We’ve all been there at some point or another. Whether we were out with friends, had family or friends visiting, out at a special event… we let our guard down, temptation struck, and our food cravings got the better of us. One cheat meal turned into a whole day off and then into a whole weekend binge. Trust me, I know how it goes…I’ve been there. After a binge it can feel like the biggest set-back ever, but it doesn’t have to be – if you apply some strategic ‘damage control.’ By using some proven strategies to pick yourself up immediately afterwards you will be able to regain focus and control over your diet and avoid any further setbacks. Here’s some quick tips that you can implement the next time you find yourself in this situation.

Re-frame Your Mindset:
First, do not over react and panic. It’s easy to get totally down on yourself because you blew your diet. You have to accept that you can’t change the past. What you can change is the future, so you just have to wipe the slate clean and move on—you have control from this point forward. There is nothing to be gained from dwelling on what you can’t change and wasting emotional energy on guilty thoughts.We all tend to over-think things and make them a lot more complicated than they really are. The truth is that it is simple, realize that it’s all about choices – and you can choose to move forward from this point on and make better choices.

Drink Lots Of Water:
It sounds simple but it’s key. Usually when you wake up the next morning after a binge, you will be feeling two things; bloated and ravenous. The bloating is due to the excess carbohydrate consumption, along with a high intake of sodium, depending on what foods you indulged in. Your hunger will feel out of control because of the fluctuating level of blood glucose and insulin in your body. So if you start drinking water as soon as you wake up, this will help your body start getting back to a normal status. The water intake will help you combat the water retention and bloating. It should also fill you up and help keep you from over indulging again.

Reduce Carbs and Boost Your Protein:
Another key is to try and significantly reduce your carbohydrate consumption while you increase your lean protein intake.This will keep you from topping over your carbohydrate stores so they don’t continue to spill-over into your fat stores. Adding the lean protein will help to re-balance your blood sugar levels and stop the cravings.

Eat Your Veggies:
Again these may seem like simple things to do, but they work. Eat as many vegetables as you can. The fiber in vegetables will help you feel full without adding any excess calories to your daily intake. By nature the foods we tend to binge on are usually quite nutritionally devoid, so the vegetables will flood your body with nutrients, helping you get back on track from a nutritional point of view.

Get Active:
Finally, it’s time to get active.With all the extra carbs and calories in your system now is a great time to get in a high intensity workout. The intense nature of a HIIT workout will use up excess carbohydrates and glucose floating around your system, it will help to dramatically accelerate your metabolic rate allowing you to burn off any excess calories you consumed. Getting back to your workouts should also put you back in a healthy frame of mind.

Follow the above guidelines for a few days in a row, then get back to your usual diet and training routine. Let that weekend binge be a fading memory!

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