As you progress on your fitness quest, there are a lot of milestones that mark your progress. You will see lower numbers on the scale, increased energy and activity levels, new personal bests for lifting/running/whatever.

And you’ll see your clothes, shoes, rings, everything grow too large for your new body. You’ll have to shop for a whole new wardrobe, get jewelry resized, and essentially have to learn to dress yourself all over again.

Since this is a lifestyle change–not a diet–you have to be ready for bumps and hiccups along the way. You have to be ready for some backsliding. You will hit a weight-loss plateau and stall out for a while, have a cheat day that turns into a cheat week or month, or even get sick and out of your routine while you recover.

Because it’s not a diet, and there’s not a specified end to look forward to, you have to be able to manage your backslides. Once your routine breaks, and you return to your old, unhealthy ways, the only thing you can do is get back up and work your way back into your new lifestile.

Luckily, you can do a few preemptive steps you can take to give yourself a buffer for your inevitable backslide.

Give Away Your Old Clothes

I used to wear 42-44 pants, and XXL or XXXL shirts. I now wear a Medium shirt and 30 pants. That’s awesome. I know. Nice #humblebrag, right? But there’s also a lot of sizes in between where I was and where I am.

And it cost a lot of money to stay in clothes that fit every step of the way. Money that I don’t ever want to have to spend again.

So whenever I lost down to where I couldn’t wear certain sizes anymore, I gave away donated, or sold them so it wouldn’t be easy to go back. I wouldn’t be able to just go into another room and unpack clothes that fit.

I would have to go buy all new clothes in a larger size. So I’d be spending oodles of money because I failed. That alone was enough to keep me motivated.

You can donate to places like Goodwill and Salvation Army or places like Men’s Wearhouse through programs like the National Suit Drive. Or even sell the higher-priced/higher-quality items on eBay to make a little cash to put toward your new, smaller duds.

Vanish All the Bad Food

If your house was like mine, then you need to raid the cupboards and pantry. You need to find everything that’s a temptation from your old lifestyle and get rid of it. If it’s still edible, donate it to a food bank, give it to a family member or friend, whatever.

Just get it out of your house.

Like your old clothes, if you can just walk into the other room and grab a handful of cookies, it’s too easy to backslide. If it’s dinner time, and you see a quick meal-in-a-box, there’s a good chance you won’t spend the extra time slicing up veggies.

If all you have to snack on is fruit and other kinds of healthy foods, you’ll eat those because they’re there. If you allow yourself the temptation of junk food, you might give in to that temptation.

So if you take the steps to live the healthy life you want, then you won’t be nearly as tempted by your old lifestyle.

So go take a look in your kitchen and get rid of anything that doesn’t help you on your fitness quest. It might sound too simple and like common sense, but it’s the simple, common sense ideas that produce results.

That’s It?

Yeah, that’s it. I promise you that if you do those two things–get rid of your old clothes and keep the junk food out of your kitchen–you will have an easier time dealing with the inevitable backslide.

Everyone slacks on their quest, everyone backslides a little. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up and lose every bit of progress you’ve made. Just realize you’re not an exception–very few of us are–and give yourself a buffer so that your temporary backslide doesn’t become permanent.

What steps have you taken to prevent backsliding in your fitness quest?