Feeling Defeated? Push Those Setbacks Behind You For Good!

FAILURE:  The outcome of when a person stops trying. SETBACK:  A temporary occurrence that prevents achievement of a particular goal or circumstance.

If you've tried new things recently such as eating clean (or maybe a new fitness regimen), then you've probably encountered days when you just don't "feel" like you can continue on with it.  You may be feeling hungry, tired, or sore.  You may have less energy then you did when you started eating clean, or you may be experiencing skin breakouts! 

You might even be suffering from massive confusion in regards to all of the new information your brain is absorbing with your new lifestyle!  You may also have said to yourself more then once, "I can't do this!  This is not for me!"  or my favorite excuse, "This is too hard!" 

promise you... you CAN do this.  What you are feeling and experiencing is completely normal.  We've all been there, and we still go through it on occasion.  You CAN and will move past this phase and have a very successful, happy, and blessed Eat-Clean journey!  First, we must come to terms with the fact that we are all in the "need" of improving our health.  We must separate real food from fake food, and learn how to eat for nutrition, and not for temporary satisfaction.  Along with these lessons comes personal learning curves.  We are all different... some things work for some people, and other things work for other people.

One of the many things I've learned through my own personal Eat-Clean journey over the past 3 years is this:  Failure is only a factor when you've completely given up and stop taking care of your self.  Failure does not define "trial and error."  It simply means that you tried, and you STOPPED TRYING. That is FAILURE.  When we don't take care of our health and make the best decisions for our bodies, then our bodies will fail us by completely shutting down and eventually stop functioning, creating death. That is factual FAILURE.  Failure to care for, failure to thrive, failure to produce, failure to live.

However, you CAN stop failure before it is too late!  Just watch what how quickly your body bounces back when you begin to eat and live in a more healthful manner!  Yes, you will go through a short "detox" phase in the beginning, but hey, that's just your body thanking you for feeding it the proper nutrients by detoxing all of the old crud out of your system!  Now that, my friends, is called a "Temporary Setback."

Temporary Setbacks are NOT failures!  You must learn how to decipher between the two!  So, you woke up today and decided to have pancakes made with white flour and white sugar, topped with more refined sugar in a the form of fake syrup.  You washed it down with a 24 ounce glass of Sunny Delight, and also polished off a half pound of nitrate/nitrite laced smoked maple flavored bacon.  And an hour later, you feel worse then you did before you ate that disgusting breakfast.  Your energy is gone,  your stomach hurts, and it's churning and gurgling.  You feel lethargic, and want to crawl back into bed.  That list of daily "to-do's" you were so eager to perform while you were writing out the list has been thrown into the trash, and your motivation has all but flushed down the toilet. 

Yes, this is a temporary set back, and NOT a failure!  Now.... what to do with all of this.  Well, it's really quite easy:  GET UP, GET MOVING, AND START YOUR DAY OVER.  Flush out that crappy breakfast with lots and lots of good, clean filtered water!  Eat a snack of raw, sliced vegetables and homemade hummus for a light snack before lunch.  Make yourself a huge salad, or grain-free meal for lunch.  Eat an apple with a tablespoon of natural nut butter.  GET BACK ON TRACK TODAY.  Now. Not "tomorrow" or next Monday. JUST DO IT. No excuses.

Getting back on track from a temporary setback is called "recovery."  YOU CAN RECOVER FROM YOUR SETBACKS... but more importantly, you are creating your own journey of trial and error by these setbacks.  Be sure you journal daily, especially in the beginning of eating clean.  It is so helpful to be able to go back and read about what worked and didn't work for you.  The next time you are craving a non-nutritional breakfast because it "sounds" good, go back and read some excerpts from the last time you ate and felt crappy.  Be honest about your setbacks... come here to the Kitchen Table and share them with all of us.  You'll find an immense amount of support and encouragement here, and we will all continuously cheer you on.

I promise you, if you do keep a daily journal- at least in the beginning- it will assist you in making more appropriate and healthy meal choices.  Once you start to override your bad choices with good choices, you will begin to see how well your body responds to it, and you will (and should) be proud of your decision to eat for nutritional reasons rather then eating for momentary satisfaction .  If you do this once per day, every day for an entire week, you will have developed your own new habit of replacing one crappy meal with one good meal! 

Next week, you can try this whole routine again with all of your daily snacks or lunches, and then the week after that, incorporate healthier dinner options.  A month after that, try removing grains after lunch, and keep your dinner plates full of lean protein and complex carbs, with a little fruit and plain Greek yogurt for dessert.  You WILL get the hang of eating clean, you WILL learn how to overcome your setbacks through trial and error and continuing to move forward.

You must learn to take each day as an "individual" day to perform at your highest peak.  Utilize your circumstances for each day with what you have, and where you are mentally and physically.  Do your best with what you have, where you are, and how you are able.  I remember last year after a devastating double knee injury just a few short months into the 4th Annual ECD Makeover Challenge when I was bed-bound through much of the spring and into the summer.  I didn't allow that to stop me!  I tightened up my diet since I could not do much of anything else, I did sit-ups in bed, and did light upper-body weight training with 5 pound dumbbells in bed, and pretty much planned my come-back for 2013 while sitting in bed everyday! 

I had my husband gather all of my past editions of Oxygen and Clean Eating magazines, all of my ECD books, and my bible along with several note books, pens, pencils, and my laptop computer.  I diligently planned my meals from bed, and taught my husband (on paper) how to cook clean for me.  I gave him my meal and snack plans daily, and insisted on only drinking water.  I followed through with doctor's orders, and performed my Sports Medicine Therapy for my knees at home.  The only time I took a pain killer was at the ER on the day of my injury.  The pain was so bad, I could not tollerate it.  I hate any form of medication, and refuse to take it.  Slowly, I recovered, and bounced back at the end of 2012.

I bounced back ONLY because I did not look at my injuries as FAILURES, but as a temporary setback.  I did my best every day, with what I had, and lived in the moment.  Sure, I had rough days where I was in pain, or did not feel like eating at all.  But I pushed through it.  I stuck to my plan, and I persevered.  You can do this too... by realizing that you have not failed unless you have COMPLETELY given up.  Please, please, please... understand the difference between failure, defeat, setbacks, and pushing through!  The true definition of those five words will set you free!  I promise.

                                                                                                  
Oh, and one last item, my lovelies:  TOSS THAT SCALE!  Release the bondage!

As always, Eat Clean, Train Mean, and LIVE LEAN!

~The Kaptain