4 Tips showing how to get back on track with your diet and exercise routine

Joanna Kriehn, MS, RDN, CDCES - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES)

With work deadlines, a stacked social calendar, or food-filled weekends, it’s no wonder that we need some know-how to get back on track with diet and exercise. But, no matter the reason, falling off track happens to all of us from time to time. These four strategies will help you regain momentum in no time.

How to get back on track with diet and exercise

Tip # 1: Pay attention to your thoughts when wanting to get back on track with diet and exercise

Falling off track can happen gradually over a series of meals, missed workouts, or a lapse in logging. Early warning signs that you are losing momentum often include a change in how you think about your food or eating plan. Here are some common thinking errors or thought distortions. Any of these sound familiar?

“I have been working so hard, and the scale isn’t going down. I should just give up.”
“I deserve to go on vacation and eat whatever I want.”
“It’s not fair that my partner can give in to any craving and not gain weight.”
“I blew it today at lunch AND dinner, and now I am totally off-track. I don’t have what it takes to stick with this.”

Critical self-talk serves the function of helping our brain feel safe and comfortable and sheltering us from disappointment. Unfortunately, such thoughts can also prevent us from finding creative ways to change our behavior and learn from our mistakes.

To get back on track with diet and exercise, look at how to challenge your inner critic, such as:

Pay attention to your thoughts and their impact on your actions. The MyNetDiary custom tracker feature makes it easy to track thoughts and see how they may influence food choices.
Learn more about how thinking arises and impacts self-esteem.
Talk to a friend or counselor about reframing self-talk or negative thinking.

Implement it: Write out your “why,” and keep it somewhere visible to help maintain motivation. Consider writing down some motivational mantras to review when experiencing critical self-talk.

Tip #2: Do you focus enough attention on your goals?

Focusing too much attention on other people’s problems leaves you with less time and energy for your own healthy lifestyle. If you lose sleep, skip workouts, or miss meals because you are solving others’ problems, you could quickly lose ground with your diet and exercise routine. Worthwhile self-care involves making time for yourself, doing things you enjoy, getting enough sleep, fitting in physical activity, and generally taking care of YOU!

Implement it: Set aside 15 or more minutes weekly for a self-check-in. Use the time to assess how you’re feeling, plan your week, and check your progress.

Tip #3: Employ positive coping techniques when under stress

Finding healthy ways to respond to stress can help prevent derailment with your diet and exercise goals. Instead of turning to food or drink to unwind, experiment with other ways to manage stress. For example, yoga, deep breathing, or walking in nature are healthy and rejuvenating ways to manage everyday stress.

Implement it: Choose a few stress-coping techniques for different situations. Incorporate two-minute stretch breaks and deep breathing between meetings, or try journaling at the end of the day to help unwind.

Tip #4: Check your progress on the scale

Do you avoid the scale when you derail your eating plan? It is human nature to intentionally avoid weighing yourself if you anticipate an upswing on the scale. Yet, research shows that regular weighing can be helpful when it comes to managing weight over the long term.

Research from the National Weight Control Registry showed that individuals who successfully managed their weight over time were honest with themselves regarding the scale. In fact, nearly 75% of the registrants weighed themselves at least once a week.

Take a deep breath, repeat some positive affirmations, and try checking your progress on the scale. Many people find even with lapses in their diet and exercise routine, they don’t gain as much as they had feared. If you find that checking your weight doesn’t support your efforts to get back on track with your diet, find other ways to measure progress, such as tracking exercise or body measurements.

Implement it: Pick a day and time to weigh yourself each or every other week. Ideally, weigh yourself first thing in the morning before showering and eating, without clothes, and after going to the bathroom. Consider choosing a few non-scale metrics to track, such as how your clothes fit or your success in the gym. Non-scale victories help you stay motivated when the scale isn’t budging or moves slowly.

Occasional setbacks are a normal part of managing weight over the long term. Hopefully, these tips have provided you with new insight into the essentials of how to get back on track with your diet and exercise routine. You’ve got this!