Recovering From Cheats
Ok, I’m going to admit it:
In the last week, I’ve taken 2 cheats. One was just desert (albeit a LOT of it), and the other was a full cheat meal. I wasn’t thrilled that I did it, but I did.
Let me tell you why I cheated: I was not prepared. One night I should have just had fruit, but instead I had a variety of sweets. And last night, I ate WAY in left field. Both of these nights I was not prepared nutritionally or mentally to avoid caving.
Now….I can sit here and beat myself up over it, or I can just face the fact that I did it, no way to undo it, and get back to focus. This is what I do. If I take a single cheat (or a couple of cheats), the last thing I want to do is beat myself up over it. Usually my body feels crappy enough to not have to worry about mental anguish. In fact, after the dessert incident last weekend, I spent quite a bit of time on Easter Sunday feeling like the crap I ate.
Yes, if you are not prepared, most likely you will fall away from your diet. It happens. It is not what you want to have happen, but it happens. Pick yourself up off the floor, get moving in the right direction, and realize that it’s not going to kill your results or make you feel bad forever.
In my case, both times, I went back to intense focus on my diet. After last night’s “binge” I immediately went back to my paleo ways. After all, I’m getting results, and the only way to derail that would be to return to eating junk all the time instead of just once (or twice).
So when you veer off your clean eating plan, what do you do to regain focus? I’d love to hear!
