WHEN STRESS IS RUINING YOUR HEALTH AND WELLNESS GOALS

It’s happened to all of us. We start a new exercise routine. We start making changes to our eating habits. We might even be going to a coach or trainer, joined an exercise group, or signed up for a weight loss program.

And then LIFE happens. Work becomes more demanding. The kids’ schedules go into over-drive. Someone in your household gets sick.

STRESS.

It comes at you like a freight train and knocks you on your butt. When you once had time to plan meals, go shopping and do meal prep, take regular walks and do strength training exercises – you’re now having to run to a fast-food place on your way to a ball game because it’s all you have time for. And forget about walking because you’re not getting home until it’s the kids’ bedtime.

Your time and energy are being sucked away by other issues, and your health journey has gone off the rails.

BUT!

There are ways to get your wellness back on track!

The first way to help yourself is to: Identify the Stress Early. When you become stressed out and overwhelmed, it’s very easy to just stop. In fact, it’s completely human nature to do so. We revert back to our old patterns of unhealthy eating and crashing onto the couch because it’s comforting, familiar, and safe. We KNOW that pint of ice cream is going to make us “feel better”, and binge watching the latest Netflix series is going to distract us from what’s truly upsetting us.

That’s why it’s important to identify what’s stressing you out as quickly as possible. If you’re making excuses for not going to the gym, cancelling on your exercise group, or reaching for the cookies instead of an apple, it’s important to recognize the behavior as soon as it starts to be able to get a handle on it quickly. The faster you realize you’re doing it (skipping out or reverting), the faster you can check yourself.

The second way to help yourself is to: Work On Stress Management Like You Would Any Other Healthy Habit. Maybe shoot for feeling 1 percent better about what’s stressing you out. That might mean screaming into a pillow, taking a hot shower, sitting in your car for 5 minutes in silence or with your favorite song blasting. You can write out all the things freaking you out, go for a short walk, do breathing exercises, or pray.

Even the little things can take some of the pressure off and give you a much needed mental and physical break. And that little break might make the difference between grabbing the cookies or grabbing a piece of fruit.

The third way to help yourself is to: Stop Being a Jerk – to YOURSELF! The number one factor in whether you succeed or fail to meet your health and wellness goals is how you talk to yourself. If you’re constantly belittling yourself (OMG – that was SOOOO stupid! Why did I eat that cheesecake?! I’m never going to lose this next 5 pounds!), it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to change.

A good way to help with this is to be brutally POSITIVE to yourself. Give yourself a HUGE mental high-five when you snack on the baby carrots and hummus instead of the chips and dip. Like, brag on Facebook! Celebrate all the little victories, no matter how tiny, because they are going to add up to BIG changes along the way.

Another good strategy is to Re-Frame the negative talk, or at least acknowledge it. Catching yourself in the act of beating yourself up is step one. But then it’s time to recognize it and either a.) Just move on, or b.) Re-Frame it to a positive. If you can’t turn those negatives into positives yet (re-framing), then it’s still a good next move to acknowledge that you are being negative to yourself and lessen its sting.

The fourth way to help yourself is to: Meet Yourself Where You’re At. That means when the stress hits, the habits start to slide, and you’re getting caught in a mental downward spiral, it’s time to take a breath and regroup. Just because you haven’t followed your exercise routine for a couple of weeks doesn’t mean fitting in a 10 minute walk is a waste of time. It’s time to focus on what you CAN get done/fit in/make work rather than what you can’t. Adjust your goals to fit your current circumstances. If 10 minutes is all you’ve got (mentally or physically), that’s okay. Once things settle again and you’re able to increase your time, or prep healthier meals, then go for it.

And to be honest, sometimes you just need a break. When my kids were younger, there was one year when all three of them had the flu – puking, fever, cough, the whole thing. I was in pure survival mode. I didn’t care what I ate, if I exercised, I was lucky to get a shower. It took almost a month from the time they first got sick – the week and a half it took for all of them to recover, and the next two and a half weeks of catching up on the cleaning, dishes, laundry, etc. – before I was able to think clearly enough to focus on my own health again.

At times like that just have empathy for yourself, know it’s okay to be where you are and you’ll get back on track when you can. No shame. No blame. Priorities shift, and then shift again. But you will get there.