Hitting the Reset Button

Here’s what has been on my mind this last week.

You know what stinks? After a long period of doing great...slipping. After working hard to reach a goal, then reaching more goals, to then suffer a setback. The progress you've made slips away slowly because of injury, being sick, or simply a break in your well orchestrated schedule. It's frustrating, depressing, and sadly easy.

That ever happen to you? Nah, me neither.

Riiight.

The funny thing is we all experience it of course, all too frequently. This last month has been a rough one physically, mainly with being sick for such a long time. Pretty sure my immune system has been lower both from my drug treatment effects and from the battles with sleep deprivation. Catching the cold was easier, the symptoms stronger, and that bugger just wouldn't go away.

Being sick, slowly I let some bad habits creep back in. I did my daily exercise, keeping to my routines, but couldn't quite do it as hard. That was reality. Sometimes we have to accept that's we just can't perform at the same level all the time.

Where the bad habits start to creep in for me is food. Nothing much, just a little of those comfort foods, and a little too much. A late night snack. Indulge in some of that free food at a morning meeting. Because I feel terrible and a full stomach makes it feel a little better. Really not that much, but quickly it became a daily thing.

That's the excuses winning.

So I'm up just a little weight. And by little I mean not much, just a few pounds. But with all the effort I've made over the last 8 months I can feel it. These days I can pretty much guess my weight within a pound just by how I feel. Sure the number on the scale doesn't matter that much, but for me it's a good measure and reminder of where I'm at.

Nothing huge but time for a reset. Correct the course. Hit the reset button.

So that's what I did, went back to my more rigid plan to get back on track as the cold finally started to recess. I'm starting to feel the upswing. Sleep is coming a little better. Not perfect but better. My energy is up and my workouts improving again. Monday I hit a new personal best in spin class for distance in the allotted class time, then matched it all week with Some extra effort. I skipped one day of yoga in exchange for some needed sleep, which was the right call for that day. All part of the reset.

Soft vs hard reset

Success is rarely if ever achieved in a straight line of effort and results. It's a roller coaster chart of ups and downs, but when done right continues an upward trend. The key is to keep those peaks and valleys smaller by making frequent corrections. Like when I'm teaching my daughter to drive right now. It's not about making big turns of the steering wheel, rather those small adjustments continually to keep on the right course.

I found this especially true when focusing hard on losing weight, and the same is true as I work to maintain weight while improving my overall fitness. It's easy to convince yourself it's just a plateau when really on a slight decline. We start to justify little things as not that big of. Deal given all our efforts. I've been doing so well this little snack won't hurt. I've earned this cheat meal, chest day, cheat...week. Taking a break is deserved after all that effort.

Suddenly you find it's been a couple of weeks of those justifications and now you've created a bad habit. Think how easy that was to do that versus what it took over a few weeks of creating a good habit? It sure doesn't seem fair.

This becomes less of an issue when we embrace the new person we want to be and have become. Enjoying what we want to be rather than what's easy or enjoyable to be at the moment. That's why we reset the little things as quickly as we can.

It's really not that bad, I'm just hyper focused on it and sharing my stream of thoughts every week

How can I tell? Really I'm still doing quite well relative to where I started. I'm talking about 3-5 pounds on any given day, but averaging about 3lbs more than I want to be. I'm still 50 lbs lighter than I was when I started, so feeling good about that, and my fitness is still really in a good place. Everything just a little softer. Especially my core. The trade off? My gut pain has been way down. Maybe this is where I need to be for my current situation. Something to consider as well.

With all my fitness efforts I will say I'm slowly regaining some muscle mass as well. That's good and I have to factor that into my weight change to some degree. But I'm also honest with myself. I know what's good and what's a result of some slippage. It doesn't matter what others see, it's what I know. While I have lofty goals, I also what to only achieve what I can maintain. This is about a healthy, active lifestyle. This is about choosing to live, and live well, to live right.

Don't wait to reset. Evaluate and Reset every day

You don't have to wait for the start of a year, month, week or even a day to reset. It's a state of mind and commitment to our goals that givens is the WHY we do things, so we rely on that motivation to make those continual changes. Evaluate every day and correct going forward.

Achieving new levels in small increments. Sometimes it takes little recoveries to then maintain again. As you get better the recovery times get shorter and it feels more like a straight line of achievement rather thus winding path of self correction.

So for me this is a reset after a few weeks of being sick and not performing at a level I want. This last week I hit it hard on Monday and felt great. By Wednesday I was already feeling better, but then had a couple of meals off my plan and felt it slipping again. So I hit the reset button again a couple meals were all shakes and salads to get back on track. Portion control under control. Better food choices. That's my effort and what puts be back on track.

You can do better. You're strong. You can do this. Get your head in the game. Go beyond. All these phrases I hear shouted in the middle of workout classes or just in my head as I look to push myself may be trite, but it's what pushes me to go further. To focus on my health in ways I can control and not think about the cancer treatment I can't control.

So that’s my current mantra. That’s what I’m working on to try and get things back in line where I was a few weeks ago before getting sick and letting a few bad habits peek back into my life.

Oh, and sorry about the cheesy photo. It looked better in my head but I wanted to post something with this note so that was the best I could come up with tonight!