One of the most common and unfortunate feelings you may have on your health and fitness journey is guilt. Guilt is defined as “feeling responsible or regretful for a perceived offense, real or imaginary. Can be part of the grief reaction.” Guilt can cause a vicious cycle of you quitting on yourself. Think about a time where you felt guilty for skipping a workout or eating something you shouldn’t have.
The other day I skipped a workout because my body was tired and sore. At first, I felt guilty because missing a workout made me feel like all my progress would instantly diminish. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. It would take at least a week of no exercise whatsoever to even start seeing decreases in muscular size, and this may not even be actual muscle loss, but a decrease in glycogen (stored glucose) and water stores in your muscles. And these stores will quickly fill once you start training again. So if I know that one day of skipping a workout will not completely diminish my progress then why should I feel guilty? After all, my body needed it and an extra recovery day is sometimes essential for your body to most efficiently reach your goals.
Know that taking a recovery day when your body is overtired and sore can actually be more beneficial to you than pushing through a workout when your body is extremely fatigued. Training when overtired can cause injury, demotivation, and burnout.
Guilt is a very prominent feeling when it comes to making food choices. You have probably felt guilty after eating a cookie or piece of cake at some point in your life. I don’t believe in fad diets or quick fixes. I believe that every day you should be making food choices that can be maintained throughout your life time. This means that it is good to have a treat once in a while. A treat can be a snack or a full meal that brings you enjoyment.
Know that an occasional treat is not a “cheat meal.” You are not cheating on anything because you are still making progress toward your goals. Eating a bowl of ice cream once every two weeks is not going to derail your progress. You know your body best, so an occasional treat may be less frequent for you than somebody else. You need to realize that consistent healthy lifestyle choices trump occasional treats.
Consistency is the difference between being successful and not. If you stick to your workout plan for two months straight and take an extra rest day one of those days, your progress will still show. If you have been eating on point for two weeks and then you eat fast food for one meal, your progress will still show. These are just examples so remember that your bodies needs and progress are different than someone else’s. You may be more comfortable with eating one treat a week compared to someone else who eats one treat a month.
Remember that progress isn’t linear. Some days you will look and feel better than others. You may even gain a pound unexpectedly one week, but make sure you are looking at the overall trend from when you started your fitness journey.
It is time to prepare your mindset. I have already talked about this in my How To Stay Motivated blog, but it is important to bring it up again. Get rid of the all or nothing mindset. What do I mean by this? Imagine driving down a road and all of a sudden you feel a few extra thumps as your driving, and you recognize that something isn’t right. You get out and realize that you have a flat tire. What do you do next? You would probably either change the tire yourself or call someone else to do it for you, and then continue about your day. You wouldn’t get out of the car, realize you have a flat tire, and then slash the other three, right? Well, that is how we act after we make a poor lifestyle choice. I’m sure you have thought this way before because I know I have. “Well, I won’t be able to make it to the gym for a full hour like I had planned, so I guess I won’t go at all,” or “I made a poor choice at dinner last night so I might as well wait to restart healthy eating until Monday.” We need to stop this all or nothing mindset and stop feeling guilty now!
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