What do you do when you’ve had a bad day, a bad week, or just some time where your healthy eating and exercise haven’t gone as you’d planned? Here Shannon Pepper, an expert in helping people reach their weight loss goals, shares some of her tips to prevent a lapse from becoming a relapse:
OH NO! You have slipped up – don’t worry it’s just a lapse but let’s ensure it doesn’t become a relapse!
Lapses are a normal and expected part of change and the weight loss journey.
Lapses are often viewed as a positive part of losing weight as they provide you with the opportunity to learn about what triggered the unhealthy behaviour.
So… how do we stop a lapse from turning into a complete relapse? The following tips will be able to provide you the necessary strategies to ensure the lapse is just one off;

Stop

Stop what you are doing, and remove yourself from the situation. For example if you’ve opened a bag of lollies and have started eating them as you needed a snack, stop this and put the lollies away (or better yet, put them in the bin).

Recognise

That the lapse or situation that just occurred is not the end of the world. It’s normal and of course don’t be hard on yourself or trap yourself into thinking negatively.
It’s ok to not follow you healthy eating meal plans all of the time just so long as you are eating well most of the time. Having a lolly, too much chocolate or a packet of chips isn’t going to ruin how far you’ve already come.

Learn

Learn by taking notice of what’s happening around you. Was it an emotional trigger that made this occur, or maybe an environmental one?
For example:

• were you eating the lollies because you were bored or stressed?
• Or were you eating the lollies because you were at a party and they were in front of you?
• Or were you not prepared and needed a snack but only had unhealthy options to choose from in your pantry?

By being able to learn from your lapse you are more likely to stop it from happening again.

Plan

What you need to do to stop your lapse from becoming a relapse is put a plan into action. For example; you ate something unhealthy, instead of dwelling on it, plan to do an extra 20 minutes of exercise, or revisit your goals and reflect on why you started the 28 Day Challenge.
You can also have plans in place depending on what you’ve learnt about why you had the lapse e.g.:

• if you were eating unhealthy options because of emotional reasons like boredom, stress, feeling unhappy, your plan could be to remember that these are your triggers and next time you feel this way do something else to improve the situation e.g. make a cup of herbal tea and take 5 minutes for yourself. Go for a short walk and get some fresh air etc.
• if you make unhealthy food choices or have lapses due to environment such as being at a party with lots of enticing, treat foods being served, plan to be prepared. Either bring a platter of healthy options to share or learn what are the better choices such as limiting yourself to one or two pieces of finger food or treats rather than a whole plate full.
• if you’ve had a lapse as you haven’t been prepared with food planning then plan to set aside some time each week to ensure you are better organised; your pantry is filled with healthy options not tempting ones, you have some meals made and ready to go in the freezer etc.

Be Positive & Carry On

Remember don’t be hard on yourself, this is all a normal part of losing weight.
By doing the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges, you’ve made an incredible choice to change your life for the better; so if a lapse occurs, don’t stress, put the above plans into action, pick yourself up and keep moving forward.
Shannon Pepper, Weight Loss Consultant