What to do when you’ve fallen off the wagon

Posted on 19 February, 2015

Achieving a healthy lifestyle is so important. It’s a goal for many of us who may have started the new year with the very best of intentions—to reach or maintain a healthy weight, move more, eat more nutritious food and less of the bad stuff.

But sometimes a fierce resolution isn’t enough and we can fall off the bandwagon.

Just last week, my beautiful friend and HerCanberra resident nutrition expert Kate Freeman took to Facebook to express a sentiment that we can all identify with. She posted “I’m feeling unmotivated today… seriously I am”.

Losing your motivation can either be a slow decline (like one of those awkward, slow motion falls) or sudden and unexpected, and can often evoke feelings of disappointment and shame.

So if you find yourself a little ‘unmotivated today’, here are my tips for overcoming the fall, climbing right back on the wagon and moving forward to live your healthiest life.

Give yourself a break

We pile so much on our plate these days – and I’m not just talking food. In between our careers, family, friends, sports commitments, appointments and the elusive “free time”, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and run down. Yes, it’s important to stay fit and healthy but sometimes our bodies crave some rest time.

Acknowledge how you’re feeling and give yourself a break – whether it’s a day or three, or even a week. Take some time for rest and revitalisation. Take a walk instead of that run; swap Spin class for some restorative yoga or just take some time to chill. But only while you need it. It’s important not to slip into a state of laziness—rest, rejuvenate and remember to keep moving forward.

Be kind to yourself

For me, a fall off the wagon can bring up some pretty dark thoughts and a touch of self doubt. During these times it’s important to practice a little self-love and kindness.

One tool that helps me in this is my “self-care menu”. It’s a list of things that help me relax and make me happy; to reinvigorate me when I’m feeling lacklustre. Mine include taking a lot bath with magnesium bath salts, having a leisurely roll on my foam roller, practicing some meditation or even having a wine with my girlfriends!

Try developing your own menu and treating yourself when you need it most. Remember that you’re only human and you’re not going to feel motivated and energised 100 per cent of the time.

Revisit your goals

If you’re really lacking motivation, and if it’s a recurrent issue for you, maybe it’s time to revisit your goals.

Goals are a really important parting of living your best life but we have to be careful of setting ourselves up for failure. Having too many goals or setting unrealistic targets for ourselves can be counter productive.

Try the SMART approach – make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. I find that this is particularly applicable to fitness – where many goals centre around a certain number of kilos, centimetres, reps or kilometres. A goal to live a healthy lifestyle is great – but not in and of itself. Try breaking goals down into bite-sized pieces with set deadlines. I write all of mine down in my Kikki K Goals journal (which you can probably pick up from Canberra Centre or Westfield Belconnen) and have found that it’s a really effective tool in keeping me on track.

Try something new

Doing the same activity every day can breed monotony and boredom – a common cause for loss of motivation.

It’s important to persevere and maintain a certain level of determination in your exercise and eating habits. Health and wellbeing and worthwhile pursuits that are not always enjoyable, but are always worth it.

However, it’s important to enjoy yourself at least some of the time. For example, if you’ve set yourself a goal to swim 2 kilometres and you’re dreading every pool session, then perhaps you should consider another activity.

Even if you’re committed to a certain activity or following a particular program, it can help to slip in some new activities to keep things interesting. Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you and have road tested a range of local fitness activities from dance to bikram yoga to boot camp, and everything in between!

Reach out for help

Because we can feel ashamed of losing our motivation, it’s tempting to keep it to ourselves and bottle it up. However, like most things, often talking about it and seeking help can help to give you the boost you need.

Ask for advice from friends on how they maintain their motivation or their tips for staying on track.

Alternatively, seek the advice of a professional. That is, after all, what they’re there for! Enlist the help of a personal trainer who can design and take you through your workouts and make you accountable. Trust me, it’s a lot easier to show up when someone’s waiting for you (and you’re paying for their time!).

So ladies, there you have it—my tips for getting back your fitness mojo. What do you do when you’re feeling unmotivated?

All images including home page feature courtesy of Shutterstock.

This article was originally written for the purpose of  Australia’s Health Weight Week, a week designed by the Dieticians Association of Australia to raise awareness of the importance of achieving and maintaining a health weight and lifestyle.