How To Take Action When You're Feeling Guilty

For the past month I have worked out every single day (rest days once a week), following a YouTube workout plan by Heather Robertson. It gets my heart rate up and helps me break a sweat. I was doing so well, and my stomach was getting flatter. I was seeing results that I absolutely loved. Fast forward to this past weekend (three weeks in), and I start plateauing. Plateauing is a real thing and a hard one at that. Not seeing the results I was seeing sucks! And it definitely didn't help that I splurged on cheesecake, ice cream, steak, cheesy potatoes, and whatever else was nearby at Mom's house this past week. I always tell myself I will take "just one" bite, and then it turns into the entire serving if not more. My self-control and self-discipline with exercise have gotten immensely better, but with food, not so much. When I am home alone and shopping for myself, I am practically vegan, eating all things healthy and not fattening. However, when I visit the parent's house, I lose all sense of health and nutrition when I know I should do better. Perhaps I get upset at myself because I know I should do better. Perhaps it's because I'm losing the results I worked for, and now I have to start over. What it all comes down to is me feeling guilty about my weight and feeling like a slob about myself. But I'm not here to be a debby-downer. I'm here to promote positivity and help people, including myself, out of a slump. Well here's how to take action when you're feeling guilty and crush those negative thoughts: 

1. Stop Where You Are At, and Re-adjust Your Thoughts

    When you notice you're talking bad about yourself and feeding your mind negative thoughts, STOP. Open your eyes, look into the mirror, and recognize how beautiful you are. If you don't see it, tell yourself how beautiful you are anyway... because you are! Try it. Stop reading this right now, walk to the closest mirror/window, look at your reflection and repeat these words ten times: "I am beautiful",

"I am strong", "I love my body", "I may not be where I want to be yet, but I am working every day to get there. In the meantime, I look amazing". Do you feel better about yourself? 

2. Start Over but Keep Going

    When you realize you've gone over in your calorie limit and splurged too much, stop eating. Have the discipline to stop, and remind yourself why you need to. Don't eat for the rest of the day, admit you went over a bit and that's not ok, but know there's always tomorrow. The next day, start counting your calories/macros again as if you didn't splurge. If you eat 2500 calories one day, don't starve yourself the next and eat 800 to "even it out". You can't get even when it comes to cutting calories (at least not in a healthy manner). When you cut too much the next day, you starve yourself and your body wants more, causing you to eat more than you should. Just start over, and keep going with the same plan you had originally. 

3. Know You Are Not Alone

    You are definitely not the only person on this planet who has had this problem. There are other people who have gone through exactly what you are going through right now, and knowing you're not alone makes it a tad bit easier. Talk to someone about your feelings about being guilty. Get it off your chest, and hear someone out. Humans are social beings and stress is alleviated when you confide in someone you trust to help you through your negative emotions. Who knows? Maybe you'll find out that the person you talk to has their own guilty feelings. 

4. Focus Your Attention Elsewhere

    Crush those negative thoughts by focusing your attention elsewhere and keeping busy on an unrelated task. Write in a journal, do yard work, hang out with friends, read a book on a subject you've been wanting to learn. Do anything else besides wallowing in self-pity. Devon Patterson, an ENC Campus Director, once said in a sermon, "self-pity is the ego's way of dealing with pain without getting healed". Tell your ego to screw off, humble yourself, and walk towards the path of success! Sometimes you just have to let it go and walk away from yourself. 

As a side note, these don't just pertain to when you splurge on a diet. That's only how I'm choosing to exemplify the topic. You can feel guilty after you lose a valuable item your great-grandfather gave you, after you lose a friend, or after you made the 100m dash in nine seconds instead of eight like you trained for. The motive might be different, but the emotion stays the same. Everyone has different times in their life when they experience guilt and shame. Everyone has different reasons behind it too. What's not different about it, is how it made you feel. 

I hope this post resonated with you in some way and that you try some of the things I mentioned. If not, I hope you can share it with someone who needs it. Keep kicking, and you'll do great things. 

- Kailey B