The Important Thing Is to Get Right Back On

Something I don’t think I have mentioned yet is how much I can sometimes struggle with my diet. It’s not so much sticking to it, I can stick to it just fine. It’s when I go off it for a meal or day that I start to get shaky.

I have a bit of an addictive personality and when I start doing something, I want to do it as well as a possibly can. This sometimes leads me down a path of getting a little obsessive. I recently felt the little twinge of panic and guilt this last week.

There were a few days in a row where I had gone out for drinks during the week and had eaten out. Now when I eat out, I try to stick to keto as closely as possible so it’s not like I am going out and eating a pizza with tons of tomato sauce or a burger with a bun and fries. Usually, the furthest I have strayed from keto when I am out is a handful of tortilla chips that I use as guacamole delivery devices. (There was this chicken sandwich from Soho that Nate and I shared. No regrets about this at all. It was delicious.)

This same week that I had eaten out more than usually and drank alcohol during the week was the week where the scale was driving me insane. The weekend rolled around and Nate and I wanted to go out. I was all for it and then started to have a tiny little crisis about going out to eat again.

I really really wanted to go out to celebrate Nate getting a new job and unwind a little bit from the crazy week that I had, but I was also really worried about all of the “slip-ups” I had during the week in terms of food and alcohol.

This basically translated into me being super antsy and being weird as we were getting ready to go out. Nate knew that I had been concerned about the atypical weekday drinks and asked me what was up.

I expressed how I was anxious and a little upset about what I had been eating and drinking during the week. His response was honestly one of the most helpful things I have heard when it comes to diet: “Abby, you eat great 90% of the time and when you eat ‘bad” food, it’s minimal and not enough to totally derail you. The important thing is that you hop right back on keto after a meal like that and don’t let it derail you.”

After that, I felt much better and happily went out and drank my wine that I had been craving.

There are a lot of people who think that if they don’t stick to their diet 100% of the time, they are going to fail. Truth is, one “cheat” meal isn’t gonna kill you. Just like one failed weight lifting set doesn’t mean you have failed in your strength-gaining journey.

The important thing is to hop right back on the plan. If you’re like me, never letting yourself loosen the reins a tiny bit can compel you to throw the whole thing out the window. Allow yourself to step a bit off the path once in a while, it can make your journey all the better.