STAYING ON THE WAGON

Dust off those resolutions

It's been a few months now and life just seems to be getting in the way of your "best laid plans" to take control of your weight and fitness.  The resolution you made way back when is something of a distant memory, yet the realization is that sticking with it is not only important, but something you want to do stays in your mind.

There are a few different things you can do to help strengthen the commitment.  If you've fallen off the wagon, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, forgive yourself and get back on.  If you feel like you're tottering on the edge of the wagon, afraid you're falling off, perhaps taken one too many days off of the training schedule, then - once again - forgive yourself and try one of these ideas to help restore that sense of power.

Check and then check again

First, check your goal.  If you wrote it down, go back and take a look at it.  If it was realistic, then brush it off and put it back where you can see it.  If it needs editing, then make the changes and put it up again.  Sometimes we start out with goals that are idealistic but not very realistic.  Working toward an unrealistic goal can create the sense of failure.

Check your plan.  If your plan to accomplish your goal is too rigid or not really workable, change some things in it to make it more user-friendly.  What really will work in your world?  If exercising six days a week is not doable, don't throw the plan away, instead revise it to four or five days.  Do try to keep your workouts consistent at a minimum of three days per week, though.  You can change some of your methods of exercise, perhaps going to the gym only three times per week, but going for a good, hard walk a couple of times a week.

If you haven't been keeping a food journal, this might be the time to do so.  There's nothing like seeing what we're eating to help us stay on the straight and narrow.

Enlist the help of a buddy.  There really is something to being accountable to someone else.  

Take one day at a time - you'll get there

Remember to take just one day at a time.  Be content with the gains and losses of where you are today, and focus on the present.  Expecting to arrive at a specific point by a certain date can sometimes cause more problems than it solves.