Consistency is Key for weight loss.

by Carla Bolstridge in Nutrition | Training

weight loss / nutrition

We’ve all heard it before “consistency is key to weight loss” and it is true. Being consistent with your nutrition plan and workout routine will definitely give you results, but can you still get the results by having the one off piece of chocolate every so often? Definitely! Can you still get results by having an off plan meal every so often? Well, actually you can! However, notice a few key words…”every so often.”

Having the odd piece of indulgence or an off plan meal every so often IS ok, but be mindful:

If the odd piece of chocolate then become the whole bar, you might have an off plan meal also. This case scenario may happen as a one off and that can be ok as long as you get back to being consistent with your nutrition plan again. However, be careful as this way of thinking can often trigger the mind set of “well blow it, I may as well make a whole day of it now, or even a weekend of it.” This is where things will start to go wrong as a whole day of eating everything and anything can put you out of your weekly deficit and stall progress. Even worse, this day or two day binge fest may become a weekly habit.

Not only is this detrimental for your fitness goals and progress but it can start an unhealthy approach to weight loss. What people will often do is allow themselves a whole day or weekend of going majorly off plan and then “punish” themselves with endless cardio or gruelling double workouts the following day to make up for it. This is neither wise nor a great way to go about things as you will start to look at workouts as a negative consequence for allowing yourself unhealthy eating habits.

So, how can you ensure that you stay on track whilst enjoying the odd indulgence?

Well, we all know that we are not robots and there will be times where we will go off track with our meal and nutrition plans. Having the odd meal to celebrate someone’s birthday will not put you back to square one in your weight loss journey but it’s not a gateway either to think “oh that’s it now, I might as well start over again next week.” You can still enjoy a meal but then maybe be mindful to skip on the bread basket or share a dessert. So, it’s really about being mindful and taking back control to be consistence again. Besides, allowing yourself to enjoy the odd meal out and getting back to consistency will feel much better in the long run, on the inside and outside.