🤪Do your fitness and/or nutrition plans ever get derailed by an “off” day…you just aren’t feeling right and/or things just aren’t going right?
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✅It’s ok to have an “off” day…shoot, it’s ok to have an “off” week!
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I’ve had to work hard to let go of my “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to fitness and nutrition.
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➡️In a sustainable lifestyle of fitness and nutrition, there is certainly space for “off” days or even “off” weeks. In fact, we should expect them!!!
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We are human, and part of the human experience is imperfection.
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We are not always going to feel our best and we are not always going to be able to stick with the plan. That’s ok! It’s in how we recover that sets the tone for the next days and weeks.
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➡️Rather than let an “off” day derail us from our plan completely, we can take a deep breath, exercise some self-compassion, and create a game plan for what tomorrow is going to look like.
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✅Here are three steps that have helped me recover from “off” days.
Acknowledge & accept the “off” day. My inner dialogue goes something like this, “Well, shoot, this is not going according to plan! Ok, this is an “off” day, and that is ok. I will re-group and create a plan for tomorrow. Let’s just finish the day and make the most of it as it is.”
Practice self-compassion. I like to take a deep breath and say, “Alright Ayla, today is not going as you would like it. That’s ok. Let’s think about what might be going on that will help us understand why things went sideways. There’s gotta be a good reason(s). You will recover from this.” I think practicing self-compassion also helps provide us with insight into what may have caused or influenced the “off” day, and that empowers us to make changes that will help prevent future “off” days…not completely, of course, but at least help minimize.
Use humor to recover. I find this last step really cathartic. Once I’ve identified what may have contributed to my “off” day, I usually find a way of poking fun at it. For example, if I have overbooked myself and not planned ahead for meals or snacks and/or a workout, I’ll say, “Well, s%&$! Not even Wonder Woman would have been able to hang with this schedule today…who planned this out anyway?!”
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➡️It’s ok to have an “off” day! We will recover. We will learn. We will come back stronger than before.
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