Intro
There seems to be this stigma that you need to be walking around on eggshells for a diet to work. If you go off your plan for just one day, you’ll ruin all progress and end up back at square one. The reality is that this isn’t really how it works. Bad days will happen, and they may even happen often, but you can’t let that stop you from trying.
There’s plenty of reason that you should keep going! You won’t just put your progress to a stalemate over one day, and you can keep moving forward.
Just because there are people out there who tout a perfectly disciplined life, doesn’t mean yours is going to always work this way. Mistakes happen and you will mess up.
In this post, we’re going to talk about what is really happening when you go off you plan so that you can better approach this and understand it.
Let’s get into it!
What Even is Messing Up?
We say that we messed up, fell off plan, cheated, etc. However, is this really the truth, or just a little bit of drama? Messing up to you may be having a cheat meal, indulging in something that wasn’t on your plan, missing a workout, or not drinking that protein shake. Yet, you must look at this on a bigger scale.
There are 365 days in a year, right? In those 365 days, do you really think that just one of them is going to change the outcomes of your entire pursuit for a healthier life? Probably not. You see, the thing that even creates progress is consistency over time, not one single day. Just because you had grilled chicken for lunch ONCE, doesn’t mean you’re going to see changes. Why should messing up on your diet be any different?
Really, this isn’t “messing up”. At that point you’re being extremely hard on yourself and completely shifting your focus off what matters – getting better. Stop looking at it as a mistake and more of a learning point. Who knows you may realize that you have a little more freedom with food than you thought?
Life Isn’t Perfect
Dieting and health must start taking into account that life isn’t perfect. Sure, you can get on Instagram and Facebook to see the highlights. The person that is 100% always on top of everything they do. But, how much of that is real?
This isn’t something that motivates us, but more so makes us feel like we aren’t good enough. Just because we don’t meal prep for 7 days of the week, doesn’t mean we’re a failure. You may have kids or a family to take care of as well, and that’s going to need its own approach. If life leads you to a bad day, that’s just life.
We can only control so many things, and sometimes that involves your diet. If the slip happens, how are you going to react? Are you going to beat yourself up and be miserable, or are you going to move forward and keep on trucking?
Sometimes a mess up is part of life.
Will This Ruin You?
Like earlier, that one day out of 365 isn’t going to ruin your progress. One cookie isn’t going to make you gain body fat, and neither will one missed workout. You can always pick back up and keep at it.
In addition, you need to keep in mind what you would be ruining? What are your goals even? If your goal is to be 5% body-fat for the winning spot at a bodybuilding competition, then yeah you won’t have as much room for a slip up. However, if you’re just trying to lean up and gain some muscle, there is a lot less to ruin there. Just because your favorite Instagram lifter is trying out for a competition, doesn’t mean that’s the standard you need to be holding yourself at. Get realistic about what you’re even shooting for before worrying about how you can mess it up.
How to Push Past it
So, what do you do when you do mess up on a diet? The best thing you can do is to forget it even happened. Yes, totally move past it and stop thinking about it. The more you obsess over how bad you were, the more you’re going to feel awful. This is only going to lead to self-defeating behavior. You’ll end up doing even worse or having multiple cheat meals when it could have just been one.
Put it behind you and keep doing what you were doing. Resume your routine like normal and you’ll be fine! Even if this was a pretty extreme mess up, the worst that can happen is that you have some bloating or water retention for a few days. So long as you go back to what you were doing before, things will level back out.
Closing Thoughts
It’s hard keeping your head on straight when we set these standards for ourselves. It creates a feeling of anxiety that sometimes isn’t even necessary. Take time to decide what it is you even want out of this experience. Is it a bodybuilding win or an easier time going up the stairs? Both come with totally different expectations. You also need to consider that there are a ton of days within a year or even a month. Having one bad day won’t cripple your progress beyond repair, trust me. Don’t drop all discipline but allow yourself some room to breathe and this will be a much more enjoyable time.