Forget Perfection, Give Yourself a Break!

Like me, I'm sure you always try your hardest to stay on top of things, but sometimes you get derailed. An unexpected phone call makes you run 15 minutes late. One of your children stays home from school with a cold, and you need to stay home, too. Or you have lunch with a friend and taste a few bites of her chocolate mousse. Then what happens? You get angry with yourself.

You aim for perfection and then get upset when you miss the mark. And that's negativity you just don't need! We all make mistakes (it's human!), but you can't let those slipups get the best of you. Don't get discouraged if you fall off your diet or miss a workout — and certainly don't throw in the towel! Plan to do better tomorrow: Do an extra 15 minutes of cardio and a few extra reps of each exercise in your strength-training workout, or walk a little bit further.

Remember: One failure doesn't have to stop your progress or take away from all you've achieved until then. Put in a little extra work later, and relax and enjoy your day.

Forget Perfection, Give Yourself a Break!

Like me, I'm sure you always try your hardest to stay on top of things, but sometimes you get derailed. An unexpected phone call makes you run 15 minutes late. One of your children stays home from school with a cold, and you need to stay home, too. Or you have lunch with a friend and taste a few bites of her chocolate mousse. Then what happens? You get angry with yourself.

You aim for perfection and then get upset when you miss the mark. And that's negativity you just don't need! We all make mistakes (it's human!), but you can't let those slipups get the best of you. Don't get discouraged if you fall off your diet or miss a workout — and certainly don't throw in the towel! Plan to do better tomorrow: Do an extra 15 minutes of cardio and a few extra reps of each exercise in your strength-training workout, or walk a little bit further.

Remember: One failure doesn't have to stop your progress or take away from all you've achieved until then. Put in a little extra work later, and relax and enjoy your day.

Give Yourself a Break

Question:

Can I speed up my toning results by exercising my trouble spots every day?

Answer:

I'm afraid you can't — and rather than speeding up your results, this could be a recipe for injury! So be careful! Your muscles need a day to recover from resistance exercise. If you work the same muscle group every day, the muscles never get a chance to recover and grow stronger. Worse, you feel sore and tired all the time, which may ruin your motivation.

The point is, mix it up, and allow each body area to recover completely. Your results will come, I promise!