Are you currently stuck in a health rut? You just can’t seem to get the motivation to get back on track after a vacation or a holiday weekend and you’re stuck in that vicious cycle.
Or maybe your health rut has been going on for a long time….like a year or more because of kids, stress, lack of sleep, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, etc. and now here you are with no energy to even begin getting it together. I can very much relate as this was me a few years ago.
Short Term vs. Long Term Health Ruts
Let’s quickly talk about the difference. You may fall into a short-lived health rut during the holidays or post-vacation when you’ve fallen out of routine with your health habits. However, you typically pull yourself out of it and get back on track but sometimes those bad habits linger and compound and you find yourself a month later still eating ice-cream every night like you were doing on vacation & you just can’t seem to break the habit.
Long term health ruts (like what I was in for 2 years!) happen when a series of things compound over time (stress, lack of sleep, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, etc.) and you find yourself so deep in a health rut that you have no idea how to begin climbing out of it. You have no desire to eat healthy, you’re too tired to care or to even go for a walk. Before you know it you now have all of these symptoms and you never feel good. You’ve been to the to doctor just for them to tell you that you’re fine and you just need to start taking better care of yourself. Easier said than done, right?
I experienced this firsthand when I went to the doctor because I never felt well and I was getting sick all of the time. This is where medical doctors are often missing the mark - so much disease could be prevented if patients were provided the tools to heal their bodies from the inside out with proper nutrition instead of taking the quick fix of a pill. I could have left that appointment with meds for anxiety & my migraines but I wasn’t about to go down the road of just covering up the root of the problem. (Ultimately it was my gut that needed support and was the key to getting my life back).
Luckily for me I dodged the autoimmune bullet by taking my health into my own hands and seeking the help of a holistic practitioner that nailed down exactly what was going on with me and helped me to correct it in just 30 days through diet & proper supplementation.
If you are in a serious health rut (I'm talking haven't felt good in years & you're dealing with lots of symptoms) this is not something to brush under the rug and think that it will just go away on its own and someday you'll muster up the motivation. Understand that if you don’t address your health now, you are setting yourself up for disease later. This is important and you deserve to feel good and live life to its fullest! If you have children, the greatest gift you can give them is your health. Don’t take years away from your kids because you feel selfish for focusing on yourself. You're not being selfish for taking the time to heal your body from the inside out. You have one life - live it well! You CAN do this.
Let’s start simple today. Here are 3 things you can do to begin getting back on track with your health. Baby steps. Don’t try to be a hero, k?
1) Work on Your Mindset
I put this as number one because it is the most important of the 3 tips. You are stuck right now because of your mindset. Pay attention to your inner dialogue. Here’s what’s probably happening in your head:
Before bed: “Ugh. I sucked today. I ate crap, I didn’t go for that walk I said I was going to take. We got take out again. Tomorrow I’m getting up early, making a healthy breakfast & doing a 30 minute work out. Tomorrow is the day!” *Set alarm for 6 am.*
Alarm goes off: Hit snooze. Hit snooze again. Turn off alarm. Wake up an hour later. Drink coffee - get distracted and start doing random things. Look at the clock and realize it’s 11 am and you need to shower. Haven’t eaten breakfast yet so you grab a granola bar or your kids leftover donut. “Ugh! I did it again. I’m not going to workout now that I’ve showered, I forgot to thaw the chicken last night for dinner so take out it is again & since I already ate crap today, what’s the point in even trying now?”
Can you relate to this? The number one thing you need to do is stop talking to yourself negatively & re-frame your thoughts! It’s hard to do, I know, but one of the ways that you can overcome this negative self talk is to start and end your day with positive statements that embody what you want to become. Speak them as if they’ve already happened.
Here are some examples:
I wake up energized & ready to take on the day.
I am healthy & happy.
I feel fit & strong.
I eat foods that nourish my body.
I am focused & motivated.
I am calm and in control.
When you catch yourself speaking negatively or feeling like a failure, remind yourself that the journey of being healthy is not about perfection - it’s about moving forward and not staying stuck when you get off track.
2) Read or listen to something health related.
Read something health related that you’re dealing with. I find that understanding what’s happening inside my body can motivate me to stop a bad habit. For example, understanding what gluten was doing to my gut was a great motivator for keeping it out of my diet and it resulted in getting rid of my migraines, which was huge.
Find an article, blog, book, podcast, Instagram account…anything! Read or listen to something everyday so that it’s top of mind. If you know your mindset is a big part of it, listen or read things related to overcoming mindset blocks in your health. Youtube is a great place to start.
Need some motivation? Check out some of my other blog posts or download my free guide below.
Blog Post: 3 Reasons Why You're Exhausted All the Time
3) Take a SMALL action
Nothing will keep your more stuck in your health rut than overwhelm. I would try to go all in with a new workout routine & vowing to eat healthy & guess what? I failed every.single.time. Why? Because I was setting myself up for failure! Here I was with no energy & feeling like garbage and I was trying to be a hero and do it all. I was trying to meal prep 5 days worth of food & take on a new workout routine all while trying to get up earlier to fit it in. It was too much at once. If this is you and you’re failing over and over - stop!
This is a time to take baby steps. Don’t try to focus on everything at once. My suggestion is to focus on your mindset first, then food and then exercise last. When you begin to feel better, you will feel more motivated to want to exercise.
Also, don’t make your focus on weight loss if you have weight to lose. That will come with time and with the small changes you’re making to your lifestyle. The focus should be on slowly changing your habits to begin to feel better.
The other aspect to this is that you have to take action even though you don’t want to. When it came time for me to address my poor eating habits the last thing I wanted to do was cut caffeine, sugar, dairy & gluten BUT I knew that my body needed a reset & that those foods were not serving me. In fact, those foods were keeping me in my health rut & making me feel awful!
You can control so much just with the foods you choose to put in your body. I never knew what my energy levels would be and my days would fall apart in an instant because of what I chose to eat for lunch. Knowing what makes you feel good & fuels your body is a game changer.
By the way, you don’t have to write off certain foods for life but your body does need a break and your gut needs a chance to heal. It can’t heal if you keep putting inflammatory foods in your body. You can accomplish a lot in just 30 days of focusing on what you eat.
So when it comes to taking small steps, pick your focus & then shoot for ONE thing the next day that will get your closer to that goal & repeat for at least a week until if feels more routine. Then, add something else.
If you're feeling like there's more to your health struggles, then it's time to start figuring out your root causes. Click here to learn more about my 1:1 program where we will uncover & address what is truly at the root of your chronic symptoms and health struggles.