31 Days of Weight Loss Tips: Day 22 Chill Out

Photo by Dawn on Flickr

So you ate a donut yesterday and you missed a workout last week and you picked up a candy bar while standing in the checkout lane at the grocery store. So what. Chill out and relax.

Don't beat yourself up about being perfect and never missing a workout or ever eating anything bad . When you're trying to adopt healthier habits, it's not about perfection -- it's about making improvements. Because, let's face it, there will be slip ups.

The goal is to gradually make more good choices than bad.

I've had a lot of clients that felt like, if they missed one workout or if they broke down and ate fast food, that it was over  -- as if they lost the battle and were doomed to be unfit and unhealthy forever.

It is unrealistic to think you can take years and years of bad habits and change them overnight, no matter how motivated and determined you may be.

If you're overly excited about a weight loss or fitness program, you are only setting yourself up for failure. Yup, that's right.

How many people do you know that have been really excited about getting in the gym come the first of the year? They've gone out, gotten a gym membership, new shoes, new clothes, gadgets even -- only to completely fall off not even a month into the program.

My advice is to be realistic and understand that making changes takes time. Don't buy into the hype of all the magazines promising you can get abs in 30 days or drop 10 pounds in a certain amount of time. It's different for everybody. Just take things slow. If you slip up, don't get down on yourself -- just immediately pick right back up. And by all means, don't make a bad situation worse by having one slip turn into weeks of not even trying.

Making fitness improvements is definitely a long-term endeavor. Relax. Take one day at a time and eventually you'll reach your goals. The key is to never give up, be realistic and strive to make more good choices than bad.