This post about getting back on track is inspired by reader questions, and I think it’s something we can all relate to. This post is also an updated version with fresh tips.

Breaks happen. And oftentimes, breaks are fine. Let’s talk about taking breaks and coming back from them too.

Guess what? Nobody is perfect. Being perfect with your nutrition and fitness every single day shouldn’t be your goal, because not only is perfect boring, but also, there is more to life than health and fitness. And sometimes, things in our lives get in the way of how we want to be eating and moving, and that’s okay. There’s no need to beat yourself up or dwell on the fact that you skipped some workouts or ate too much junk food. Here’s how you can get back on track …

How to get back on track after taking a break from your healthy routine

Identify why you took the break and accept it.

Before you can get back on track, you need to identify why you got off track in the first place. What exactly was it that took you off track? Was it a vacation? Did you start a new job? Did you lose your current job? Were you sick? Were you caring for a sick family member? Were you just plain busy and unmotivated? Did you get injured?

Whatever it was that happened, think about it, process it, and move on. We all have times in our lives when we lean more on convenience food and find ourselves being sedentary. You had yours, and now you’re ready to address is.

Being able to identify what happened and how you got to this place will be important in the future, so you can hopefully curb the need for a full-fledged break when other things in your life get tough.

For instance, if you had a big presentation at work and put in so many extra hours you barely left the office, then when you see another deadline approaching, make sure you have a plan in place for your nutrition and movement. Maybe that’s ordering healthy freezer meals to have on hand or maybe it’s finding time to exercise simply by taking the stairs at the office or walking the parking lot. This is just one example, but you can plan for other cases too.

Personally, I like to take a couple week-long breaks from my regular routine each year. Typically, these fall around vacations or holidays. When I go on vacation, I definitely don’t stick to my workout routine. I like to rest or go for walks. For me, my body needs a break (as a group fitness instructor, I’m getting a ton of movement regularly), so a week off is welcome. When it comes to food, although I mostly like healthy food, I definitely veer off more on vacations too. And I plan to do plenty of veering next week, when we go away to Maine for a few nights.

Here are the first things you should do to get back on track after a break …

When you’ve taken a break, here are the first things you should do …

Focus on getting plenty of quality sleep.

If you’re coming off of a work trip, a vacation, a stressful time or even illness, you really need to catch up on sleep. Getting enough quality sleep each night will help you feel better on so many levels. I’d choose a consistent bed-time and wake-up time, make your bedroom cold and dark, avoid technology about 30 minutes before bed and aim to do that every single night, so you wake up feeling refreshed. Your body (and sometimes even your mind) heals while you sleep.

Focus on getting proper hydration.

It’s very common to forget to drink water when you’re out of your element and away from your routine. But staying hydrated really matters. If you’re coming back from time off, jumpstart your healthy routine with extra water. For me, I like to drink my bodyweight in ounces in each day (that’s about 145 ounces, because I weigh about 145 pounds), and I often add sea salt to my first glass of water and some electrolytes to another glass for extra minerals. 

*Even if you’re not ready to get back to movement, sleeping properly and hydrating properly are great places to start.*

Focus on filling your pantry and fridge with easy and healthy food. 

If you’re ready to get back into a healthy routine, you need to fill your world with healthy food. I’d suggest hitting up the grocery store for easy-to-eat produce, protein and more. If you’re a meal prepper, you can prep. But if you’re not, you just need the right stuff on hand. You can also splurge on a healthy-meal delivery service for a few weeks to get you back on track as well. While I don’t think you need to eliminate any food groups or start a strict diet, I do think introducing more fruits and veggies and homemade meals is a great thing to do.

I’m not a huge fan of green powders for myself (I hate the taste), but this is a great addition if you can handle them to add in a lot of extra good stuff (along with a meal). 

By the way, if you’ve let your pantry get overrun with junk food that you don’t want any longer during your break from your healthy routine — you probably need to get rid of it. Send it into the office with a friend or partner, donate it to a food bank or just toss it, if you must. 

Focus on starting small with your movement. Then plan your workouts for the next couple of weeks. 

Start small. Start small. Start small. If you’ve been out of the workout game for a while, don’t throw yourself back into an intense hour-long workout-situation every day. Take baby steps. 

Start with walks. Start with bodyweight. Keep it light and short and begin to build back up gradually. Do you know how good a brisk walk in sunlight feels after you’ve been sedentary for a few weeks? It feels great, and you want to do things that feel good when you’re coming back from time off.

Here’s how you could do your return … for the first week back, just walk every (or most days), and gradually pick up the pace and begin to swing your arms too. Then, the next week, add in some bodyweight strength training like knee push-ups, planks and air squats. Then, the next week, consider returning to a couple of group fitness classes or longer gym workouts. Once you’ve been building back up little by little, you can get closer and closer to the routine you had before. (Or, maybe you need to create a brand new routine? That’s cool too. Make sure you pick up some weights in that new routine.)

Here are the things you shouldn’t do to get back on track after a break …

Now that we’ve talked about the first steps you should take to get back on track after a break, let’s cover the things you should NOT do …

Do not put off the return. And do not tell yourself that you will start being healthy “next week” and continue on with your bad eating and sedentary lifestyle for longer than necessary.

If you’re coming out of the event that caused you to take a break from your healthy routine, as soon as you’ve returned to normal, you should take a small step toward healthy the very next day. Putting off your return to healthy habits for too long makes it harder to get back to them. And when you keep saying, “I’ll start next week,” you may extend an okay-to-take break into a too-long break. See what to do above, and choose one small item and tackle it right away.

Do not plan to launch into extremes with your diet. That means, do not skip meals, do not plan to starve yourself, do not plan to do a juice cleanse and do not plan to eat only salads for every meal.

Whenever someone tells me that they’ve been eating badly lately, so they’re going to do a juice cleanse, I cringe. I try to respond nicely and keep my opinion to myself, but inside, I cringe. A juice cleanse is not necessary. And all you’ll do with a juice cleanse is drop some water weight and lose valuable muscle mass (as well as get hangry) over the course of a few days.

The body has a natural detoxing process, so you don’t need to detox. You just need to take small steps to return to a healthier eating routine. Increasing your water intake, increasing your sleep quality, moving your body and eating more nutrient-dense fruits and veggies along with your meals will naturally detox you. A juice cleanse is just a fad. Ask anyone with any nutrition credentials and they will tell you the same.

Remember, when you begin being too restrictive with your food, whether through skipping meals, telling yourself to avoid all sugar or carbs, you’re possibly setting yourself up for a binge or you’re setting yourself up to “fall off the wagon.”

Your normal healthy diet should include a little bit of everything, so you’re never fully depriving yourself. Even though you may want quick results from a strict diet upon returning to your healthy routine, you must remember that an extreme diet is not part of an actual healthy routine.

Do not plan to work out super hard every single day. 

Much like you don’t want to launch into a restrictive diet, you also don’t want to launch into an extreme exercise routine. If you take a break, then go back to the gym too hard, too soon, you may wind up injured, sore, overtired or overtrained, and that’s going to force you to have to take another break. Once again, small baby steps back into movement are ideal. See the tip above on how to do just that.

Do not tell yourself that you failed and punish yourself for your actions.

Breaks are fine. Breaks are part of life. Don’t overthink your break. Because eating unhealthy food, skipping the gym and being lazy happens to us all sometimes. There’s no need to panic if you’ve had to miss a week or two (or more) of workouts and healthy food. It’s never too late to change course. Once you make a plan to get back on track with your healthy habits, no punishment or regret is needed, just move forward on a positive note. 

And that’s how you get back on track after taking a break from your healthy routine! 

(Speaking of a healthy routine, shown here is my new air purifier, which helps to reduce dust in the air, improves the air quality in my room and has totally helped me sleep well.)

Closing thoughts

I wrote this post because I had people ask me questions about this exact topic. The fact that you want to know how to get back on track is half the battle. But remember, living a truly healthy life includes a little bit of everything, breaks and all. The important thing to know is that you don’t want your break to be too long, and you don’t want to launch into extremes. Treat yourself right, friend. And thanks for reading this one.

Other posts you may like

• How I’ve increased my protein intake over the last few months
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• Common habits shared by fit and healthy people

Questions of the day

What’s something that has derailed your health and fitness goals?

What makes you feel better after time away from the gym or good nutrition?