I hate that feeling. You know the one that is triggered by guilt and results in your stomach doing knots and you fighting with yourself. You know what I am talking about, right? It’s what happens when you realized that yet again you are failing at exercising.
You buy the new program and tell yourself, “Yes this is it. This is totally going to rock my world. I will be fit again. I will have the energy to chase my kids.” Guess what, life happened. Kids got sick, responsibilities had to be met and the list goes on and on. Today I am going to tell you something that I wished I knew a while back when I was failing at exercising.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE FAILING AT EXERCISING
1. When You Are Failing at Exercising: Start Small
I know it hurts to even think about restarting your exercise program. Perhaps the problem was that you were far too ambitious and were not realistic from the get go. Let me give you an example. If I decide to set a goal of running a 10K race in 2 weeks when I have never even ran from my house to the end of the street- I am setting myself up for failure. What should I have done instead to prepare for this 10K? I should have started small. Increasing my stamina and distance in small increments. What’s the lesson? Start small.
2. When You Are Failing at Exercising: Get More Sleep
Yup, this is the classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. I know I need to get more sleep and I have been told this on several occasion. I am however slowly adjusting my day so that I will have my 7 hours of sleep each night. Why is sleep even important when you are trying to exercise or lose weight? I think this article called Why Sleep Is the Most Important Thing for a Better Body explains it well. The bottom line is this- get more sleep.
3. When You Are Failing at Exercising: Give Yourself Breaks
Rome wasn’t built in a day. You need to have breaks or rest periods when you are changing something in your life. If you are trying to wean off of something you have loved since sliced bread was invented, you need to do so slowly. Why slowly? Because if you stop immediately and the cravings kick in , you may not have the strength to not give in. PS: I LOVE bread, can you tell?
4. When You Are Failing at Exercising: Give Yourself Grace, not Excuses
Remember that you are not aiming for perfection. You are doing this to be healthy and to enjoy the body that you have. Because of this, you will not beat yourself up for missing a day. Instead, you will forgive yourself and try not to repeat it. You will set up measures and countermeasures if necessary to ensure that you repeat your slip up again.
5. When You Are Failing at Exercising: Reevaluate Your Goals
When all is said and done, if your goals are unrealistic then you have set yourself up for failure. Wait a minute Alecia, didn’t you hint at that earlier? Yup, if you have tried all that you can and followed everything as its states and you do not see the results you want, its time to reevaluate.