Decreased exercise

You may find yourself exercising less than you had planned. This may come about for several reasons: illness, work, school, family obligations, moving, vacations, and so on. Whatever the issue may be, you need a plan so that you can preempt a relapse into your old habits. Say you were sick for one week and were unable to exercise. The solution to this problem could be as simple as setting a realistic and reasonable restart date on the calendar, such as 10 days from the start of your illness, and having a friend, family member, or exercise partner give you a reminder. If you recover from your illness sooner than expected, then start back earlier. Remember to start at a comfortable pace until you are back on track. A reasonable time frame to be back on track after resuming your plan is around two weeks. However, if your illness lasts longer than a week or if you have had a severe illness such as influenza, which can involve significant fluid loss from diarrhea and vomiting, you should see your physician before restarting your program.

You can also set a restart date if you have special work-related circumstances, moving days, or vacations that pull you away from exercise. But most situations in life allow time for some exercise and, as discussed in chapter 4, splitting your exercise routine up into smaller, more manageable sessions is still effective. However, for those situations that do not allow for split exercise sessions, you need to recognize when your exercise decreases so that you can resume your plan as soon as possible.

Another strategy is to enlist the help of another person. For example, have a friend keep an envelope of your money. Your friend is not to return your money until you restart your program. You can even notify your health care team that you are unable to exercise for a short time, and then ask them if they could call you with a reminder to restart your program.

No matter what method you use to prevent the relapse into an unhealthy lifestyle, your main focus should be to keep on track with your program. Whether splitting up your exercise routines into smaller, more manageable sessions for a short time or stopping exercise for a week with a planned restart date, you must not allow yourself to fall back into an unhealthy lifestyle. The longer you are away from exercise, the more likely you are to slip back into your old habits and the more difficult it will be to regain the success you have achieved. From my own experience, you will find it easier to get back into your program if you do not miss more than three consecutive days of exercise.