Realigning With Your Goals After Getting Off Track

Written By Heather Pritchett

Throughout our fitness and nutrition journey, we will inevitably have bumps in the road, times when your goals get pushed aside because life intrudes (how rude!), we get distracted, suffer an injury, or it's just Thanksgiving and you go HARD on the leftovers for days. Regardless of what led you astray, here are a few simple (but not easy) steps to realign with your goals:

  • Don't compensate: Perhaps you think, "I ate so much over the holiday weekend, I'm going to cut back and just have a protein shake for lunch and dinner all week," or "I missed all my workouts last week, so I'm going to double up this week to make up for it."  HALT!  Don't eat less or workout more to compensate for the past. Instead, just do the next best thing to get yourself back into your healthy habits. Make your next meal nutritious and aligned with your goals. Get back into the gym as scheduled and keep moving forward. Compensating in the ways described above will set you up for failure and create an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise.

  • Set new short-term goals:  Use my goal setting worksheet to set some goals for the next week, month, and three months. If you already have a list of goals, revisit it and see if you want to make changes. Ensure the goals you choose are easily measurable and realistic. Set a reward for yourself when you achieve those goals, and choose a reward that continues to facilitate your goals (such as new training sneakers, a recovery massage, or a kitchen gadget for cooking food at home). Place your worksheet in a place you'll see often to keep your goals at the forefront of your mind.

  • Plan to succeed:  You've set your goals... now plan to reach them! Do you need to go grocery shopping to have nutritious foods at home? Do you need to schedule time for your workouts this week? Do you need to meal prep? Set yourself up for success by thinking through what you need to have or do in order to adhere to your goals, and get after it.

  • Give yourself grace:  So you got away from your goals for a bit... it happens! Don't beat yourself up. If your best friend was struggling with their goals, what would you say to them? Probably something like, "It's okay! Be patient with yourself. You didn't ruin your progress!" Extend that same messaging to yourself. It helps to remember that this is meant to be a lifelong endeavor... being your healthiest self isn't a quick fix and there is no strict timeline. In the grand scheme of the rest of your life, a day or a few days is not a deal breaker. Stopping won't get you any closer to your goals... so just keep moving ahead!

Question for you to ponder:  What will you do now (or the next time you find yourself straying from your goals) to realign yourself and keep moving forward? 

Here are some additional resources on this topic:

Heather Pritchett
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