walking around the airport during a layover or hitting the resort gym.
It doesn’t matter if you have to push dinner with friends back 30 minutes to get your workout in.
It doesn’t matter if you have a snow day and everyone else is relaxing so you feel like you deserve to skip your workout, too.
Make exercise a priority. You can get a killer workout done in 20 minutes or less (Do you have my Metabolic Meltdown workout program yet?) so it doesn’t have to take time away from friends or family.
Chances are seriously high that on the day you exercise, you’ll eat better, too.
Remember: Something is always better than nothing.
Prioritize nutrition & be mindful of what you’re eating.
If your goal is fat loss, focus on getting in protein, veggies, fruits & nuts as much as possible and minimize sweets, processed carbs & sugar.
I’m not telling you that you can’t have a few cocktails on the beach or grab a couple beers at dinner (#SpicyMargaritasFTW). You certainly can. You simply have to plan your meals around those indulgences.
You can also indulge mindfully. Make sure when you indulge it’s on something that you can’t get just anywhere. Make sure it’s special or it’s one of your favorite things. Take a bite or two then ask yourself “does this still taste good?” or “do I want more?” You might notice that after a couple bites you’re totally satisfied.
Think about it like this: Those chocolate chip cookies at the front desk probably aren’t worth it whereas a few bites of the molten lava chocolate cake at dinner might be.
Other tips
>Pack healthy snacks for travel. If I’m left to my own devices in the airport I’m much more likely to grab some Twizzlers over nuts or a protein bar but if I go prepared, I’m good to!
>Checkout the restaurant menus before going out to dinner and decide what you’re going to order before you get to the restaurant.
>Tell your friends or family (or whoever you’re with) about your goals. Yes. You might get some pushback by your friends or peer pressured to join in the “fun” while they’re chowing down on pizza and better but guess what? Your goals are YOUR GOALS and your choices are YOUR CHOICES. If you choose to give in, own it. If you choose to stay strong and stick to your guns, own it.
>If you know you’re going to indulge at dinner, plan the rest of your meals around it. For example, if you know you’re going to get a couple cocktails, order a meal that is made up of protein and veggies. If you want to order a waffle for breakfast, get a side of eggs and veg for protein and staying power and be mindful of when you’ve had your fill.
Look, I totally understand how freaky it can be when everything is smooth sailing then a wrench gets thrown in the system. I’ve been there, too. But if we really think about how simple it can be to stay the course and commit to our goals, there’s really no way to get thrown off. You simply have to make the decision to commit then be a person of your word to follow through on your commitment.