When Plans Go Awry

It would be nice if you could just live in Utopia while you work on your fitness goals. It would be so much easier if the troubles of life would leave you alone while you are focusing on your health, but that's never what happens, is it? Doesn't it always seem that the second you make a commitment to eat well that you get invited to a close friends birthday party comes up? Or When you are trying to get faithful about working out doesn't it seem like there is a major holiday interrupting your schedule? Or your car breaks down, or there is a family emergency and so on and so on!  That's just life happening and it's not going to stop. Waiting for a nice calm season of life to get started isn't going to happen.

Let me tell you about my week. My husband was going on a 5 day work trip and I thought that would be the perfect time for my daughter to quit her paci since we could stay up late and do a bunch of fun big girl dates with mommy. My husband wasn't even out of the house before the dryer broke. No panicking yet. For once in my life, I was caught up on the laundry so a few days with no dryer wouldn't be too bad. After a slightly rough night of sleep since I let the girls bunk with me for the first night of no paci, I awoke to the dishwasher being broken. Irritated but still not panicking, I went and bought a dish rack since it was Labor Day weekend and I knew I wasn't going to be able to get my rental company to send anyone out until after the weekend. After yet another rough night of little sleep, the air conditioning goes out. At this point, I give up on life. I'm not cooking in a hot house. I'm not working out in a hot house. I am frazzled, tired, and frustrated and now I am off my game with my health and fitness. I still tried to eat healthy out but it's not the same as when you KNOW what you are putting into your body. I felt sluggish, tired, and icky. It's it interesting how that leads to a downward spiral. If you make the healthy choice, you feel like working out or if you work out, you feel like eating the healthy food. However, the very act of eating something unhealthy or choosing to skip the work out derails you from your goal. This is why consistency is the key to success. You can't always be perfect but you CAN choose to make the right decision when you don't want feel like it. Work out even though you binged on a few cookies. I know it feels like you sabotaged yourself but you haven't until you quit! You missed two days of work outs, and since you're off your game that cheeseburger and fries doesn't seem like a big deal. Its only a big deal because it leads you further from your goal and yet another turn on that downward spiral. 

 I had a few rough days and old habits were calling to me. Yesterday I wanted a red bull so bad I could taste it. I was out running errands and it would have been so easy to pick one up but I chose to end the downward spiral that was happening. I went home and drank my shakeology instead and I felt better. The craving went away and I felt empowered by my decision. We can't control the circumstances of life but you do have decisions to make and you can stop that spiral in its tracks. It's hard and getting back into a routine. I love this quote by Jeff Olsen from The Slight Edge.

Every time I choose to walk away from the red bull, to faithfully do my exercise, to choose the healthy food over the junk I am creating success. Even if I don't see it right away, I am on the path to success. Every time I choose to NOT to do those things I am on the path to failure. There are only two options. If I flip flop back and forth what I find is that I just don't ever see results and that leads to discouragement which usually leads me to start up the bad habits again. Who wants to keep fighting their desires to see no results? And yet I sabotage those results when I am not consistent. We live in a society with a microwave mentality. We get impatient when our food takes 2 minutes to heat up. We get impatient when we get a job and have to work our way to the top. We get impatient when we have been working out for a month and have only lost 4 pounds. We want results NOW! That is just not how success works.  Jeff Olsen also says in his book,


"There is a natural progression in life, which everyone knew intimately back in the days when we were an agrarian society. You plant, then you cultivate, and finally you harvest. Plant, cultivate harvest. In today's world, everyone wants to go directly from plant to harvest."


Success comes from simple disciplines repeated over time. Don't give up! If you cave and eat a terrible meal, put it behind you! It doesn't negate all the work you put in and giving up won't get you where you want to go. Progress, dear ones, not perfection!

 I don't eat perfectly all the time, but I try to make healthy food at home for every meal  so that when we go out we can enjoy some treats. I am a busy mom and I miss workouts too but I try to make it a priority everyday and have picked a program with 30 minute work outs to make it manageable in my life. I loved P90x before I had kids but I can't commit to an hour or more every day for work outs right now. I had to make a new plan for this season of life with the 21 Day Fix. Maybe you can only fit in three times a week and that's ok! It will still propel you in the direction you want to go.  Make your fitness plan doable for your life so that you can be faithful to those simple disciplines . I have girls in my challenge group that are working two jobs or working full time and going to school full time and still finding a way to fit in a few work outs a week and carving out time to meal plan for the week them on track. You can do this!

For some people, accountability is a huge help! Having people that are waiting for you to check in or following up and asking you how it's going can be a great help.For me, just seeing others check in and seeing these busy women making it a priority really gives me extra motivation on days I don't feel like working out or eating healthy. I think about them when I am making decisions and it has a powerful effect on my will! I have an accountability group starting every month and we would love for you to join us! It's not too late to join this months group if you're feeling motivated to start!

I know its not easy. I'm choosing today to work out and get started back after a few days off. My life needed my attention but now its time to refocus and jump back into my commitment! When plan go awry, you adjust and keep on going! I was feeling so discouraged yesterday. I know some days that you just don't even want to lift your head of the pillow. We all feel like failures sometimes when we are so far from our goals and we look out and see people that are where we would like to be. Giving up won't get there but consistency will. As lovingly as I can say it:  Pick yourself up and do it anyway! That's how you get there. Don't focus on what you lack. Focus on all that you have and then use it to propel you to where you want to go! Life has its own momentum, it's always moving forward. The decisions you make turn the rudder. You decide if you are getting propelled to success or propelled to failure. All that stands in your way is a few simple disciplines..