Your Diet Failed. Now What?
Nothing hurts more than failure. It takes you off guard and can discourage you to the point of quitting, yet I see very little written about resiliency when it comes to fitness.
I struggle with resiliency in the face of adversity and failure. It’s very difficult for me to pick up and keep going if I don’t accomplish something that I set out to do. I’ve been extremely angry for hours over a lift in the gym that I missed. I’ve been dejected for days after a job interview that didn’t go well. Severe tendonitis (that was brought on by my own bad training decisions) forced me to change my entire career direction and sent me into a downward spiral that lasted for months and still affects me years later. I hate that feeling, but I know it’s inevitable for anyone who takes risks and tries something new.
Anything worth doing is worth risking failure over. Do enough worthwhile things, and it’s inevitable that one of them won’t work like you planned. Knowing how to handle these times is an extremely important skill, one that will serve you very well in all your pursuits.
Prepare for Failure
You will fail. Everyone fails, and you are not better than the rest of humanity. Life happens and sometimes you just can’t follow through. Harsh? It’s all in how you view things.
Stop resisting the idea of failure. Be ok with the knowledge that you will fail in something at some point. You won’t be as consistent as you need to be with your diet. You won’t get all the workouts in that you want to. Accept it. Stop fighting the idea that you are incapable of failure.
View failure as a means to success. Mom always said that we should learn from our mistakes, and this is very true. You can’t out-learn your ability to fail. Failure is another step in the process, along with every other experience, book, seminar, and anything else you do to bring yourself to your goals.
Failure shows you where to set your sights. Did you not meet your fat loss goal for the week? That’s ok; you have next week! Now, what happened? Did you stray from your nutrition plan? If so, why? What happened in your life? If you missed workouts, why? Here’s the tricky one: If you followed your plan to the letter and it didn’t work, what needs to be changed? Here’s where professional help is essential, but pros can get it wrong too. Trial and error is part of the process.
Eliminate Negative Self-Talk
Once you have accepted the possibility or reality of failure and come to peace with it, your next step is to eliminate all negative self-talk. Negative self-talk is anything you tell yourself that does not bring you closer to your goal. We all tell ourselves things that are not only untrue, but cause us to admit defeat when it is completely unnecessary.
Look for generalizations or simplifications. If you say you can’t stick with something, whatever it is, ask yourself, “Have I ever stuck with anything before?” Of course you have. Did you finish college? Find a job? Start a business? You have all the skills you need. You’re just applying them to something new.
It’s not enough to just eliminate the negative thoughts; replace them with positive thoughts. Turn negative statements around. For instance, “I can’t stick to a diet for 12 weeks” can become “I can stick to my diet today.” Do that every day for a couple months, and you made it. “This is too much work” is replaced with thoughts of all the benefits you’ll receive for a comparatively tiny investment.
Visualization for Success
When you fail, success seems distant and unreachable, but it’s not. Sit quietly and visualize where you want to be. It’s not enough to simply create a picture in your mind; connect the picture to an emotion. Do you want to win your weight class at your next powerlifting meet, or your age group at a 5K, or simply fit into an outfit you saw in the store the other day? First, imagine what it will be like to be in that situation. The sights, the sounds, the smells, how the bar will feel in your hands or the pavement beneath your feet or how the outfit will feel on you.
Next, what will you feel like emotionally? Will you be intimidated? Scared? Elated? Focus on that emotion, however positive or negative it may be, then conquer it. For example, if you know you will nervous to try on that outfit because your fat loss efforts have failed in the past, accept that emotion. Be ok with the fact that you’re nervous. Then, imagine none of those fears being realized, and being replaced by the feeling of success. When you have succeeded at something before, remember how accomplished you felt, the pride you felt from achieving your goal. Now feel that emotion in your future circumstance.
I’ve given you some tools to increase your resiliency in the face of adversity or failure. These are by no means the only tools available to you, but this is a great place to start.
If you’re looking for a fitness trainer in the Mt Juliet/Hermitage/Nashville TN area, online fitness training, or just need some advice to get your fitness program started, contact me