Our diets can get off track every once in a while, but how does that happen? I like to call it “diet drifting.” It’s when weekly or even daily habits change without us even recognizing it. It can seem subtle, but that eventually drifts into bad habits that set us back. You might think you are doing everything you did when you were shredded, yet those little choices can get away from us. Remember, you can’t out-train a bad diet or even a drifting diet. That stubborn fat will slowly creep up on you without realizing it.
Last summer my diet and training were on point. Sitting at 5% body fat I was cruising. “Suddenly” I realized my body fat was up to 8% and was noticing some stubborn fat around the midsection. It made no sense to me as I thought I was doing the same diet and workout routine consistently without any changes. I kept a log of my daily routine for a week to see if I could figure this thing out. I was 5 days in when I caught the culprit. Every Friday, I would reward my hard work with a chicken sandwich from the drive-through. The thing that changed was the added waffle fries from out of nowhere that became a weekly habit. I traced it back to mid-summer when I was so consistent at 5% body fat I felt like I had some room to extend my little pleasure with added fries. That didn’t cease to stop over the next 7 weeks. Looking back it still doesn’t seem like much, but never underestimate the power of calories, especially bad calories.
Diet drifting is something that can happen to anyone. Make sure to track your calories every once in a while to ensure you are hitting your numbers. It’s so easy to get complacent when things are going well. If your body fat percentage goes up or you are gaining unwanted weight you can go back and look at your logs to find the cause. You can also keep a diet journal for a week and see if something pops out at you.
Going into this summer I’m going to watch out for those waffle fries and any other small habit that begins to pick up steam. Catch it early and you’re right back in the game!
Photo by: Mina Arroyo
