Don’t Let One Loss Turn Into Two

Football coach’s are full of cliches. In fact, to become a coach you have to take a secret test on “coach speak” before you’re allowed in the fraternity.

“There’s no I in team”

“Where there’s a will there’s a way”

“Believe and achieve”

When I was a know it all 20 something this stuff drove me crazy.

But now that I’m a know it 40 something I’ve become obsessed with the the hidden wisdom found found within cliche coach speak.

My current favorite is “Don’t let one loss turn into two.”

When it comes to your weight loss goals, this advice is invaluable. Let me illustrate with an example:

It’s Thursday morning. You were planning on getting a workout in but when your alarm goes

off you hit snooze and don’t have enough time before work to get to the gym.

In the game of weight loss you just suffered a defeat. It happens to all of us and it’s not a big deal. But how you handle it is crucial.

You can wake up and get right back on your plan. If you eat your healthy breakfast, pack your low calories lunch, and follow through with your plan the defeat was nothing, a mere bump on the path to your goal weight.

Or you can get out of bed mad at yourself because you missed a workout. You start playing the “woulda, shoulda, coulda” game in your brain.

When you get to work someone brought doughnuts from The Main Street Grill. In your head you think “I already missed my workout this morning so why don’t I just have a doughnut and start fresh tomorrow.”

You just let one loss turn into two.

And if you’re not careful you’re likely to wake up Sunday morning five pounds heavier and full of regret.

We’re human - and as humans we are going to make bad choices. And to be successful in any endeavor we need to learn from our mistakes and move on, not obsess over them.