You’ve been watching your calories and sticking to your healthy eating plan. Everything was going well until you went on vacation, there was a holiday, or you simply fell off the wagon over the weekend. You might feel like you’ve nullified all your hard work but don’t worry, you can get back on track no matter how badly you’ve slipped up.

Ditch the guilt

It doesn’t help if you beat yourself up about having had one slice of cake or one glass of wine too many. Life brings many joys and delicious food is one of them; you went, you tasted, you enjoyed. It’s over and done with so forget about feeling guilty.

Get back to normal

If you feel like you’ve failed and your weight loss efforts are doomed, it’s easy to keep the bad eating habits going. Instead, do a reset. Go back into your healthy eating routine straight away. You haven’t failed, but you will if you give up.

Start drinking water

We all know how important water is to keep our bodies functioning. Drinking more water can also help you feel better after a binge by flushing out excess sodium which reduces bloating. Water also helps to curb your appetite, rev up your metabolism, and get your system moving again.

Lean and complex

After overindulging you might find yourself craving unhealthy foods more than usual. Try to ensure that your meals are full of vegetables, lean protein, and complex carbs. These kinds of foods will keep you satisfied and full which reduces the likelihood that you’re going to give in to cravings.

Don’t punish yourself

Try not to react to a diet slip up by going extra hard on cutting calories or working out. This might help you shed some pounds initially, but you’ll most likely gain them back. A reaction like this also sets up a negative pattern of weight gain and loss and can lead to anxiety and a poor relationship with food.

Sources: WebMD, Men’s Fitness, Eat This