One of the biggest barriers to
achieving health goals is being consistent.
We can’t be perfectly on track all the time and we shouldn’t try to be. Family life, social life and work life all present challenges at different times that we need to find a way to navigate.
It shouldn’t matter if we have an occasional treat, the odd alcoholic drink, etc. The challenge is working out how often or how many is low enough to still be making progress. A chocolate bar or other treat every day is consistent, but is it consistently helpful or consistently harmful to health goals?
Dinner out with friends is important – I’m trying to rebuild and refresh my social life and I don’t want to be difficult about what or when to eat. But if something is happening every week or every two weeks and I’m relaxing on the choices that work for my goals, then will I be making progress or going backwards?
While living with family recently, additional changes to routine came up - one weekend might include pizza and wine Friday night, dinner with a friend Saturday night and a roast dinner for Sunday lunch. That’s not just relaxing a little over the weekend, that’s 3 days different to the plan and will take most of the week for my body to get back on track.
Other distractions of life also happen: moving house, holiday events, special occasions like birthdays or other, less positive, emergencies that require adaptability.
The Christmas and New Year period really gave me pause to think this year – all the ‘special event’ foods are fine for this special occasion but there was soooo much. Others would say ‘there’s plenty of days to eat it during the holidays' but I don’t WANT to be eating against my goals for such an extended period! It’s Christmas, a special occasion – that someone was now saying will stretch over 12 days of eating in a way that doesn’t move towards my goals. Guess who ended up still eating some of these items 4 months later?!
Using willpower to NOT eat those foods is not a reliable tool so I prefer not to have them around.
It can be very difficult to set boundaries with family in particular and I’ve been criticised for being too rigid about my workout schedule but, on the other hand, I’m trying to keep a promise to myself to do the things that help towards my health and wellness goals.
It has taken me almost a year to write this post so now it’s Halloween (how long will you be eating leftover lollies for?) and the holiday period is right on the doorstep again! I hope this post has given you some useful ideas to ponder as we continue working through challenges towards our health goals.
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