As things start to go back to normal after the pandemic, many of you will be back to your busy lives, traveling, and commuting. It may seem daunting to try to make or maintain changes you’ve made to your diet and routine so here are a few tips.
1. Plan ahead- this is the biggest tip I would encourage you to adopt. Planning ahead can look different based on your situation, maybe its bringing your lunch to work, maybe its checking the menu before you choose a restaurant, or maybe its bringing healthy snacks to combat that late afternoon hunger. If you’re on the road, bring a cooler with your food for the day and stop in a gas station to warm it up. If packing a lunch isn’t going to work for you check out meal prep services such as Fit Five (https://fitfivemeals.com/).
2. Moderation- Let’s say you’re unable to plan ahead for some reason (it happens!). Maybe a coworker chooses the lunch spot or maybe you ended up traveling when you didn’t know you were going to. In these instances, moderation is going to be the most important strategy for you. Do what you can to make choices that align with your goals. Practice moderation when temptation arises.
3. Get back on track quickly- So you made some choices that weren’t the best, no big deal. Just like one day of a perfect diet won’t get you where you want to go, one day of poor choices won’t get you too far off track. Just because one meal during your day wasn’t great doesn’t mean you can’t get back on track at your next meal, similarly the entire weekend isn’t a waste if you have an off plan meal. Put that meal behind you and refocus on your goals.
4. Give yourself grace- Going off plan happens. It happens to everyone and it happens often. Even if you plan ahead, practice moderation, and get right back on track there will be times where you need to practice giving yourself grace. Losing weight and keeping it off is a process, it involves steps forward and more than a few setbacks. Learn what you can from all the steps and speak positively to yourself about the process as a whole. If you’re struggling with this aspect of weight loss we’re always here to support you!