Consistency is key

We have all been there before.  We start the day with good intentions.  Maybe we train and have a healthy breakfast.  Then things get busy and we don’t really have time for a proper lunch.  By 3 pm we are starting to get hungry REALLY hungry.  In our hungry state we stuff something down without a thought – something that really was not the best choice and then and then….

And then…what?  How do you react when you “ruin” your healthy eating day?

Many people I know (myself included sometimes) think to themselves “Well I’ve blown it now – may as well have another one of those buns/cakes/buckets of hot chips etc etc.  I will start fresh tomorrow.”

Some people may even think “Oh well I’ve failed this week – I’ll have to start again on Monday”.

To take things to extreme we could be in a thought pattern where we think: “I’m just not cut out for this healthy eating thing.  Maybe I’ll start again in a few months when I have less stress to deal with/when my kids are all well and sleeping through the night/ when I go back to work / when I have more time to be organised / when I’m more motivated.”

The way we react to a “blip”  in our healthy eating regime can be the factor that makes all the difference to long term success with our nutrition.  Someone who tries to eat well on a consistent basis will have a little talk to themselves along the following lines: “Well that is something I probably could have done without.  I will not dwell too much on it but think about what healthy food I am going to prepare for dinner.”  Consistency means not starting again TOMORROW or NEXT WEEK or NEXT YEAR.  Consistency is starting again right now.

It is unrealistic to think that you are going to eat well 100 per cent of the time.  What is a realistic goal is to become someone who eats well most of the time.  Consistently reacting in a sensible way to “blow outs” or periods of unhealthy eating is the key to changing your habits for good so that those blow outs get less and less and have less overall impact on what you aim to do MOST OF THE TIME.