So you’ve fallen off track, had a night out, or binged on food for the weekend…

You’re feeling guilty because you’ve fallen off your diet, and it doesn’t help that you’ve got lots of food/booze toxins running around your body – compounding how miserable you feel!

Not only have you got the physical symptoms like bloating, achy joints, but you’ve also got the mental one’s too, like brain fog – struggling to have clarity of thought. Arguably the worst symptom of all though…

is that voice inside your head…

“you’ve messed up!”

“why do I do it to myself?”

“I knew you’d fall off track”

“You always go back to old ways”

“why did you do it?!?!”

etc, etc!

It’s literally like you’re kicking yourself repeatedly when you’re already down on the floor.

Reward & Punishment…

From an early age most of us are rewarded for doing things perceived as good, like tidying our toys, doing our home work, and behaving accordingly. We get rewarded with compliments like “well done for being a good boy” or we get rewarded with toys!

Then when we mess up and do the opposite of what’s perceived as good we get punished: grounded, toys taken away, and scolded with phrases that sting. The idea is that if we associate pain with this behaviour…we wont do it again.

Unfortunately this model works on some level, but it causes havoc in adult life as we end up using it on ourselves and beating ourselves up, instead of treating ourselves with the love and kindness we deserve.

We All Mess Up…

Let me tell you this, and this is me being totally honest, I’ve messed up loads in my life (i’m not just talking about my diet! lol!) i’ve fallen off the bandwagon more times than I can remember.

I still mess up to this day, in fact I messed up on my diet a couple of weeks ago, eating copies amounts of food and feeling sick and guilty for it afterwards!

It happens to us all, we all mess up at times – although people, especially personal trainers, teachers, celebs and people in positions where they are looked up to wont always admit it! I think this is doing the world a disservice. Too many people appear to be strong and perfect, when in actual fact they mess up too and also have insecurities, vulnerabilities, etc!

Remember…

WE ALL MESS UP!

Acknowledge & Accept Your Feelings…

When you do mess up and that all consuming guilty feeling rears it’s ugly head, that’s ok, don’t try to fight it, don’t try to suppress it. Let it have it’s moment. It’s okay to feel down, depressed, guilty – these are normal human emotions. Let the emotion come out, and then use the experience to reflect and learn from.

When you feel calmer and the dust has settled…

Ask yourself questions…

What triggered me to act in this way?

Is what i’ve done really that bad? 

Do other humans mess up too? 

What can be learned from this situation? 

What good can come from the situation? 

What could I do differently next time? 

Learn & Grow…

The process of personal growth, whether that’s mental or physical has it’s ups and downs. Not everything goes to plan all the time. There will be plenty of hiccups, don’t think your journey will be perfect and linear – because it won’t and nobodies journey is!

You have to shed your old self and that takes time. 

At times you’ll think you’ve cracked it BUT then something will knock you off track and you’ll feel like you’re back at square one again, because you’ve reverted back to old ways. It’s all part of the growth process. There’s no gain without pain! 

As time goes on you learn more and more about yourself, the mess ups generally become less, and you realise that all of the hiccups you’ve experienced have actually been extremely valuable lessons.

Some of my darkest times have lead my life into a new direction and made me a better person, because i’ve taken on board what the tough times have taught me and learned a sh*t load about myself along the way.

When you realise that life has it’s ups and downs, but every cloud has a silver lineing you realise life is nothing but a bunch of lessons that you can learn and grow from.

So, back to the title of this post…

What To Do When You Mess Up On Your Diet?

You haven’t messed up, you’ve just learned a valuable lesson and are now one stop closer to kicking ass next time.

Much love, 

Nick x