Sometimes our best intentions go out the window during the holidays, and we don’t follow through with our exercise & diet plans. That’s okay too. The holidays are for spending time with family and friends, enjoying traditions, and lots of high calorie foods. But now it’s time to get back on track with your exercise routine. Read on for some helpful tips to get over the laziness.
#1 Assess the damage
Get. On. The. Scale. It may be painful to see that you have gained a few pounds, but you need to know what you are dealing with. On the other hand, you might find that you didn’t do as much damage as you think. You probably will not see a dramatic weight gain. Either way, you need to be realistic about what your body needs to do now. So just weigh yourself and get it over with, and then don’t get on that scale for another week until you have had a chance to get back at your healthy habits.
#2 Let it go
If you had a lazy holiday, you should not feel bad about it. You should feel really good about what you have done for yourself by putting your needs first for a change. Any guilt or regret you are feeling should be pushed out the window now. You are actually lucky because you are most likely coming back with a fresh attitude and a renewed sense of your goals.
#3 Make a plan
Planning is so important when you are trying to start, or restart a healthy lifestyle. Don’t just rely on telling yourself that you will do it. Make a visible plan on pen and paper, or on a fitness app. Set a goal for yourself for your first week back exercising, and maybe also plan for a small reward to treat yourself to after that first week.
#4 Just do it
Healthy habits take at least three weeks to form.
Once you hit that point, you should be able to maintain your exercise habit fairly seamlessly. However, it takes way less time to break a healthy habit, as in one week. So your lazy holiday has the potential to derail your good exercise habits, but you can overcome it. You just need to get right back at it. If you wait any amount of time before exercising again, it’s only going to get harder. You need to start exercising again right away! You may be tired and have a million things to do, like unpacking and sorting mail, but just carve out 30 minutes to do some sort of physical activity. It will give you the energy you need to plow through those post-holiday chores, and will set the tone that you are going to exercise on a regular basis again.