When undertaking any new type of regimen for nutrition or exercise, there are many factors that can pose as challenges to success. Often times I have seen, and experienced, that even when people seem to really want to make a change, there are things that just keep getting in their way. As I’ve said before, a huge part of success is motivation. The more you want something, the more you are ‘hungry’ for it, the greater the chances that you will achieve it. However, change is complicated because we are doing something very different, we are essentially having to re-learn and adapt to some new concept. Humans are habitual creatures, we make patterns out of behaviors because it helps us function more efficiently. When you start a new exercise program for example, this is something your body and mind aren’t used to, so naturally there are going to be ‘growing pains’ as your body adapts and realizes the new pattern you are creating for it. So while motivation is a crucial factor for success, we may be inhibited by our natural tendencies. How the hell are we going to be as successful as we want to be when our body is telling us to do what we’ve always done? It feels like the odds are stacked against us.

Personally, I have had so many struggles with success and I still feel like I haven’t seen true ‘success’ to this day. I have seen steps towards success, but I still don’t feel that I’ve really reached any of my goals. I tend to do a lot of ‘falling off the horse’. My typical motivational ‘cycle’ (if you will) looks like this: one day decide that I am ready to make a change and I want to be incredibly fit and active, eat right, and look great. I’ll then make those changes and feel great for a few days, and something happens and I have a slip up where I eat something really bad or skip a workout. At this point, it is a HUGE spiral downward. If I eat something bad, I’ll eat a LOT of bad things and then I’m on a week-long binge of junk food before I restart my motivational cycle. If I skip a workout, then I skip the next day, and the next, and eventually I just stop working out until the motivation lights up in me again. I’m sure there are other people out there who have experienced a similar situation to this (if not, congrats!!). So what is the key to being successful and avoiding this deviation from our goals?

The first thing I’ll say is that it’s not always a bad thing to slip up. It may sound crazy, but slipping up has actually taught me so much. Each time I mess up and eat something bad or skip a workout, I learn something from that. Some of the things I have learned are:

Almond butter is a trigger for me and causes me to crave more sweets

I can skip one day of working out and be okay, but if I skip a second day then I will likely stop working out for a while

Dark chocolate is not a trigger and helps kill my sweet tooth craving

Flavored carbonated water also helps kill my sweet cravings

What I’ve come to realize about all these times I messed up is that they actually hold some value and help me to know what to do for the future. Take the almond butter for example – one day I saw a packet of almond butter and I thought it would make a great snack. I had it, and then later I ran into MASSIVE cravings for chocolate and sweets. It was at that point that I realized that almond butter was a no-go, at least until I learned how to get past cravings. It is completely normal to deviate from your plans, everyone has those little mess ups and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. If you go off your diet/exercise routine/whatever then make sure you take something from that. Learn about yourself – what caused you to indulge? Was it some event that stressed you out? Were you overly excited and wanted to celebrate? Were you bored?

Part of ensuring success is learning why we ‘fail’ (by the way, I hate that word so please excuse me for using it. Failure I think is too negative, I like to consider slip-ups a learning experience). Think of this as something similar to ‘there wouldn’t be sunshine without rain’. We need to have comparisons in order to really have ‘success’ because in its very nature, success is a change or a difference in something.

Another part of ensuring success is taking what you’ve learned about yourself and planning for the future! You may have heard this a thousand times, but it is the best way to make sure that you will continue to succeed. ‘Winging it’ is very risky and may work for some, but it is not reliable at all. This is especially true for going on trips.

HAVE.A.PLAN

Plan times that you would be able to squeeze in a quick workout (or a longer one if possible). Alternatively, plan for some fun activities that you can get everyone involved in that require some movement (going on a hike, a long walk, sight-seeing on bikes, etc). Bring some light weights with you or think of household items that you can lift while you are there. Find some really quick and easy exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime.

For food – always bring snacks. I cannot stress this enough. I know that when I travel, eating schedules get so thrown off and I’m not sure when we’re going to stop, where we might eat, and if that place will have things that I’m able to eat. For those without allergies, this may be simpler because you don’t necessarily have to avoid foods, but those with allergies I’m sure are aware that you should always be prepared. I tend to bring larabars and pistachios with me at all times so that I know I will have an emergency reserve of food if I need it.

Also, do some research into the restaurants that surround the area that you’ll be staying in. Look for which places have gluten-free menus (if necessary, call the restaurant and ask), and try to look at their menus online ahead of time so you can figure out what they have that you’re able to eat. It’s much less stressful to figure these things out ahead of time so that you know what modifications to ask for if needed.

Finally (and this goes along with snacks), always have a back-up plan. Life is super unpredictable and having a backup plan helps with that. For example, you might want to go to a restaurant and come to realize that it’s closed for whatever reason. Know what else is around and again, always have snacks just in case you really need to eat soon.

The more effort you put into planning your workouts and meals while you’re away, the greater chance you have at staying successful and on-track for your goals. It’s difficult enough trying to stay on-track on any given day, but throwing travelling into the mix adds a whole other level of difficulty. So my advice to you is to over-plan. At worst – you don’t need to use most of your plan and you’re able to stay on track; at best – you use your plan and (hopefully) stay on track.

Next time I will continue this post and focus more on what we can learn from our slip ups and how to apply that to the future.

Have you ever used a plan when travelling? Did it work? What are some steps that you take to make sure you are successful every day?