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Go ahead: Do it wrongby Rich ButkevicIn high school I got into some pretty hot water every now and again due to my "independent" nature. One time a buddy and I decided, while on the bus to school, that learning wasn't what we wanted to do that spring day. So we jumped off at the next stop and walked around downtown Chicago. The next day when I was called into the principal's office, I was told how miserable I would turn out if I continued to hang around hooligans. I got a three-day suspension. It seemed counterintuitive to me that my punishment for skipping school would be to miss more school. Well, after three more days of not hearing about the fall of the Prussian Empire or Pythagoras, I came to better appreciate my free time. I really started disliking school then. Does this sound like flawed logic to you? It's just as ludicrous to punish yourself for letting your diet slip or for missing a workout by eating more and exercising even less. Have you ever been on a diet and, during a moment of weakness, give in to eating a cookie or two? What happened next? For a lot of us, we feel guilty then throw up our hands. "The heck with it," we say, and suddenly two cookies turns into devouring a whole box. Then we sprayed whipped cream into our mouths straight from the can. Maybe you don't go quite that far overboard, but I bet you get my drift. You may make a small, virtually negligible error. But instead of correcting it and getting back on track, you exacerbate the situation by doing more of what you felt bad doing. Lots of people are either in the gym every day or six days a week or never. Theyâ're either eating miso soup and steamed carrots three times a day or cold pizza for breakfast and beer for dinner. Black and white, on or off. There's a better way. Every January 1, people flock to their local gyms and stock up on skinless chicken breasts. What makes people think they're going to transition from couch tater and Ding Dog eater to a lifestyle requiring Buddha-like discipline literally overnight? Get gradual about things. How about trying to get to the gym two or three days a week or taking a walk every day? Maybe you could eat a healthy breakfast today and start eating better at lunchtime next week or the week after. Have fruit with that greasy burger instead of fries. Baby steps. Just don't go into the gym on January 1 nursing a hangover and try to bench twice your bodyweight. Take a jog, go light, get used to being there. Take the first couple weeks to just ease yourself into the lifestyle. Like children, crawl before you walk and walk before you run. And quit beating yourself up for lapses. Do you think I never pig out or skip workouts? Sure I do. So does everyone else, including professional athletes and Olympians. What makes the difference between success and failure is not how often you fall but how often you rise. Next time you're chewing that second cookie and you realize it's not what you planned on and feel guilty for it, just stop. Don't let a slip turn into a slide. Two cookies every now and again won't make any difference. But an entire box can negate everything you've done all week. Maybe you get tied up at work or your kids get sick or you just blow off your workouts for a few days. This doesn't mean you should get discouraged and depressed and not exercise for another week ... or year. Just get back to it. When New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady throws an interception, does he sit out the rest of the game moping and eating donuts? No. He tries to learn from the mistake. He's constantly correcting so his successes outweigh the errors. Remember when the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX and Brady was voted MVP and all the players lifted him up in their celebration of victory? Remember how many interceptions he threw that game? Me neither. When you've reached your goal and you're standing victorious, nobody is going to care that you had two cookies you shouldn't have had. Get over it and start again. I'm not saying it's O.K. to constantly skip workouts and eat junk. Far more often than not you should be busting your butt and enduring what you need to in order to achieve your goal. But be realistic. You won't always do it right, you won't always give it your best and life will inevitably interfere. Just don't let any of that cause you to abandon your health. We're trying to prevent that yo-yo thin: Slimming down and fattening back up again and again. Too many people start a diet or exercise plan so strict that they just count down the days to when they can return to behaving badly again. Is it really surprising the weight comes back when you return to what you were doing before? But everyone wants everything now. Few folks take seriously a plan that helps shed just two pounds a week. They see "diets" advertised that promise you'll lose five times that amount the first week. But forget about losing 30 pounds in 30 days. You're likely to gain it right back. I'll take the consistent two-pounds per week weight loss plan every time. Remamber, the tortoise beat the hare in the end. You don't need to kill yourself and do everything absolutely perfectly. You're not either on or off. Start working out if you're not. Don't put it off until you have the time to "do it right." Go ahead and do it wrong. Halfway is better than no way. Do you have a big stain on your tie from that Arby's quarter pounder you ate for lunch? That doesn't mean you can't have chicken and veggies for dinner and minimize the damage. Start having a diet soda with your pepperoni double crust pizza. I don't care if it makes sense. Do something - anything - that points you in the right direction. Small changes stack up and eventually become major changes. Above all, when you slip and fall, don't stay there. Rise again. Rich Butkevic is an ISSA-certified fitness trainer, triathlete and writer based in Madison, Wisconsin. He conducts personal training at www.madisontrainer.com.
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