How To Get Back On Track With Your Health & Fitness Goals
Wondering how to get back on track with your health and fitness goals? Here are helpful tips from a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach.
Hello!
Welcome to Ironwild Fitness.
My name is Chantal and I’m a mom, personal trainer, nutrition coach, and the owner of this site. 🙂
I’m glad you’re here!
In this post, I can’t wait to share how I get myself back on track when I get off track with my health and fitness goals.
Oh, you didn’t think that personal trainers fell off the wagon?
Well, I am not a regular personal trainer, you see.
Unlike many other people in the fitness industry, I got into personal training and nutrition coach because I needed help – not because I was a fitness fanatic.
Yep, you read that right.
I was seriously struggling with my weight and postpartum depression after having my first baby.
I hadn’t grown up playing sports, and I didn’t have a lot of healthy habits.
Not having had regular exercise experience and not knowing what it can do for you, I struggled to be healthy mentally and physically.
After trying everything in my power to lose weight and feel healthy (including antidepressants and extreme diets), I hired a personal trainer in hopes of learning what to do in the gym.
Long story short, I fell in love with fitness and its power to change my day – from my mood and self-esteem to my sleep and personal physique.
I eventually decided to become a personal trainer to learn more about exercise science for my own personal gain and accountability.
So, the point is that I didn’t really get into fitness with this amazing lean physique and a ton of really healthy habits.
Also, just because you’re a personal trainer and have a lot of knowledge regarding exercise science and nutrition, that doesn’t mean you won’t struggle with bad habits, mood disorders, and life in general.
Even though I have built some really great healthy habits, I still struggle with staying on track from time to time.
While it may be easy for some trainers and people who grew up with fitness in their lives, it is still one of the first things to go when life throws me a curveball, and I get stressed out.
Luckily, I have learned a lot about myself and have come to know my own personal triggers and patterns, so now I’m able to get back on track more quickly.
(I’m a huge advocate for mindset and self-awareness work when you’re trying to level up your life.)
Anyhow, I hope that this little story helps you understand where I’m coming from.
This article about how to get back on track with your health and fitness goals after losing your way comes from a ton of experience.
I know it’s not easy.
Everyone (and I do mean everyone) falls off the wagon sometimes.
The most important thing is not to let it drag you down and to get back to it as soon as you can, and that’s what this post is all about.
It’s not about avoiding mistakes and regular life stuff altogether; rather, getting back up more quickly when you get knocked down.
Got it?
Alright then.
Let’s get to my top tips on how to get back on track with your fitness goals – no matter how long it’s been.
How To Get Back On Track With Your Health & Fitness Goals
1. Acknowledge The Mistake
To move forward, it’s important to identify and acknowledge that something went wrong. When you do this, you not only hold yourself accountable but you create the mental and emotional space to move on.
So, if you’re ready to get back on track with your health goals, it’s important to figure out where you went wrong.
Did something stressful or emotional send you off the deep end? Did you let a life event knock you down a few pegs too many?
Figure out where you think you went wrong, then forgive yourself. The more quickly you can do this, the faster you can get back on track, and the more it will help you if it ever happens again.
I am one of those people who believe that every failure holds a lesson. The sooner you can adopt that mindset, the sooner you can reset your trajectory.
2. Evaluate Your Habits
To really get back on track, you will need to evaluate your habits. This will help you later when it’s time to set goals, but it will also help you become more accountable for your own actions.
I like to take inventory of myself in terms of which things are moving me closer to my goal, and which things are moving me further away from it.
Make a list of the things you’re doing that you think are unhealthy habits and the things you think are healthy.
Later, your goal will be to eliminate the unhealthy habits one at a time.
Here’s a list of healthy habit ideas if you need a little inspiration.
3. Start Small
If you’re anything like me, you have attempted to majorly overhaul your life and quit all of your bad habits cold turkey before, only to crash and burn.
Doing that really backfires, and since I know that, I always stress the importance of starting small to my clients. If you don’t, you risk injury, binge eating, self-esteem problems, and self-sabotage in general.
To avoid that, you have to learn to be patient and start small. It’s important if you want to protect your mindset. I call it protecting yourself from yourself.
So, what do I mean by starting small?
Well, you could start with the habit list you made earlier. Choose just one or two of the unhealthy habits and start working on those a little at a time.
Sometimes, I like to start with just nutrition or just exercise for a week or two, then add in a bit more.
When I say small, I do mean small.
For example, perhaps you choose to focus on getting to 10,000 steps per day every day of the week. Or maybe you choose to focus on getting 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. Maybe you set a protein-intake goal of 100 grams and track that daily.
Either way, the idea is to choose to redirect in an achievable way.
This way, you have small wins that give you the motivation and momentum to keep moving forward.
That brings me to my next tip.
4. Set Realistic Goals
If you’re serious about learning how to get back on track with your health and fitness goals effectively, you’ll need to set goals.
If you don’t set specific and realistic goals, your odds of reaching your health goals are just about as high as winning the lottery.
You’re just taking shots in the dark if you don’t set them!
However, your goals should always be S.M.A.R.T. (That is, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.)
Your goals should be achievable, have a time frame attached to them, and be realistic for you personally.
Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for failure again.
So, what does that look like?
Here are a few examples:
- Go for a ten-minute walk after dinner 20 times per month, or 5x per week.
- Be able to run a 5k without stopping in three months.
- Be able to do a full plank for 2 minutes in one month.
Give yourself a deadline, be super specific, but be realistic. Then break down the goal into the actions you need to get there and get to work.
5. Make Yourself Accountable
Being accountable is tough because it forces you to look in the mirror and accept the fact that only you are responsible for your success.
Goal-setting will help you with accountability, but there are a number of other ways to be more accountable.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to be more accountable:
- Use a habit tracker to practice building better daily routines
- Enlist or tell a friend about your journey
- Start journaling and focus on self-reflection
- Join a new fitness program or gym
- Hire a personal trainer or nutrition coach (it’s the best thing I ever did!)
Not everyone will be like me and start a fitness blog to chronicle their journey. 🙂
However, there are plenty of ways to be more accountable. Choose one of them, or you’re choosing to struggle more than you should. Sorry.
6. Educate Yourself
I’ve found that one of the best ways to get back on track with fitness is to educate yourself. That’s because it empowers you to test out your new knowledge.
Every time I take a new class or certification, I’m eager to implement what I’ve learned. That knowledge usually propels me in the right direction because I’m excited.
Then, that knowledge compounds, and I am able to make smarter decisions for my health long-term.
So – take a nutrition class, read a book about exercise science, get a new certification…you get the idea!
7. Adjust Incrementally
Once you’re mature enough to do this, it’s a total game-changer.
We’ve talked about it a bit already, but when you’re ready to increase the frequency, intensity, or overall commitment to your health, it’s essential that you do it incrementally.
It can be tempting to go hard to reach the next level quickly, but you really should fight the urge to go that route.
Not only will you risk injury, but it can also cause stress-related hormonal changes that will work against your goals if they are weight or gains-related.
In other words, if you don’t want to crash and burn, change your goals slowly and only after you’ve successfully reached smaller ones.
You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon without training for months ahead of time, right?
Adjust your expectations to reach long-term goals instead of superficial, short-term ones, and it will make your journey much smoother. 🙂
8. Address Mindset & Emotions
This is what I call the “missing piece” of the fitness world. Many trainers and coaches are overly focused on tracking food and building workout programs, but they don’t address the real problem.
For almost every single one of my clients, the mental and emotional obstacles are bigger problems than food and exercise.
Emotional eating, mood disorders, self-esteem issues, and stress are the most common “speedbumps” the women I encounter struggle with.
Any trainer can put you through a workout or tell you to eat more protein, but until you address the inner issues that make you self-sabotage, you may never be able to stick to the plan.
Therefore, it’s extremely important to work on mindset, self-care, stress control, and that whole component of health.
If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry. This has been my biggest struggle personally, so I’ve written about it extensively. Check out these articles if you need a little help in this area:
9. Try Something New
Still wondering how to get back on track with your health and fitness goals?
As I’ve gotten older, I have come to accept that humans change – a lot. Our interests change, our nature changes, our needs change, and our seasons change.
In different seasons of our lives, we will simply need different things.
For example, I used to be a diehard gym rat. I was at the gym doing HIIT workouts 4-6 days per week for years.
But then I found myself fatigued and burnt out. My weight plateaued, I was losing hair, and I just felt weak.
Long story short, I had adrenal fatigue and a hormonal imbalance. (I found this out with blood tests; read more about estrogen dominance here.)
Anyhow, in my case, it basically means that I had low energy and a flatlined adrenal system.
What caused it? Stress to the body.
All those years of dieting and high-intensity workouts may have been keeping my muscle mass intact, but they were also stressing my body out.
Come to find out, when you reach a certain age, low-impact and low-stress workouts can work wonders for your hormones. So, now that I’m a little older, I do a lot more walking and weight lifting without the super-high energy, high-stress part.
I was forced to pivot to keep working on my goals, which made me try something new.
But sometimes you just have to try something new to find what you love and enjoy the journey.
Furthermore, you may have to give up things you once enjoyed to accommodate your overall health needs.
I loved high-energy PUMP and ZUMBA classes at one point in time and would love to do them again, but at this point in time, they just aren’t what my body needs.
The takeaway is that you don’t have to do the same thing all of the time. In fact, I highly recommend that you try something new to keep the fire burning and keep it interesting.
10. Practice Self-Care
You’re right to believe that exercise is a form of self-care, but there are a lot of other ways to take care of yourself.
(I hate to break it to you, but extreme exercise is NOT self-care if it will leave you burnt out or at risk for injury.)
Remember how we talked about the importance of mindset and emotional health for physical health?
Well, I’m a huge advocate for protecting those things with self-care. The fact is that if you don’t practice some forms of self-care, you likely won’t realize that you’re on the brink of burnout until it’s too late.
So, what does self-care look like? I’d argue that it’s different for everyone.
Self-care can be pampering yourself with spa days, or it can mean saying “no” to social gatherings that might stress you out.
That’s it! 🙂
Thank you for visiting my article about how to get back on track with your health and fitness goals.
If you’re ready to take things a step further and want extra support with simple, realistic nutrition, be sure to check out my Ultimate Nutrition Printables Bundle. It’s packed with easy-to-use tools to help you stay on track, feel confident about your food choices, and build healthy habits!
Until next time,
Chantal from Ironwild Fitness
