Dragging your feet to fitness?

If you’ve lost the motivation to work out and eat right, you’re not alone, but it’s time to get back on track

A healthy lifestyle routine can be an amazingly exhilarating experience, until it comes to an abrupt end.
Falling off the wagon where your diet and fitness are concerned is something that happens to the best of us, but human nature dictates that jumping back on can truly be torturous. Top it off with feelings of guilt and self-loathing and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster that’s often difficult to reverse.

The spectrum of discipline involved in mastering healthy choices like cooking all your meals or waking up early for a run is something that takes many people years to accomplish, but when it unravels it can feel like a quick slip down that mountain of achievement.

What is it about motivation that makes it so hard to rediscover once its gone? One day we’re grilling lean chicken breasts served on the side of quinoa and carrots, and the next we’re manically sifting through the take-away menus trying to decide between pizza and burgers. 

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Like countless other fitness enthusiasts, I’ve fallen into this trap in recent months, indulging myself daily and skipping gym sessions, once the most important part of my day.

I went from lean and mean fighting machine to couch surfer in less than a week, and once the cycle of laziness kicks in, it can feel almost impossible to recover from it.

Lethargy and low-energy will inevitably kick in once your health routine breaks apart. With each day that passes, you’ll be making promises to yourself to start fresh, but it just doesn’t happen. Then comes a day of reckoning.

Anyone who has gone through this experience will tell you that the hardest part is starting again. But in order to get back on track, you’ll need to get organised and reset your priorities.

The key to success is starting off small, making small changes that won’t overwhelm you into failure. If eating habits are out of whack for all your meals, try ensuring that at least one part of your day will consist of healthy options.

Instead of rushing back into your daily workout sessions, make time for at least one day a week. Once your body and mind catches up with your willpower, you’ll start to wonder how you could have let yourself go.