Off track? It's Okay! Now get moving.

I make sure to blog on the day BEFORE i weigh in. Honestly, I don't want to have my time here impacted by the fact that i lost, gain or just held steady. As I've said before - this is not a sprint and so there will be some parts of the pathway that you move along easily, and others that will be more challenging. That's what I'm writing about today - those little excursions you might take that lead you away from your intended path.

So some weeks - you'll not lose weight because such and such happened. I've had an off week. And even though I haven't weighed and measured yet - I'm just expecting an off week in terms of weight loss/inches. BUT i'm okay with it.

WHAT?!?! you say??

Here's the thing - life happens. You can prepare as much as you want, and sometimes things just don't go your way. But that doesn't mean you should give up. It's so easy to have an off day or week and just say "to heck with this, it's not worth it."

PLEASE - Don't do this! Did you quit your job because you got a project that was hard or took more time than you wanted it to? Did you ever consider for a moment putting your kid up for adoption because despite all your efforts they just didn't meet your expectations?

So why are you being so hard on yourself when you aren't coming down equally as hard in other areas of your life? That's right - it's OKAY to mess up sometimes. Repeat that. Say it out loud. Do one better and tell someone else - because i'm telling you right now - It's okay to have a couple of off days.

What is NOT okay to do is give up on all the good work you've already put in just because it gets a little tough or your get sidetracked. Even if you just started to get serious about working out again, or eating healthy - maybe day one was great and day two was hard. It's OKAY!!!

I have never (and anyone who DOES tell you this is wrong) said that getting healthy is easy. It's a challenge. It requires time, effort, dedication, support and you know what else? It requires forgiveness.

So - if you haven't done this yet, I'm recommending that you take a moment out of your life today or this weekend and write yourself a letter. Here's mine. Give yourself permission to move forward. Tell yourself that what's in the past is in the past, and even though it'll be tough - you can forgive and forget. Move on toward who you really want to be. Forgive yourself. And keep forgiving yourself in this journey - but just make sure that you don't start making excuses for not getting back on track again.

Making excuses and forgiving yourself are TWO different things. So you ate a cookie, you enjoyed a piece of birthday cake, you had more wine or beer than you really should have. Okay - what's done is done. Start now - i mean RIGHT NOW! And do better.

Don't dwell on it. Acknowledge that you messed up - pull it together and eat something better for dinner tonight. Add an extra workout to your week. Do something positive for your body in return. It will say "thank you" even if the scale is a little evil on this week's weigh in day.

Keep moving. Literally. This can't be a journey if you aren't actually moving on way, shape or form!