Ugh, I fell off the wagon

[Toph821]

I missed one day of working out (Friday) because I was exhausted from work... and then I skipped my Sunday morning run because 6am just felt too early... then I skipped my Monday workout because I was tired again!

I feel like I've fallen off the wagon and know I need to amp it back up NOW.

My main question is whether or not I should do MORE to make up for what I missed, or if I just need to deal with the affects of missing a couple workouts/runs.

Also, the self-loathing/disappointment of missing a workout SUCKS.

[d00slip]

I don't think you should over compensate for missing a couple of workouts, my philosophy at the moment is to focus on the task at hand and it's working out great so far. Instead of being angry and disappointed in yourself, try to focus on your next workout. Do that workout as well and hard as you possibly can, then focus on the next one. Before you know it the ball will start rolling

As humans we aren't perfect, so don't beat yourself up too much If all else fails, follow Gandhi's advice

[MementoMori]

As a fellow rookie who has been trying to get back on the wagon after not doing anything for a few months straight, I understand where you're coming from.

Heck I fell off the wagon last week and didn't work out until two days ago. But I'm going to keep going and make myself keep up my routine.

I don't think you should do more to make up for what you missed. In fact, if you're following a routine like I am, I think you should go into the workout where you would have been that day (use the same weights you did when you last worked out) and just work at keeping consistent. It may not be the easiest, and from personal experience keeping up a diet and a workout schedule can be hard.

And yes I agree, the self-loathing of missing a workout sucks, as does the self-loathing that comes from delaying one when you know you should just get it over with (my particular problem ).

Find a way to keep yourself accountable (ie: friends, NF, etc.) it may motivate you more that way.

You can do this! *So can I!*

[Toph821]

Oddly enough, the NF people are more supportive than my friends and family. The latter do not hold me accountable at all and encourage me to go out to dinner and skip workouts, drink, etc. Soooo, my NF homies will be the ones to get me through this.

[MementoMori]

That's exactly why I joined NF myself.

I needed motivation, as well as to be kept accountable, since I don't have that good of a social life offline and live on my own, it'll be here on NF.

I'm using the 6 week challenge as motivation, and trying to get things ready for when it starts.

The idea of doing a challenge and seeing how I do in the end will motivate me.

Maybe you should look it up too. It may give you some motivation.

And if all else fails, don't let a bad couple of days snowball into weeks or months. Even if it means feeling like you're starting over AGAIN *I used emphasis there because that's what's been happening to me*, think of it as still having benefits. They may not be ideal, but the results will be better than giving up and doing nothing.

[krj]

As someone who has fallen off the wagon more times than I wish to admit, trust me when I say that the self-loathing is going to do you a lot more harm in the long run than a few missed workouts or a couple days of less than "ideal" eating.

Repeat after me: We are what we do MOST of the time.

Try not to think of it as a wagon that can you can be "on" or "off." Instead, you are working on building a habit. When we have a habit, we might not do it perfectly ALL the time. But we do it MOST of the time. For me, this means that MOST weeks, I lift 3x/week and I do a total of 90 minutes of cardio at the gym. But there are weeks when life gets in the way. The most helpful thing for me has been not to concern myself with trying to make up for lost time, but just to brush it off and restart my habit.

[Toph821]

Ahh, you're all awesome! I'll work on the self-loathing thing and getting back into the habit of working out.

[Horsedog]

Try not to think of it as a wagon that can you can be "on" or "off." Instead, you are working on building a habit. When we have a habit, we might not do it perfectly ALL the time. But we do it MOST of the time. For me, this means that MOST weeks, I lift 3x/week and I do a total of 90 minutes of cardio at the gym. But there are weeks when life gets in the way. The most helpful thing for me has been not to concern myself with trying to make up for lost time, but just to brush it off and restart my habit.

Exactly this. Habit forming is HARD (at least, good-habit forming is). It takes a ton of conscious effort and a willingness to keep going in the face of setbacks (self-inflicted or otherwise). It is most people's achilles heel - hell, it is MY achilles heel. I made going to the gym 3x week one of my goals for this challenge because behavioural goals are just that important, and will be making 2 of my fitness goals behaviour-oriented for the next challenge.

Being able to do 10 pull-ups, bench 250 lbs, run a 5 minute mile, etc. are awesome goals to have...but they are results of behaviours (like getting up at 6 a.m. 3x week to go to the gym, or to go for a run, or whatever).

So get out there and workout/run!!

[Raincloak]

I wouldn't even call skipping 1 or 2 workouts "falling off the wagon." You'd have to sit on the couch for, like, a week for it to be a real fall in my book. But what do I know.

Anyways, what they said ^ ... don't try to make up for the "missing" workouts, just get back to the schedule. You cannot make up a missed workout later, unless it's later that same day; if the day goes by and you didn't do the workout, you missed your chance. But skipping one or two workouts in a 6-week program isn't going to do you that much harm, so don't sweat it. You probably benefited from the extra rest anyway.

[JediSi]

I know where you're coming from, If i'd had a particularly bad day at work i used to end up skipping the work out or worse just flat out falling asleep at home exhausted, after a while i just stopped working out, I got lucky and a collegue asked me what happened to my workouts and invited me to a trial day at the gym near my new home, loved it found there was loads of different things to do, classes weights, indoor track, pool (heaven). I started to turn my gym sessions into a reward/wind down from a bad day that energised me, also i've found having someone to go with or share ideas with has helped me develop a really good ethic towards the gym.

I suspect that if you try to go too hard in an effort to make up, you could end up doing more harm than good, ending up sore and having to slow down/take a day or two off to recover. If it were me I'd pick myself up, re-fix on my long goal and carry on and harden my resolve, but we're all different so hopefully you'll find your own way forward.

Maybe a gym partner might help if you don't have one? I know i'm hoping to start a blog/thread/something so that i have somewhere to post everyday (even rest days) so I have a goal to aim for meaning i have to do my workout before i can write about it, also i'm hoping it'll give me a nice record of my journey. I just agreed with my cardiologist that when I see her again in a year I will be down to sub 18%, she said she'd like me to be sub 90kg as well, i told her that depends on how much lifting i do lol

But anyways, crack on and good luck

[kombimankenny]

Ditching the self-loathing cycle after missing a couple of workouts or eating badly was what helped me level-up the most.

Whenever I'd 'fall off the wagon' I used to tell myself, "Why bother getting back on, I've already failed so I'll just quit altogether and make a fresh start 'next week'". I'd second what others have said and try to just get back into it and not try to make up for lost time. Treat your time off as a good thing, allowing your body to rest and catchup with what you've been doing.

[ellisd012]

Progress, not perfection.

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Yeah, I'm sure there are more...I think that you get it...the sooner you continue, the better.

If you feel like adding some 'make up' sets/reps/miles/laps...then do so, just don't hurt yourself...and don't beat yourself up either...it's easier to make excuses rather than to produce results.

[Eurydice]

Well, this all inspired me to get off my tired butt and put in three miles on Zombies, Run!. In answer to the question, though, I'd say don't try to make up for the missed workouts or you're likely to wear yourself out even more. Just hit the next one like you were coming to it fresh.

[JamesCannell]

I sometimes have days where I may miss training. I don't try to compensate for what I've missed, I just carry on. Don't beat yourself up over it though. These things happen :-)

[MementoMori]

Ditching the self-loathing cycle after missing a couple of workouts or eating badly was what helped me level-up the most.

Whenever I'd 'fall off the wagon' I used to tell myself, "Why bother getting back on, I've already failed so I'll just quit altogether and make a fresh start 'next week'". I'd second what others have said and try to just get back into it and not try to make up for lost time. Treat your time off as a good thing, allowing your body to rest and catchup with what you've been doing.

I'm actually stuck in that cycle right now...

It's the second week in a row that I didn't make it past Wednesday without giving up.

I want the next six week challenge to start so I can keep myself accountable that way.

[Bunk]

Self Loathing is counter productive. Stay positive. There are legitimate reasons for missing workouts occasionally. Just challenge yourself to do better next week. Remember that you've made a lifelong commitment to health and fitness, so this is a marathon not a sprint.

[krj]

I'm actually stuck in that cycle right now...

It's the second week in a row that I didn't make it past Wednesday without giving up.

I want the next six week challenge to start so I can keep myself accountable that way.

Sometimes, for me, challenges for a certain period of time are counterproductive. I find myself waiting until they start to try to turn things around and then when I "mess up" I feel like the whole challenge period is ruined. I'm sure they are incredibly motivating for some people. But they just don't seem to help me in the same way.

For me the best thing I have found is to just continually remind myself that this is the way I want to live my life. This is what I do--I exercise and try to eat within reason MOST of the time. I'll go off the rails on occasion, but nothing is ruined.

[RandomWanderer]

I'm with Slip, don't overcompensate, ease back in slow and as Steve says remember small goals! make it a goal to get back on the wagon, step by step.

oh and btw, what you described, I've been there half a billion times LOL.. as I'm sure most of us have, human nature.

[coonskee]

Well, this all inspired me to get off my tired butt and put in three miles on Zombies, Run!. In answer to the question, though, I'd say don't try to make up for the missed workouts or you're likely to wear yourself out even more. Just hit the next one like you were coming to it fresh.

Oh, man, I want this game when I get my iPhone... except then it'll make my iPod useless!

[---]

Oh, I "fall off the wagon" all the time. But you know what? If I failed today, that doesn't doom me to failure tomorrow. So if I miss a workout one day, then I start over fresh the next day. I like what krj said, too...it's less of a "wagon" than habit-forming.

I like to think of it of like a hard level in a video game. I keep getting killed, and then having to restart at the beginning of the level. Now, I could choose to rage-quit, or try again to beat the level. So, BY GUM, I AM GOING TO BEAT THE EFFIN' LEVEL.

And the best part of treating it this way is that unlike many video games, I have unlimited lives (aka chances) when it comes to fitness. So, there's my input.

*drops 2 cents into the jar*

[Photobrandon]

As much as fitness (and life in general really) is a one day at a time thing, sometimes its good to look at the big picture, especially when we make little mistakes. Whenever I miss a workout or two, I like to back up and remember how many more workouts I've already had this month compared to say...4 months ago when I was just sitting on my caboose all the time. Hey, not so bad anymore that I missed a few, since 10 is better than 0, now I can add another and stop beating myself up about it! =)

Also, our bodies are slow to adapt to change, positive or negative. Unless you do something drastic (like starve yourself and miss your workouts) you aren't going to hinder your progress much missing a week here and a week there. You probably won't gain much progress either unless its a much needed rest week, but you aren't going to go back to square one. I had to take three weeks off of upper body workouts recently due to a bicep injury and started back up only 10lbs lighter than before the injury...and that was just to be safe to ease back into it. Next workout I was progressing from where I was before the injury.

[unicornassassin]

I fall of the wagon all the damn time. But, I always get back on eventually. Sometimes I have really good streaks, and generally my 'off' times are getting shorter and shorter. I think others have had some good advice, especially about making it a habit. I've worked out long enough that I am a person that works out, but sometimes get lazy, rather than a couch potato that sometimes goes to the gym.

[Corbab]

One (or three) missed workouts isn't going to ruin you. An injury could have you out of commission for a long while. Don't go overboard and try to make up what you've missed. The past is the past—forget about it, and focus on where you want to be, not where you are. I've had some huge bumps along the road, and I'm sure there will be more, but I can tell you from where I am now that I don't even register them when I look back.

[Toph821]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I'm back in the swing of things, so Whooo!