The last seven days were what you would pretty much call a disaster. I've somehow found myself at the end of the week and I haven't even hit the weights once. On top of that, I've missed several meals, eaten far too much junk food and become a genuine couch potato.

When this happens its easy to fall into a downward spiral of regret and depression. We watch the progress earned through blood, sweat and tears melt away in the blink of an eye and fail to take action to reverse the cycle, finding ourselves back where we started, or worse.

So how exactly do we escape this trap?

Whilst I was disappointed with myself for taking the week off I decided then and there that I hadn't made too much of a slip up, there's worse things that could have happened. I wasn't sick, I hadn't broken any bones, I still had access to all the equipment I could ever need and I realised the only thing holding me back was me!

So, instead of looking in the mirror and being overly critical about our mistakes how about we focus on coming up with a plan!

Step 1 - Assess the Damage

Ok, let's see. I'd missed several meals, but in most cases I'd filled those slots with junk food so I was still hitting my calorie intake for the day. My macronutrient intake was off, meaning I wasn't eating enough protein, my fat and carbohydrate intake were too high and I hadn't taken in nearly enough fibre.

I was a little bloated and not feeling 'right'. Nothing that a little clean eating won't fix right up.

The fact that I hadn't actually burnt any calories through exercise meant that, in my case, the weight loss was minimal. I'd lost a total of 1kg of muscle mass, which took approximately 1 month to put on, and they appeared to be looking slightly 'softer'.

That was my damage assessment as a result of 1 week of slacking off.

What about you? Did you lose weight? Did you gain weight?

Step 2 - Make An Action Plan

Make no mistake about it, the battle to regain your lost progress will still take effort. The bright side about it is that you'll get back to where you were much faster than it took you to get there in the first place. I like to think of it as some sort of muscle memory.

My plan of action is simple, I'm going to get in all my meals and workouts for the week! Revisit the blog I wrote about motivation if you need some extra oomph to get you going.

So I've already prepared enough meals for the entire week, meaning I won't fall into the trap of eating out because my meals are premade and readily available.

My partner and I have agreed that we aren't going to skip our workouts this week. We'll go together, that way we can keep each other stuck to the plan. If I'm at risk of slipping up I know she'll be there to kick me into action, especially if I feel guilty that she's going to the gym and I'm not!

If you plan ahead, you plan for success. What's your plan? 

Step 3 - Take Back What Once Was Yours

So I've pin-pointed where I fell short without being overly critical of myself and I've taken steps to make sure I won't repeat the mistake.

I estimate that I'll be back up to where I was within about 3 weeks.

To me that's a realistic goal. In fact I could even push myself to a new level of fitness and muscularity, especially If I treat this as an exciting adventure and embrace the opportunity to spur my motivation onwards and upwards.

So you've found out where you went wrong by assessing the damage. You've made an action plan to get the ball rolling again and the only thing you've left now is to take back what belongs to you!   What are you waiting for? Get out there and get it done!