You Can Slip but don't Quit

Alan Marlatt, a psychologist from the University of Washington, said: "In any new learning challenge, you expect to make mistakes. When you're learning to ride a bike, you have slips and falls. If you're trying to learn a new language, you expect to make mistakes. The same principle applies to learning a new behaviour. What people think about lapses seems to make the biggest difference in how quickly they get back on track. People who recover quickly (from a lapse in eating), are people who don't think one mistake is a total failure. They don't turn it on themselves. They look at the situation that caused it instead.”

With so much going on in our lives, many of us tend to "lapse" in our eating & health plans. What we need to do when this happens is have a strategy for recovery to get back on track. The main thing is to analyze what has happened and don't criticize yourself for short-lived lapses in exercise or eating behaviours. By identifying the events that triggered the lapse, you not only learn about what caused it, but you quickly realize that was not a character flaw, but likely a situation or emotion that, at that time, was not preventable. YOU DO NOT SUFFER A CHARACTER FLAW! External events, for the most part, cause us to slip.

Now, it's important to develop a strategy for ‘recovery.' Talk to yourself. If we can believe the equation that weight gain is a problem of calories in & calories out, then what do you need to do? Should you increase your exercise, or is it simply that you have been eating too much and have to cut down on portion sizes for awhile? Don't tell yourself that you lack ‘self-control.' This statement has no meaning. You just have to set up a series of behaviours or habits that will turn things around. Make it simple. Have a smaller supper tonight, and then minimal or no evening snacks. Do this three days in a row and you will realize how quickly you can get back on track. Schedule a longer than normal exercise session this weekend; this will be motivation also. Rewrite your goals, or review them again. Remember what you accomplished when you first started, and go back to basics.

Around holidays we have little control over events around us that affect our desire to eat well or workout. Please don't criticize yourself. Just develop a strategy NOW to get back on track. You can do it!

Dr. Doug