Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Summary
On episode 223 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan answers a listener question from Donna: what do you do after you slip up and fall off track with your health and fitness?
Allan lays out a yesterday, today, tomorrow paradigm for getting back on track: own and forgive what happened yesterday, recommit today, then plan tomorrow around a root cause analysis and better habits.
He shares journaling and meditation as the two tools he leans on most to understand triggers and make faster, clearer decisions, including a personal story about deciding to sell a condo rather than stay stuck in ongoing conflict.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- You have to own the slip-up before you can move past it. Recognize that you made the decisions that led to the actions, without shame or pretending it didn’t happen. Owning it, not covering it up, is the first step out of being stuck in “yesterday.”
- Forgiving yourself is what actually gets you unstuck. Anger, remorse, and disappointment are normal reactions to a setback, but staying in them keeps you stuck. Failure is a normal part of getting stronger, in the gym and everywhere else, so treat it as feedback, not identity.
- Recommitment means reconnecting with your why and your vision. Go back to the reason you started (Allan’s is his family) and re-envision what you want your future health to look like. That reconnection is what turns “today” into a real restart instead of another false start.
- Root cause analysis means asking “why” repeatedly, not once. A single why rarely gets to the real trigger. Allan walks through an example: overeating chocolate traces back through availability and temptation to an underlying emotional stressor, which is the actual root cause worth addressing.
- Once you know the trigger, build a healthier habit to meet it. If stress is the trigger, replace the poor-choice response (a few extra glasses of wine) with a better one (a brisk walk or lifting weights) until the healthier response becomes automatic.
- Journaling reveals root causes you might otherwise miss. Tracking food, mood, and sleep can surface an unexpected root cause, such as insufficient sleep, rather than the stress or willpower explanation you assumed was behind a setback.
- Meditation creates distance from the emotion of the moment. By practicing observing thoughts and feelings rather than reacting to them, Allan was able to quickly separate what he could control from what he couldn’t in a heated HOA conflict, and make a fast, clear decision to sell his condo rather than stay in ongoing stress.
- Not every slip has a health and fitness root cause. Sometimes the real trigger is a stressor unrelated to food or exercise entirely. Understanding yourself well enough to see that connection is what shortens the time it takes to recover and recommit.
