How To Get Back On the healthy Wagon

How To Get Back On The Healthy Wagon After You’ve Fallen Off

Basically, for the past two weeks, I’ve been packing, working, packing, working, and there hasn’t...

How To Get Back On The Healthy Wagon After You've Fallen Off

Basically, for the past two weeks, I’ve been packing, working, packing, working, and there hasn’t been much time for cooking or exercise.

Lu and I have been in overdrive for the past two weeks in order for our move to go smoothly (which it did – yay!) and within two weeks, I’ve fallen off the healthy wagon.

Today, I’m sharing my plan for getting back on the wagon, in hopes that it will inspire some of you to hop back on it with me!

But first, a What I Ate Today! Very apropos, since this was my first day back “on the wagon.”

What I Ate Today, May 2, 2017

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Breakfast

I was having the team from KIND come over for a Facebook live, so I made the quickest breakfast possible – my go-to oatmeal bowl, with blueberries, bananas, and drizzled sunflower butter. I’m loving Wild Friends’ Organic Honey Sunflower Butter.

Snack

Raw nuts! Same raw nut mixture I always have (pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews) with raisins. Loving Made In Nature’s organic raisins these days.

Lunch

Made a quinoa bowl! Roasted some heirloom carrots and served them with quinoa and a raw broccoli and kale salad (with a simple evoo + red wine vinegar dressing). After, I found an avocado from Friday in the fridge that was still good so I enjoyed it (about half) with some lemon juice, because #healthyfats.

Snack

An apple and then, I had a cup of Nature’s Path Organics cereal with almond milk, in a mug (I ate it so quickly and forgot to take a photo!)

Dinner

We haven’t cooked in for so long because of the move! We’ve been trying to order as healthy as possible, but it’s so hard! I feel like Jersey City is lacking healthy delivery options. I went with Rumi, a Turkish restaurant near us and I got chicken kabobs, veggie kabobs, falafel, and hummus and Lu and I split it all (he had rice with his, I went with a side salad.) We ate at our dining table for the first time as a couple (we didn’t have a dining table in our old place!)

Dessert

I didn’t take a photo, but we had Veggie Stix and grapes. Very random, but it’s all we had in the apartment! We are in desperate need of a grocery shop and are holding off until the weekend!

How To Get Back On The Healthy Wagon After You’ve Fallen Off

One of the most common questions I get is, “How do you get back on track after you’ve had a bad week or weekend?”

Many people (and I used to be one of them!) let their emotions takeover after they’ve fallen off track. I attribute this to taking their weight loss or health goals way too seriously – or treating them as a finite thing, not a forever lifestyle.

And full disclosure: over the past 2-3 weeks, I’ve fallen off the healthy wagon. It came out of nowhere – first, it started with some leniency on my diet, “Oh, I’m pregnant, it’s okay!” – which, by the way – is NOT okay. Yes, listen to your body, but if there’s anytime you should be your healthiest, it’s while you’re baking a human inside!

Anyway, a week of having chocolate every day (at least it’s healthy chocolate, I tell myself) and savory night-time snacking coupled with missed workouts and then about a week of ordering out every night for dinner because of our big move resulted in some extra weight gain.

You know you’re being unhealthy when you just don’t feel great from the inside. Then, you know you’re really doing damage when your skin starts to look flaky and dull and you start breaking out (for me, it’s all over my chin.)

Yes, I’m definitely craving sweets more than I ever have before because of the pregnancy and YES, I moved apartments and didn’t have much time for anything else but that for about a week, but still – there’s a fine line between gluttony and a lifestyle balancing act.

So what am I doing to get back on the healthy wagon now?

Take a step back and acknowledge you’ve fallen off the wagon

It’s okay to fall off the wagon. Life happens. For me, it was the stress of a big project I’m working on (coming soon!) and the move. All my energy was taken up by the move and I had nothing left in the tank for exercise and I happen to be a stress eater, so those two coupled together resulted in an unhealthy combo.

The most important part of getting back on the wagon is acknowledging that it happen and it’s okay. You’re not defined by the falls, you’re defined by how you get back up.

Get back on the wagon, but don’t go crazy

So, sit up, and get right back on the wagon. Don’t set any crazy restrictive plans or rules for yourself. In years past, I would have gone on a “cleanse” or just drank smoothies all day long. The truth is is that our bodies hate that – they feel shocked and it ends up being way less effective as it would be if you just resumed your normal healthy habits.

And whatever you do, don’t set a timeline like “On Monday, it starts!” Just resolve right then to get back into your healthy groove.

For me, it was Wednesday (today.) There’s no better time than the present!

I went to bed last night, after unpacking my last box, and said to myself “Ok. I’m done unpacking, we’re moved in, my kitchen’s all set up, there’s no more excuse not to eat healthy and get back on track.” Right then, I resolved to wake up early the next day, get a workout in, and then eat healthy for the rest of the day and make a healthy, nourishing meal for dinner – no more takeout.

Be consistent

After you’ve completed that day, wake up the next day and do it all over again. And repeat.  Take it day by day. Be consistent.

As you may know, I live 80/20 – 80% clean and 20% I let it rip. If that percentage ever starts to shift, I just have to reign it back in (like I’m doing it now.) And a little trick that helps me “jumpstart” getting back on track is committing to 4 super healthy days in a row. So, for me now, it would be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And yes, it’s the weekend – but think of it this way: your weekdays have been your weekends, if you’ve been over-indulging. So, you’ve had your fun – now treat your body like you should and nourish it! You’ve got a full life of weekends ahead of you.

The most important thing to remember is that healthy living is a lifestyle and if you’re following someone on Instagram that seems to eat perfectly healthy 24/7 with the most perfectly sprinkled chia seeds on their smoothie bowls every morning, let me let you in on a little secret: they don’t. They’re normal people too, they slip up, they just don’t talk about it (which is a problem in itself!)

Diet is more important than exercise

Similar to my tip about not going crazy (cleanses are so 2010), let your body ease itself into getting back on track. If you’ve really fallen off, maybe just commit to eating clean that day – skip another workout while you work on your diet. I do this a lot. For example, if my diet has really been full of junk and I just feel absolutely gross (are you familiar with the food coma? It’s a real thing!), I’ll skip another day at the gym and just focus on eating cleanly. I’ll wake up the next day, feeling so rejuvenated and energized and have a great workout.

At the end of the day, diet is more important than exercise – and it’s the harder one to master.

I find the healthiest way to “get back on the wagon” is to eat 100% vegan and drink lots and lots of water. It’s kind of like a “glow from the inside”plan. Animal protein just causes all kinds of inflammation and is harder to digest than a plant-based diet. I’ll usually try to eat plenty of hydrating vegetables and plenty of protein to keep full, like lentils, quinoa, and beans.

Love yourself

Above all else, love the person you are inside.

Who cares if you gained some extra pudge in April? You’re an amazing, unique, kind, smart, and inspiring person – and if you’re not, focus on that before you focus on your waistline. What matters most is that we lift people up around us, we contribute to this world, and we’re loving, good people.

STOP feeling guilty for gaining weight or “falling off the wagon.” There are so many other important things in this world. You’ll never be happy with yourself if you’re not a good person, at the end of the day – so that’s more important than a number on the scale or on your jeans.

I love you all and hope today’s post inspired some of you to get back on track – or at the very least, has inspired you to be a bit more kind to yourself.

Mother’s Day Sale – Inspiralizer

But before you go, did you know that there’s a Mother’s Day sale happening right now on the Inspiralizer?

The Inspiralizer by Inspiralized

My mother introduced me to spiralizing, so I’ll always think of my mother when I think about spiralizing! It’s the perfect gift for a mother (and perhaps paired with one or both of my cookbooks)

To grab the discount, enter code MOTHERSDAY17 when you check out on our shop and automatically receive $5.00 off your Inspiralizer!

Thank you for supporting Inspiralized, as always.

 

with love, Ali

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comments

  • Love this, thank you!
  • Amazing blog post and so relatable! Thank you for writing this!
  • Your message today was so timely. Although I've been off the wagon for months, your message clicked things in my brain that made me feel hopeful and ready to eat healthy. As busy as you've been, you somehow knew this message would be helpful to many of us. Thank you!
  • Thanks - this one is a keeper. Thank you for being relatable and honest:)
  • Hi Ali! Love following your journey! I've been trying to use your discount code to purchase an inspiralizer for my mom, but it doesn't seem to be working! I add it to my cart from your shop, enter the discount code MOTHERSDAY17 in the "Gift or Promo code" section, press the yellow arrow, but the price stays the same ($39.95 + $3.10 = $43.05). Am I missing a step? Thank you!
  • This is a great post and timely too! Thank you for your honesty.
  • Great post Ali. I keep hearing that a plant-based diet is the way to go but after so many decades of eating with meat at the centre I just can't seem to get started. Will have to go through your recipes again & your books & see what I can come up with.
    • There are so many resources on this online! I recommend replacing one meal a day with something entirely plant-based to start. And see how you feel! I'll tell you one thing, your digestion will improve tremendously!!
  • Great post, thanks! I am curious though. Care to share with us what constituted your unhealthy diet for those 2-3 weeks? Just curious. :)
    • Lots of sweets and large portions. Frozen yogurt and ice cream, dark chocolate, etc.
  • Love this post!! Thanks, Ali!
  • Hi Ali, what brand oatmeal do u eat? I want to make your breakfast.
  • Thanks. Great advice
  • We also just moved, and I did the exact same thing. You're so right with nutrition being most important and most challenging. Thank you for sharing what I needed, when I needed it :D You're inspiralizing!
  • Just what I needed to read, heading to the gym now and focusing on healthier choices today. Don't want to erase all the work and results gained...I needed a gentle kind push and thats just what your message gave me..as always Thank You..and best of luck to you and your growing family in your new space.
    • I am so happy to hear this - glad it was perfect timing!!
  • Great inspirational message. Thanks a lot. Can I find your other blogs somehow; I really liked the early ones in which you talked about setting goals and settng up your business. How did I miss the fact that you are moving? Bigger apartment?
  • Thanks for the kick to get back on the wagon myself! Is the Mother's Day sale over? The code doesn't seem to be working anymore.
  • I simply needed to say thanks all over again. I am not sure the things I could possibly have done without the type of smart ideas revealed by you regarding such a subject matter. It absolutely was a real frightful problem in my position, nevertheless discovering this expert style you managed it made me to jump over gladness. I will be grateful for this work and trust you are aware of an amazing job that you are putting in teaching many others using your web blog. I am sure you've never met any of us.
  • Hi. I happen to stumble upon this article you wrote while doing research as I too have gone off the wagon. Stress and major thing going on with my job has completely made me feel not caring what I'm putting in my body last two months. I was doing so well and lost over 50 lbs just going vegan on my own through research. Had 50 to go. What you just write especially the ending has tears rolling down my face. I am ready to start tomorrow Friday not Monday!! Ready to take control of my life and having food dictate it. Thank you so so much. So inspiring. Annette
    • Hi Annette! This is so fabulous to hear. We are so happy you found this post. You are on a life-long journey and you will stumble, but what's important is that you get back up and that's exactly what you're doing. You're choosing to make yourself a priority today and that's a HUGE accomplishment. You're a true champion. Don't ever hesitate to reach back out if you're ever feeling low and need some encouragement. We're here for you!!