I’ve been wanting to talk about this for some time now because I hear this “staying on track” a lot. Have you ever said, “I can’t because it’ll throw me off track,” or “I shouldn’t eat that because I’ll fall off the wagon”…?

You probably have like most women, and you’ve been saying this ever since you can remember because diet culture, friends, and family have formed rules. Rules like what you should look like, and what you should eat to look that way. It’s a corrupt system, to be honest. There’s no such thing as an “ideal body” because everyone is different and unique. Not one person looks the same.

When people say they have to “stay on track,” they really mean they’re trying to be perfect. There’s no such thing as perfection. If you’re saying that, then what you’re doing isn’t sustainable, and it’s only going to hurt you in the long run.

Have you ever felt like you HAD to stay on plan? You HAD to stay away from certain foods because it wasn’t “on plan”? Maybe you have success with it, but can you imagine never having those foods again? When you start eating those foods again, you’re more likely to regain the weight back because you’ve felt so restricted from them that you start to overeat. Your brain doesn’t like it when you tell it you aren’t eating that food so it won’t stop thinking about it until it has it. It’s how our brains work so once it gets that food, it can’t get enough of it. It’s a vicious cycle.

Have you ever had a “cheat” meal…that led to a cheat day… that led to a cheat weekend… and now you’ree struggling because you feel like they’re back to square one again?

Or maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve gone 3 days without that food! I’m so proud of myself,” and then “fall off track”?

This also goes for holiday get-togethers. I’ve had many clients who have said they need to eat very little before the holiday dinner because they know they’ll have the extra calories. This is actually going to hurt you because you’ll eat more calories if you don’t eat during the day. This is because you’ll overeat and have more than you can handle during the holiday dinner. Now you’re at twice the amount of calories than you would have eaten.

Side note: in order to gain weight you have to eat an extra 3500 calories PER DAY for EVERY LB. So when you wake up the next morning and see that you’ve “gained 5 lbs,” it’s water weight.

I think most of us have felt that way. You’re not alone

So what should you do now? Focus on sustainability. If you can’t see yourself doing it for long term then find something that IS sustainable. Here are some examples:

• don’t cut out foods so you can keep yourself from restricting yourself and ending up mindlessly overeating
• count calories or macros
• when you have holiday get-togethers, don’t starve yourself the entire day and then overeat at the holiday dinner. That’s a recipe for distress and feeling of failure
• learn to intuitively eat so you don’t have to count your food

There’s no right or wrong answer with any of these. It’s about what finding what works for YOU. Some people thrive when counting their food and some people don’t.

It’s all about figuring out what works for YOU.

If you’re struggling to find what works for you, then I would encourage you to apply for a Nutrition Assessment. This will help you find what works for you so you can find sustainability and not feel miserable doing it!

You’ll get:

• 1, 1 hour call to talk through your goals, what your eating habits are, what you’ve tried, etc. This will help me create a plan that’ll work for you
• A plan that’ll work for you that can be tweaked
• 1 month of Voxer access (text & voice messaging app) so you can text me after the call with questions, support, and more

CLICK HERE to apply!

*Applying doesn’t mean you’re committed to investing. It’s to see if this is what you’re needed <3

Until next time,

Christina <3