Why is healthy eating the first thing to go when my week gets busy?

You have a breakfast that's been working for you. You like it. It keeps you satisfied through the morning. Most days, it has become pretty easy to make.

Then Wednesday looks different.

You have to leave the house earlier than usual. You grab coffee on the way out the door but didn't get a chance to make and eat breakfast. By 10:30 you're hungry. Lunch happens later than you expected. By midafternoon you're looking for something sweet.

Suddenly a habit that seemed to be going pretty well is gone and your hunger and cravings are ramped up and you are eating foods you didn't plan on.

It can feel surprisingly discouraging. I was doing so well. Why can't I keep this going when life gets busy?

But the busy day may actually be showing you something useful about the habit you're trying to build.

What's behind it

Think about what made that breakfast easy on the other mornings.

You had enough time. The food was in the house. You were in your normal kitchen. You knew what you were going to make. You didn't have to think very hard about it.

Then your schedule changed, and some of the things supporting the habit disappeared.

The habit didn't suddenly become less important to you. The conditions that made it easy changed.

You eat the lunch you want when you're working from home, but struggle on a day filled with back-to-back meetings. You make dinner when you're home at 5:30, but everything changes when an activity keeps you out until 7:30. Your afternoon snack works when you have something in your bag, but disappears during a day of errands.

It's easy to think of those as the days that interfere with your healthy habits.  Yet, those days are part of your life too.

A healthy way of eating can't only fit the days when everything goes according to plan.

That doesn't mean every day needs an elaborate backup plan. It means a habit becomes more useful when it has enough flexibility to work under more than one set of circumstances.

If Greek yogurt, berries and nuts is the breakfast that works for you on a normal morning, consistency doesn't necessarily mean eating that exact breakfast every day.

The habit you're really trying to build may be broader:  I eat a breakfast that keeps me satisfied through the morning.

There can be different ways to do it.

Your normal weekday version might be yogurt, fruit and nuts. An early-morning version may need to be something you can take with you. A restaurant breakfast can look different again. Travel may require choosing from whatever is available at the hotel or airport.

The foods you choose can change while what you want the breakfast to do for you stays the same.

That's an important distinction, because consistency doesn't have to mean eating the same breakfast or following the same routine every day.

Consistency can mean finding different ways to eat a breakfast that keeps you satisfied through the morning when your schedule or circumstances change.

And when that breakfast habit falls apart on a busy or different day, the experience can help you figure out what you need to make breakfast work on those days too.

One Useful Rhythm

This week, when a healthy habit gets harder because your day changes, don't immediately decide you need to be more disciplined.

Pause and ask:

• What changed?
• What made this habit harder to do today?
• What would have made it easier?

You needed something you could grab on the way out the door, the food you normally rely on wasn't available, too many hours passed between meals, or the habit required more time or effort than you had available that day.

You don't have to solve every possible situation.  Start with the one that actually happened.

A busy day isn't just the day your habit fell apart. It can show you what would help that habit work better the next time life looks like this.

That's how healthy eating begins to fit more than your easiest days.

It begins to fit the way you actually live.

Warmly,
Kim Stitzel, MS, RD
Founder, The Fuel Queen
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Helping women discover what deserves their attention and build rhythms that fit real life.

P.S. Figuring out why a habit gets harder when life gets busy is useful. The next question is what can you put in place to help it hold when your day changes?

That's what we'll work through tomorrow at Fuel Queen Live! — How to Make a Healthy Habit Work When Life Gets Busy. I'll show you four ways to support a healthy habit so it can keep working when your routine changes.

Join me Wednesday at 5:00 PM CT. Save your seat here.