Staying on task after completing Thrive 1

This may be a bit of a dumb question, but I'm looking for help to stay on task after completing Thrive 1. I finished the program earlier this year and got great results, but I've noticed that I slowly slipped back to some mediocre/sloppy habits. I'm still doing breakfasts well and I would say 70% of the rest of my meals are pretty solid, but I've been doing things like having lunches and dinners without veggies .. sometimes I'll come home from work and crush half a bag of tortilla chips with salsa... sometimes I've been having fast food on non-cheat days. You get the idea... just getting a little sloppy.

During the program I noticed that I was motivated to not miss any tasks because I wanted to unlock the next task and the next. Now I find I've been a little less motivated. But I'd like to get more precise again and am looking for tips/help/encouragement.

I'm aware that this may be an "ain't nothin to it but to do it" situation, but either way, I thought I'd reach out for assistance.

Thanks in advance!

Cam

I think fighting out what works is highly personal. You might want to hold yourself accountable by checking off the boxes every day or committing to posting photos of your lunch and dinner on the forum every day.

what helps me THE MOST is preparing all my meals for the work week in advance. If all I have to do is reheat something, I'm significantly more likely to stay on track!

Maybe next challange could be to get to 100 days in a row and then ... 200  You never know, maybe someday we display the best stats, will it be yours?

I must say i have found it extremely habit forming and don't have trouble sticking. However, this is also because I view it the same as I do my GST training; I do plenty of other activity but that's all extra on top of the core rotation that is where the big benefits are. My fledgling clean and jerks aren't going to give me what extended sets of handstand wall runs are

Similarly Thrive is the fallback, the go-to, the basis of my day to day. As perfectionist as I am, I am still only on level 1 and if I want to have a treat, well, I'll have a treat. Same as I'd play with hbp after doing my assigned hspu, I'll have mango jerky (a weakness of mine) after eating a proper dinner, and not sweat it.

That's my thought process. Knowing i can have it if I want, most of the time I don't want it enough to take time to go to the supermarket just for a little pack of mango. Forbidding things is when you start talking yourself into them

Julia - yes totally, I've noticed that preparation is huge. So you get everything ready for the week on Sunday?

Matic - that's a good call man... I'm gonna shoot for 30 days first Let's see if I can make it to Nov 1st. How perfect that it's the 1st day of the month today!

Jon - that's helpful... your attitude seems a little more mentally free than mine . I also noticed that Jeff didn't specifically restrict things yet, so crushing nachos or mango jerky isn't that bad at this point I guess. For me it's almost always a lack of preparation, as Julia mentioned... I'll be at work, no packed lunch... I'm busy all day then in a low-blood-sugar moment of weakness I think that McDonald's is a good idea.

All helpful stuff guys! Thanks for responding

Cam

Pretty much! Sometimes I make all my lunches on Sunday and then cook all my dinners on Monday night. 

What work are best for my lazy bones is to eat the same thing for lunch every day of the work week and the same dinner every night for the work week.

But there are lots of ways to do meal prep. Some blogs focus on making a couple different meals out of the same basics for the week (like roast a chicken for two meals and use the leftovers for taco bowls). 

Also, some people like spending an afternoon once a month or so doing a lot of measuring/chopping/etc. And freezing it for quick prep in the future.

Very helpful Julia - thank you!

Hi everyone, time is very short right now, so my apologies for the telegraphic style, but here's a brain dump of things that came to mind when reading the thread that might be helpful to some. Very interesting things in previous comments!

• staying on track: you could also use a phone app like the Strides for iphone (or similar, lots of good ones) to set up 1) alerts at appropriate times that act as triggers for goals and 2) allow you to tick off boxes for tasks completed. I do that for my water goal of 2L a day. I have a 500ml water bottle with me and I have a goal of emptying it 4 times a day, with 6 alerts spaced through the day. Alerts remind me of drinking even if I'm not thirsty and I am motivated by achieving my 4/day water goals. If issue is linked to planning, etc, you could set up goals similarly to prep a packed lunch the evening before, etc. The app is free to use for up to 10 goals/habits, so if on iphone, highly recommended checking it out.
• breaking down when arriving home and gobbling up whatever is easy: I'm guilty here with dark chocolate. I tried many things to solve that issue "responsibly" and never managed it. So I went with the most effective one: I asked my wife to only buy dark chocolate for her/the kids, and hide it well (like, not in a cupboard in the kitchen I might go through for other things). It worked, and so far I haven't bought some myself :-) The message here is: if it's not in the house, it will be much easier to avoid eating it, so only buy things you would not be ashamed to binge on, and that will be much easier. You may have to forgo the concept of cheat days for that, but that may be worth it if the flip side is eating cheat day meals more often than not.
• no packed lunches: you may find it worth the effort to pack a lunch, though I don't know your work circumstances. I can prepare lunch at home for work, but I don't have a permanent office (so no fridge) and I'm really struggling for time with lots of work and 3 young kids (older is 5yo). What works for me is prioritizing batch cooking and easy to prep stuff. To give you an idea, my typical lunch these days more often than not is 3 containers, all thrown in my bag with no consideration with refrigeration and containing:
  • 2 cans of sardines mashed with apple cider vinegar: 5 mins prep time max, 2500mg of DHA per serving, lots of good things. Taste is acquired, but you can use canned mackerel, tuna (though less DHA there of course), etc.
  • 1 very large serve of fermented veggies that I buy off the shelf (organic, etc.): 2 mins prep to fill the container, clean up the mess, etc. I have several flavors, so that changes things.
  • 1 large serve of whatever carb I have cooked in the fridge (we cook carbs in bulk): it could be whole cold potatoes I eat like that, cold rice, or cold sweet potato mash (my wife usually cooks rice for 4-5 portions, but potatoes/sweet potatoes more like 7-8 portions). Prep time: 2 mins max.
  • Comments: I eat everything cold when I can during the day. It's not a hot fancy meal, it wouldn't win any awards, but it's prepped and packed under 10 mins with minimal preparation time before (cooking the carbs). Some will probably think/say "no way I can eat this day-in day-out", and I totally understand as a guy who doesn't like sardines ;-) But when you consider the big picture, if that's what it takes to be able to eat a (very) healthy lunch at work, then I do it. Looking at it another way, which works really well for me (maybe not for everyone): when I look at stories of Syrians still having to live In Aleppo or making it day after day as refugees somewhere, then I look at my cold lunch with fishes I don't really like, and I eat it feeling very, very lucky to be able to eat it.
  • Comments 2: main message is you can probably find things you can pack for lunch in 10 mins that will get you a healthy lunch in the bag for work, though it won't be a culinary feast ;-)

@Cameron Williams (and everyone else!) I would be interested in knowing how much wanting to know what the next step is or wanting to read more information from Jeff was a motivator? If you have to make yourself accountable by ticking off boxes but don't feel like advancing towards "unlocking" something, does that make a huge difference? And is unlocking new knowledge a better motivator than unlocking something like, levels that just gives recognition?

@Jeff Serven I've been thinking about this issue before (kind of my line of work, so naturally interested!) and my hypothesis is that knowing you will unlock new steps to do and new knowledge to read on is a huge motivator, especially because it is intriguing. The ideal way to ensure compliance with Thrive is the highest would be an infinite number of steps (with levels so that it doesn't feel inatteignable when starting). But maybe there would be ways to increase compliance after Thrive proper is completed, like awarding levels for people who complete 1 month of Thrive compliance after end of program, then after 3 months, etc. And then rewarding people with something intriguing like access to dedicated forum (not sure as not very interesting with few people there) or access to webinars/calls with you twice a year, or something like that. Not asking you to do that of course, but interested in your thoughts on improving compliance both during Thrive and after completing it for those who struggle to keep the habits in place :-)

Good stuff. I like you post Thrive ideas. I will think on it.

@Julien Le Nestour, great post!! For me it was a combination of mystery (what's next?!), wanting more (I was ready for ALL the tasks...in my own mind at least ; ), and wanting to continue along a progression (I love following plans). 

So I'd something to help with continued compliance. Maybe something on our profiles where level/type of coach would be that says (100% thrive for x months) or something?