I have been one busy little bee. I've been gone on vacation to California. Between visiting family and Disneyland, I have been completely out of a normal rhythm. With that being said, we all find ourselves out of step from time to time. This feeling can cause stress and anxiety because we are creatures of habit or routine. Coming back to a steady pace can be difficult if we do not purposely seek it.
In weight loss, positive habitual routines are necessary for success. I have seen so many people take a decline when their weight loss & exercise regimen becomes interrupted by unscheduled life events or vacations. These scenarios create a chaotic environment that can overthrow the steady day to day building blocks of positive habits already created.
Why am I discussing this? Because, I am the poster child for it right now. I have seen how my positive eating habits and positive exercise routines have been replaced with lack of discipline and commitment. Each day that I allow to go by with these negative routines, I am setting up bad habits again. It's incredibly disheartening. This is why I feel I must purge and write about it, in hopes to realign myself and speak to any of you who can relate.
It is said that it takes 21 days to establish a habit, good or bad. However, when addictive habits are lying under the surface, I believe it takes less time to go back to these destructive habits that once ruled your life. Therefore we must not allow much time at all in backsliding into our addictive tendencies.
So how do you get back to going in the right direction instead of the wrong one? I believe you could use the same method you would for getting lost in your car. When you get lost you would be smart to follow simple guidelines to correct your course. These guidelines make sense if you think about it terms of driving but they also make sense in terms of weight loss.
STOP, DETERMINE YOUR CURRENT LOCATION, ASK FOR DIRECTIONS, GET A NEW PLAN, STAY ON THE COURSE (NO DETOURS).
Let's break those down.
1. STOP. When you know you are lost but you keep driving your car, looking for the right direction, you can get further off course. Therefore you must STOP your car. The same goes for you when you find yourself off track in your weight loss/exercise regimen. You keep starting each day with the intent to get back on track, but you never really came to a stop first. You must stop in order to start again. This is a very necessary first step.
2. DETERMINE YOUR CURRENT LOCATION. Now that you've stopped, you can clearly access where you are. You are able to truly focus on the whereabouts of your location and what got you there. When you do this for your weight loss plan, you need to do some investigative work. You need to see what you aren't seeing. You need to look at what you did positive before that you aren't doing now. You need to see where you have been taking detours that you didn't take before. This step is necessary in educating yourself accordingly as well as being brutally honest with yourself, otherwise you will keep going in circles.
3. ASK FOR DIRECTIONS. This is a step that men are known to have "skipped." But let's face it, we women have also fallen into the trap of trying to figure it out before we've succumbed to asking. I believe this is where we should be turning it over to a Higher Power. This is where we tap into a strength and guidance superior to our own rational or understanding. This is when we lay our own might down and truly surrender to receiving help. It's ridiculous to think we can "figure it out" on our own, since "on our own" we got lost to begin with. When you let a power help you that guides your steps, you will feel more secure and able to find your way back.
4. GET A NEW PLAN. Now that you've gotten good directions from a source that knows the territory better than you, you can formulate a much better plan. You can chart a course that takes you in the right direction. Similarly, in getting your weight loss efforts back on track, using the above steps you should be at a point where you feel fresh and able to come up with a new plan. If you do not do this step, you will never reach your desired destination. You are foolish because you must know what you are going to need to do each day, with exact precision. You cannot think you will succeed without a clear plan. If you look back to your past successes you will see that you did this. You must do it again but only after completing the prior steps above. You need to stop, look at where you are and what got you there, ask for a help greater than your own and then make a new plan. I will warn you, while skipping the planning step will hinder your success, so will skipping the others and just making a plan. They all must be done to get back on track.
5. STAY ON THE COURSE (NO DETOURS). It would be silly for you to have gone through all that you have to get back on course and then start sight seeing or taking detours or short cuts. If you were the passenger in a car and the driver starting doing this after everything you've already both been through, you would want to strangle them. However, this is exactly what you do when you don't stick to the plan that you've made. This is exactly what you do when you don't take that plan seriously and think that you can deviate in some way. You need to realize that each day you successfully finish is like digging a groove of positive habits. The deeper that groove gets, the easier it is to fall into it. But if you don't purposely dig a positive groove then I promise you will fall back into the already established one just to the side of it. Why not make it easy on yourself by establishing that good groove with repetitive, positive behavior. Each day that you stick to the plan, you are making it easier and easier to get to your destination. It's starts with one good day. Make it your priority. Don't look ahead. Just pretend you only have 1 day for the rest of your life. You have just 24 hours to conquer. This day is really all you have, anyway. Tomorrow is not a sure thing. Focus on finishing this only day you have, with no detours.
I will do these steps also! Enjoy the drive!
