#137: Overindulged over the holidays? 5 tips & mindset tools to release guilt & get back on track ASAP
Over-indulged over the holidays? Fell away from some of your healthy habits and feeling a bit 'bleh'?
So did most people!
In this episode, I to explain why it's actually a GOOD thing to over-indulge at times and provide you with 4 other extremely helpful and motivating tips to help you release any guilt, move forward and start the year RIGHT with the right mindset and strategy to get back into your healthy habits and feel better ASAP!
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This is my first episode to kick off the year for you. I did a bonus one, which I released on Monday this week, but I made it a bonus because it was more so about dreams and goal setting as it relates to any area of your life. I really reflected on my journey to buying my dream home and all of the mindset tips, tools and hacks that I have used to really build my dream business, where I'm changing thousands of lives around the world and have been able to move into my dream home as a result of that. So if you're interested in listening to a podcast like that to really inspire you for the year, I would highly recommend listening to Episode #136: (BONUS) The Tools & Mindset Shifts That've Lead To Buying My Dream Home & How Your Dreams Can Come True Too.
This one is getting straight into health because I know that so many of you would have had a holiday like I did and maybe you might have overindulged a bit or fallen off track with some of your healthy habits, so if that is you, I am here to be your words of encouragement and help you release any guilt from that period, if you have any, and then also give you some tips about how to get back on track easily and in the best way possible.
I'm going to go through five tips today to really set you up with the right mindset for the year in terms of your health and release any guilt from that holiday period because I know it's inevitable. So many people overindulge over that period. Even though I release lots of content on my Instagram and in my programs, I help so many women in so many other ways. I really help you before holidays start to help you eat with balance, but then of course, after the holidays, not everyone is going to keep that balance.
Even myself, I probably gained about a kilo. I never get on the scales. I don't think I've been on the scales for over five years because I don't really believe in them. I just know with my clothes and how I feel, so if my clothes start to become a tiny bit tighter, I know I've gained about a kilo and then I just reign it in a tiny bit without any guilt and that is because I had a bit more alcohol. I took nine days off from the gym. I just did some long walks and probably less long walks than I'm used to. For me, that's it, that two weeks, I was exhausted, I can't even explain. I'm sure a lot of you would relate to this if you had a busy year last year as well, but the busier I am, sometimes it affects my sleep and in the last couple of months of last year, with all the rentals going on at the same time as work being really busy, I was exhausted. So I just really had to listen to my body and be horizontal for a lot of it.
I went down south with my family and spent a lot of time with my best friend who lives down there and my goddaughter who's just over two and she's so freaking cute at the moment. I can't even explain and I just really enjoyed just eating beautiful food, drinking a little bit more alcohol than I would normally drink, and just really listening to my body and not doing much exercise at all and that's probably why I gained about a kilo, because I don't normally drink that much, even though I didn't drink excessively at all. I had a couple of casual drinks, and there were a couple of parties thrown in there where I had more than a couple, of course and that's enough for me personally to gain a kilo, but zero guilt about it, and that's what I'm going to get into.
If you've gained a kilo or maybe you've gained five, whatever you have, maybe don't get on the scales. If you have already, it's too late, it's done, but I don't really recommend scales much at all with measuring your progress, because I just feel like it can put you in a negative mindset and there's not really any point. I think it's so much better to go off how your clothes fit and how you're looking and not be ruled by a number on the scales.
Before I get into the podcast, I haven't done this for a while, I just really want to thank the people that leave reviews on this podcast, because if you leave even just a rating, if you hit the five stars, even better, if you leave a review, it's really how you can support me back. I'm doing this podcast to help you and the way that you can support me back and in turn help other women is to leave me a rating and review because that's how other women come across the podcast and find me and want to listen themselves. So if you have time, all I'm asking is to just pause this podcast or wait until the end and make sure you leave me a five star rating and review if you enjoy this episode or just if you're enjoying the podcast.
I just want to read out two of the latest ones to really thank you. This one is from Shelby and she has said - “I've just found this podcast and have been binge listening. So many good hacks. It's so hard to find eating plans that help you lose weight, but are good for your gut health at the same time. I love it”. Thank you so much, Shelby.
Now this one is from Julie Dev and she has said - “I'm just in the last two days of the 3 Week Body Reset and this introduction to a new way of life, in conjunction with this podcast has really helped me get the most out of my three weeks. Listening in the car and on my walks has really helped me stay in the zone and very much changed my relationship with food in general. Bec has some great tips and knowledge to share and is clearly very passionate. I'm successfully losing weight after hitting the dreaded menopause when nothing else was working. I feel amazing. My aches and inflammation are gone and I'm convinced this will be my new way of life moving forward. Thanks Bec, you've nailed the brief”. Thank you so much, Julie. That is literally my dream. You are the person that I want to help. I really love helping the woman that has tried everything in the past with nothing working and not only that, I like to help women get results, but also want to keep it up for life because there's not many diets out there that do that. I truly believe that the way you lose weight should definitely be the way that you keep it off, so it has to be an enjoyable, sustainable and realistic approach because otherwise you do something for the long term and you just want to go back to your old way of life and then you end up regaining the weight and that's what causes all the yo-yo dieting that is just so prevalent in the world. I really try every single day to change that for you. That is my mission to really end the yo-yo dieting and help you guys find food freedom so that you can get results and keep them off and feel really amazing.
I'm so glad that this podcast in conjunction with the 3 Week Body Reset has helped Julie and so many other women around the world. If you would like to also join, you can just go to my website www.healthwithbec.com. The 3 Week Body Reset is Step 1. If women get results from that, I have my membership, which is called the Health with Bec Tribe, which helps you continue on with the “diet” and turn it into a sustainable lifestyle because you can't learn enough in only three weeks, but it's such a great starter for women.
Also, if you are new around here, welcome! If you're not already following me, I share so many other tips, behind the scenes, motivation etc. I share things about my business and a little bit about my personal life at the moment. I'm sharing a lot about my new house that I've just bought and I'm renovating, which so many of you are loving, which has surprised me because it's nothing to do with health, but thank you for sharing in the excitement with me. So if you're not already following me over on Instagram, I am @health_with_bec. I would love you to come over and become my friend there as well.
So I'm going to be running through five tips to help you release the guilt if you have overindulged over the festive period and also share why it's actually a good thing in some ways to do this. After this podcast, I really hope that you end up not feeling guilty and feeling really positive and excited to take the right steps forward for your health this year.
The first thing that I want to talk about is that food isn't just about calories and eating to reach certain goals or look a certain way. I think we all need to be reminded that food is for lots of us, food and a couple of drinks is part of our culture and naturally over that two week period, a lot of us spend more time with our friends and our family and go to events and celebrate and quite often food is the center of that and drinking is the center of that and when you think of it in that way, it's what we want to do and food isn't just about calories. So if you did enjoy a little bit more than you're used to, that's a good thing. It doesn't happen much. I'm sure there's not that many times through the year where you get to spend that much quality time with friends you haven't seen for years, like me, and it's just nice to enjoy a little bit extra sometimes and it doesn't happen every single day, so really just think of that. If you enjoyed yourself, that's great and it's part of our culture. It doesn't happen all the time and it's just a small period of the year where most people overindulge a bit and I think it's a really good thing in that way.
The next thing I want to talk about is if you did overindulge a bit, now we're all different, I can't speak to you as an individual because maybe you think you overindulged, but you actually didn't. Maybe you just ate the same but had a tiny bit more alcohol or maybe you ate a bit more but you actually increased your exercise? Maybe your version of overindulging actually wasn't overindulging but I'm just going to call it a blanket statement. Let's say that you ate more calories than you're used to and let's say that you were pretty strict with your health in the lead up to Christmas and you're on track with your health and your habits and your fitness, then over the Christmas period you actually ate a bit more and maybe took a bit of time off the gym like I did …
If you did that, it can actually be a good thing for your metabolism. I try to say this all the time through my programs and my podcast, but if you're on a calorie deficit all the time, sometimes it's actually really good for your body to just have a break, and keep it guessing and eat a bit more. It can actually be good for your metabolism in the long term. So when you get back into your healthy habits now, you'll snap back to it. You really will and it might've actually been a good thing for your metabolism.
The other reason that overindulging is actually a good thing and this is speaking to the person that actually did go a bit too OTT - maybe you're feeling really bloated? Maybe you feel like you've gained more than just a kilo or two? Maybe you did go ham on lots of sugar and way too much alcohol and didn't do one bit of exercise? If that is you, this is why it's actually a good thing for you … if you are really serious about improving your health, reaching your balanced weight balancing out your eating habits so that you're more consistent with your eating and your exercise every single day and every single week so that you're not constantly yo-yo dieting and gaining heaps of weight, then losing it, gaining it and losing it, if that is your goal and you did actually overindulge over the Christmas period, I say this to women all the time in the Health with Bec Tribe and the 3 Week Body Reset, if you have done that, it's a good thing because it's only a slight mistake and a slip up to show you what to not repeat next time you get to the next holiday.
We can't grow and make progress and reach our balanced weight and find food freedom without actually making those mistakes. It's all just a part of the journey. I did it in my life. It took me years to find my balance and if you choose to look at it in that way, instead of just ignoring it and not reflecting on it and constantly repeating those mistakes, then you will do that all the time, but if you actually choose to look back and think - okay, I'm bloated, I've gained heaps of weight, what did I do differently over those two weeks? Maybe I reintroduced gluten back into my diet when I know that makes me really sick, or I ate heaps of sugar again and I feel really crap now and that makes me want to go back to a sugar free life? Maybe I drank way too much, I felt crap every day, I feel crap now, what can I do next time to change that?
This is going to be different for everyone, but if you're reaching any goal in life, and I speak about this in #136: (BONUS) The Tools & Mindset Shifts That've Lead To Buying My Dream Home & How Your Dreams Can Come True Too, you just have to make those mistakes and feel shit so that you don't repeat them in the future. Of course, you might repeat them in the future, but it might just be a little bit less and even I'm still finding my balance a bit. So if I reflect back on those two weeks, I wouldn't change a thing, but if I wasn't so tired and I didn't need that much sleep, I can look back and I think - I gained about a kilo and that's probably because I actually.ate a tiny bit more, drank a tiny bit more, and cut down my exercise. So hopefully the next time I have a break, I'll be able to keep my normal exercise routine to maintain my weight a bit more and I'm just learning every single week like you all are, but those “slip-ups”, I don't even want to call them slip-ups/ mistakes, they're just a part of life. They are the things that make you actually learn not to repeat them next time and they're what help you find your balance.
Maybe take out a pen and paper after this episode or you can pause it and do it now, if you're really serious about you finding your balance and reaching your goals this year - write down what you think caused how you're feeling now. What did you do that was outside of your normal routine? Write that down and then you can read that list again next time you get to a long weekend or a holiday or this time next year so that you can think - okay, I'm going to try my best to do a little bit less of that next time it comes.
It is just a part of the journey and when you look at it that way, it's amazing because you're just finding your balance more and I could not stress this enough. If you're someone that has gut issues - let's say you're feeling really bloated now, really think about what you ate and some people aren't really aware sometimes. For instance, my programs are gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free, not completely dairy free, but about 90% dairy-free and so many women get relief from their bloating concerns from cutting these foods out, but then sometimes they wonder, is it the gluten? Is it the dairy? Is it the sugar? So if they start to add something back and they feel crap, that's such a positive thing because then they'll be like - ok, yep, it was that! I'm going to go back to avoiding that now.
So piecing together your health puzzle can't really happen without those periods of time where you do eat stuff that makes you feel crap and when you become really in tune with how those things make you feel, you want to eat less of those things and you get better and better at doing this over time, so that is definitely why it's a good thing.
If you are feeling any guilt, please release it now because that is just an unnecessary feeling because it's in the past. You can't go back and change it. The only thing that you can do now is switch your mindset and say to yourself - I'm now going to start to eat healthy again. I'm going to go into the gym slowly again, and I will stop feeling crap and start making small steps to feeling good again. You can feel good again really soon by the way, if you've only indulged for just two weeks, if you get straight back on track now, you can start feeling good again very soon. If you keep continuing with that guilt and that negative mindset, maybe you've got on the scales and it makes you feel crap, that's going to be a really hard mindset to move forward with, so change it right now. Start making healthy habits and changes right now and you can get back on track fairly quickly.
The fourth thing that I want to say is that, let's say you went into the holiday period and you don't eat much sugar. Maybe you don't eat many carbs? Maybe you're doing my programs and that's a fairly low carb approach with no sugar and it's very anti-inflammatory and gluten free? It's my way of life really helps women reduce their inflammation, reduce the bloating, and in turn it really helps women with water weight fluctuations and then if you do have an indulgent period where you do introduce a bit more sugar, maybe a bit more gluten, maybe some more carbs and alcohol, that actually can cause water weight and so if you're feeling like you're quite heavy and bloated and fatigued, some of that might very likely be water weight. So as soon as you cut back on the sugar, drop your carbs a bit again, drop the alcohol and eat lots of veggies and clean food, even just 48 hours, you might feel like a kilo or two lighter just from that inflammation and that water weight coming off. That's actually why so many women get such incredible results in the first week of my program. I really educate them that some of it can be fat, of course, but a lot of it is water weight and that's a good feeling because you can feel good again very soon.
The fifth thing that I want to leave you with today is when you're starting to get back into your healthy life and your healthy habits, whether with exercise and you're eating, if you've fallen off track for two weeks, ease back into it slowly because it's quite easy to lose a bit of your fitness in two weeks and it takes a bit of time to just build that intense motivation and those habits back up. If you try to do too much too soon after an indulgent period, it can scare you a bit. It can overwhelm you a bit. If you try to do too much too soon, it can actually almost make you paralysed and do nothing. Maybe you'll be good for a day and then you'll end up bingeing that night because you're going into it too soon. So I recommend you take your time. Take small steps and get back into things slowly without smashing yourself too much and scaring yourself too much.
An example with exercise is that I took two weeks off from the gym for instance. I started to go back last Wednesday after about 9 to 10 days away from the gym and just doing some long walks. Naturally I got on the weight machines. So I go to the gym and I do some weight machines and I just couldn't lift as heavy and that was okay! I decided to go down by 5 to 10 kilos and I said that's fine. I also did a couple of stair machine sessions which I love to do a couple of times a week to really get my heart rate up and get a bit of a sweat on. That's the only cardio that I really do once or twice a week and I could only do half the amount of steps that I normally do, but that's totally okay. I did half the amount. I did less weight on the machines and that was okay because I was easing back into it slowly. I was still feeling quite exhausted and I'd obviously lost a tiny bit of fitness. Then this week, I went up again by about 5 kilos and I did three quarters of the amount of steps that I normally do. Next week, hopefully I will do the full amount of steps that I used to do. For me personally, I've got straight back into everything that I normally do with my health, but I've been doing this for years.
So, like I was saying at the beginning, we are all different. We're all doing different things. If you're on my programs, I can talk to you more specifically, which I do in my coaching calls with the Health with Bec Tribe. I've actually got one straight after this recording because I know what they're all eating, so I can talk to them a bit more. With your eating, let's say you did overindulge quite a lot over the break and now you've got the mindset where you want to lose weight and let's say you got more addicted to sugar over the break and heaps of carbs and lots of alcohol - my recommendation for you would be to, in terms of easing back into things slowly so that you don't scare yourself and give up or become paralysed, focus on cutting out the sugar, reducing the refined carbohydrates, limiting your alcohol, eating lots of veggies, focusing on home cooked, healthy food and even that might make you lose a kilo or two of water weight and a bit of fat if you do that for about a week. I would do that without even thinking about calories or anything yet.
Sometimes people think about calories and cutting the sugar and all of that too soon and that's where it can cause people that are good for a couple of days, then give up, then good for a couple of days, then give up. It can just be a bit too much too soon. So I would eat really healthy for a week or two and then maybe think about cutting your calories. Unless you join the 3 Week Body Reset because I do help you reduce your calories, but I know that I'm giving you food that's going to keep you full at the same time and satisfied. I hold your hand through any withdrawals and sugar cravings and you get so much support. I consider nearly every single factor with weight loss and reducing your calories a bit, but making sure you stay full and making sure you're getting your nutrients and making sure that you still eat yummy food without feeling like you're missing out.
If you're not doing my programs and I'm just speaking to the general public here, I would recommend eating healthy and think about counting your calories a bit to be in that calorie deficit to lose weight.
So, they were my five tips and tools and things to think about - The first one was to remember that food isn't just about calories. It's in our culture. If you had fun and enjoyed yourself, that is great. Focus on that and release any guilt. The second thing that I spoke about is that slip ups are lessons and that's actually how you find your balance. It's such a positive thing. The other thing that I talked about was that if you did overeat a bit then that actually can be good for your metabolism. If you were someone that was quite a yo-yo dieter or you were someone that cut your calories for quite a while last year, eating a bit more for a couple of weeks can actually be really good for you. The fourth thing I spoke about is that if you have gained weight, it might just be water weight, so that actually might come off really quickly if you get back on track and you cut out sugar, some refined carbohydrates, and focus on eating lots of whole foods and veggies and drinking lots of water. Side note - the more water you drink, the less water you hold. I also spoke about how things are in the past now, so release the guilt and just start now and move forward, then I spoke about how to ease back into things slowly.
So I really hope that this helped you in some way. If you are keen to join my program so that I can really help you end the yo-yo dieting this year and help you lose weight if you are someone that has tried every other diet under the sun, I would love to help you. My 3 Week Body Reset is Step 1. and then if you've already done that and you're looking to really get far more help with more meal plans, access to me and coaching calls, and incredibly supportive and refined Facebook group community full of women on the same journey to really hold your hand through each and every week, then the Health with Bec Tribe is for you and I would love to invite you to join our family. Also make sure you come over and follow me on @health_with_bec on Instagram.