Did I Say 1 Cookie, I Meant 12

Have you ever started your day with the best of intentions, meals tracked, workout planned, all your ducks in a row, only to finish the night knee deep in the cookie jar with your perfectly planned day in shambles? I know I have!

If you're anything like me, days like those used to totally throw me into a guilty tail spin the next morning, making me regret the decisions from the night before and taking with it every once of fun memories I had made with it. While I won't deny that some tiny remnants of guilt still sometimes creep at the corners of my subconscious when I wake up only to remember that my 2,200 calorie goal ended up being a 4,400 calorie annihilation, I am happy to report that I have gathered quite a few tricks to stop that guilty feeling in its tracks before it wreaks havoc on my day and body image.

Here are my tips for stopping the guilt and moving on with your day:

1. Before you face a mirror, take a second to prepare to face your reflection. What I mean by that is, stand tall, pull your belly in, tighten your core, throw your shoulders back and put a smile on your face! If you're going to subject yourself to a mirror, the least you can do is make sure you give yourself a fair chance at seeing how beautiful and strong you really are. Do not dare face yourself with shoulders slumped, belly pushed out and a pout on your face, as that just perpetuates the guilt cycle and really doesn't do your body justice if you ask me.

2. Force yourself to tell your reflection 5 things you love about your body and then walk away from the mirror. I love saying things like, "look at my strong shoulders, I love my crazy curly hair in the morning, dang girl, your legs are looking muscular, etc."

3. Do NOT for the love of God, get up and stand on the scale! If you overindulged last night, why on earth would you then verify your 'mistakes' by stepping on the scale? There is literally no positive information you are going to gain from seeing that number, so why add that extra element of stress. Likely things will have increased from last night, whether that be due to water retention or something else, but seeing it in front of you is truly not necessary, trust me!

4. Plan to drink at least your body weight in ounces (oz) of water to give your body a chance to re-hydrate and get rid of some of that extra water retention that may have resulted from your recent decisions.

5. Do not starve yourself, but rather stick to your normal eating schedule, focusing on whole foods, leafy greens, lean proteins and healthy fats with low sugar to get you back on track as quickly as you fell off.

6. Stick to your regular exercise routine. Just because you over ate in the cookie department last night, does not mean you have to punish your body by signing up for an excessive amount of workouts the next day, rather use the extra fuel to perhaps pick up heavier weights or feel stronger today. Food and exercise is not a transactional relationship and as much as we want to believe it, you cannot work off last night's decisions with excess fitness today so don't even try.

Ultimately, realize that your body went through an out of the ordinary event too (can you imagine having to digest all those sweets before shutting down for the night?!), so treat it with kindness and grace and realize that one bad day will not ruin all of your hard work. Trust me when I say that over indulging happens to literally everybody every once in a while, it's what makes us human and in my book, it's absolutely worth it to dive headlong into sweets some days, because while kale may be good for the body, chocolate is good for the soul and we all need a bit of balance in our lives, am I right?