So You Ate the Cake…Your Diet Is Not Ruined!

You ate the cake? Don’t worry – all is not lost if you slip up once in a while. Motivation may wax and wane, but that’s ok, you’re human, it happens. While it’s a good time to remind yourself of why you really want to lose weight, just take a breath and get back on track. It’s what you do the majority of the time that matters the most, not what you do sometimes.

Developing problem solving skills can be an effective tool to troubleshoot stumbling blocks that can crop up on your weight loss journey – helping you hop, step and jump over obstacles and achieve your weight loss goals.

Let’s explore this in a little more detail. While these will be different for everyone, it can help to shine a light on the chain of events that lead you to eat the cake (e.g. forgot to eat lunch at work and being hungry, you grabbed the first sweet treat you found when you walked in the house). To reduce the chances of a repeat event, brainstorm possible solutions and select the most promising and healthiest one(s) to put into practice (e.g. set a lunchtime reminder to eat; have a healthy snack before you leave work, avoid buying that cake or ice-cream so you don’t have those foods in the house). Write down your action plan to cement it in your mind and put it to the test, readjusting it if needed. Remember, practice makes perfect.

How you think and feel also have a large impact on how you behave. If your mind is getting in the way, take some time out to notice and simply write down some of the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing. If you find yourself stuck in negative thought patterns, let them go by reframing the words into a positive statement that supports you better. For example, rather than saying “I will never lose weight because I ate dessert”, flick over to something more positive: “A single piece of cake won’t hinder my weight loss, especially I’m exercising regularly and only enjoying 2 ‘pleasure’ meals each week.”

If you fall off the bandwagon, don’t be so hard on yourself, it happens, just straight back on the healthy bandwagon again the following day! Remember, every day is a new day, a fresh start, don’t want until Monday to start being healthy again, instead, wake up tomorrow and embrace the new day. Learning any new skill takes practice, and so too does adopting any new diet or lifestyle change. Take positive steps to get back on the path to achieving your dreams. Remember, it’s the good work and body loving decisions you do the majority of the time that matters the most, not what you do sometimes!