When I introduced the second instalment of my Clean Eating Challenge, I mentioned the fact that I felt like I'd gotten a bit off track recently. It was partly due to busy-ness, and partly due to lazy-ness, but regardless of the cause, I was feeling crappy and unfocused about my efforts to be healthy. Workouts had fallen off the calendar and my eating had become a bit embarrassing - pumpkin scones every morning, Subway for lunch, dinners at 11pm. Not good!
And not where I wanted to be, you know? I knew I needed to turn it around before it got too out of hand. That was why I decided to tackle another round of Clean Eating. But that wasn't all I did. I actually have a few little things that I like to do when I'm feeling off track, and I employed MOST of these on Sunday as I prepared myself for the week.
So I figured I'd share them with you all, because surely there are others out there who have or are struggling to get back on track.
So without further ado, here are my:
10 Ways To Get Instantly Back On Track (Without Leaving The House Or Breaking A Sweat!)
1. Drink a litre of water.
Easiest and surest way I know of to feel more on top of things. I get a litre of water and drink it all within about 20 minutes. I end up feeling fresh, refreshed, and too full up with water to think about eating anything else.
2. Clean off your coffee table.
This may not be specifically related to health, but when I feel like I’ve lost control of my eating, it’s easy to start feeling out of control about everything else. Likewise, when things other than health feel out of control (like the state of my apartment!), it’s easy to let that affect health-related things. So I take one easy step: I clean up the coffee table. Or the kitchen table. Or my purse. Wherever I’m seeing the biggest messes accumulating.
3. Put on shoes.
I don’t even have to leave the house. But putting on a pair of shoes, especially sneakers, seems to give me a little pep in my step, if you know what I mean. I always end up feeling just a little more energized and just a little less sloth-like.
4. Brush your teeth.
This one is especially useful if I’m feeling like I still want to eat or feel like I can’t stop eating something. If I’m not at home, popping a piece of gum or a breath mint works equally well.
5. Clean out your fridge.
Usually when I get off-track, it’s because I haven’t been cooking or making my own meals enough. Which also usually means that my fridge will have fallen into disarray – rotting produce, stale half-loaves of bread, cottage cheese containers that I’m afraid to open because who knows what’s going to crawl out of them. Cleaning out the fridge is an easy way to get a bit of renewed excitement about cooking again. Plus sometimes I end up finding that the cottage cheese is still perfectly good, and now I have breakfast for tomorrow!
6. Flip through a healthy cookbook, magazine, or go to your favourite healthy living blog and go through some of the archives.
Sometimes, all I need is a little inspiration. A little reminder. About how much I love this lifestyle, how gorgeous everything is, how it’s about bounty and not deprivation. A little good food porn is usually just what the doctor ordered.
7. Make a list of all your favourite fruits and vegetables.
Ok, I know this sounds totally cheesy. But when I’m most off track, I start feeling hopeless, like I’m just a person who is addicted to junk food and who naturally will always want to pig out on crap. Writing out a list of all the fruits and vegetables I love reminds me that I like healthy food too, and that a detour down junk food ally does not define my whole life.
8. Take a vitamin or two.
Simple. Easy. Done.
9. Make a plan for the next day.
Maybe it’s my left-brain, but I big-puffy-heart lists and plans. In this case I opted for the Clean Eating Challenge plan, but other times I just write out what I’m going to eat for meals the next day. And I don’t just think about it, I actually do write it down somewhere, on a piece of paper or in a spreadsheet or in a little note on my iPhone. Seeing it laid out makes me feel like it’s actually going to happen.
10. Move on.
What’s done is done. I can’t un-eat something, and I know I don’t get do-overs. But whatever it was I did (or think I did), it wasn’t the end of the world. I write it all down, and then I just take one giant step forward and get right back to where I left off.
So there you go. I know you guys must have tricks of your own for getting back on track. What are they? Share in the comments, and let’s help out any of our friends who might be struggling.
PS: Don’t miss last night’s recap of my first day on the Clean Eating Challenge! I’ll be back tonight with today’s eats. Yes, two posts in one day!
