We all have days when we over indulge – whether that be food, alcohol or both. It’s not a case of trying to never do that because that would make life pretty miserable. We can however choose to respond more positively to these over indulgences so we don’t sabotage our results in the long term.
Over the Christmas period this is going to happen more often that normal so creating some positive responses to days or evenings of overindulgence is important!
So what do you do if you’ve had over indulged?
Do drink more water/
Depending on how you over indulged you may be dehydrated, but regardless extra water will make you feel fresher.
Don’t do extra exercise/
Avoid using exercise as a punishment for over eating as this will create a negative association with training, plus if you have a hangover exercise isn’t really what you want to be doing.
Do use the extra calories to fuel your next workout/
Whilst you don’t want to add extra training in you could use those extra calories to push yourself harder in your next scheduled workout and come out feeling really good.
Don’t starve yourself/
Punishing yourself by drastically reducing your calories in the days after will create a negative cycle of eating. You could look to slightly reduce your calorie intake for a few days subsequently (couple of hundred calories max) but reducing what you eat
dramatically to make amends will only make you feel worse.
Do eat nutrient rich / dense foods the next day/
Eat foods that will both fill you up and make you feel good the next day, making you feel better without starving and allowing you to mentally get back on track.
Don’t skip meals/
By the same token don’t purposefully skip meals to try and compensate.
Do Move on/
One bad meal or day doesn’t define your diet overall, so rather than punish yourself for it look at it as a day / meal you enjoyed and focus on the next day / meal instead.
Don’t scrap the rest of the week/
Try moving on straight away instead of saying well I may as well start again Monday now. This essentially ensures damage limitation.
Heather Sherwood Fitness 