[av_heading heading=’Are you trying to eat “perfect”?’ tag=’h1′ style=’blockquote modern-quote modern-centered’ size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” av_uid=’av-johpl2db’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
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A perfectionist doesn’t allow any room for error at all. If this is you then you, you think that following your plan must be done to a tee or all is lost. You are in a pattern of setting yourself up to fail to lose weight. If you think you went off your plan ever so slightly that leads you to abandon any effort into losing weight. You end up feeling angry with yourself and quitting because you believe you failed. Many times, you don’t even realize you are doing it. Here are some signs you are a perfectionist.
1. You put off starting your diet.
You know you want to lose weight yet there is always something coming up that gives you a reason not to start. It could be that Christmas is coming and you know that you can’t eat perfectly then, so why even start? How will you ever stay on track and eat all the right foods?
You are procrastinating because you know you can’t do it the right or perfect way. You tell yourself it is better to wait to start then to fail.
2. You say no to going out with friends
You are following your meal plan perfectly and you know that going out with your friends will only derail you from your progress. You don’t go out because it will be “too hard” to find the right foods to eat or you will feel too deprived and then eat off plan.
3. You are too hard on yourself
You are following your food protocol to a tee and don’t allow yourself any room whatsoever. At times you maybe even restrict what it is you are eating. When you go off track just a little bit, this leads to you thinking you failed and there is something wrong with you. Of course, you then quit.
4. You quit on your weight loss
You have one slip or minor setback and then you are telling yourself, what’s the point, so you quit. This is you thinking you failed so why keep on going.
Trying to eat perfectly does not help you with following your meal plan, it’s only contributing to it. There is no such thing as perfect, as well as there is no such thing as good or unhealthy food, food is neutral. When you are attempting to be perfect with food or your eating, it will only lead to self-sabotage which leads to overeating.
Here is what perfect eating looks like:
Just imagine you have followed your meal plan perfectly and then in a moment of weakness you eat that piece of cake. Being a perfectionist, you don’t look at it as a slip-up and get back on your program immediately. Nope. Being the perfectionist that you are you look at this minor slip up as a total failure and even think of yourself as a failure. And since you failed, why not keep on going eating that cake or even so much more. This pattern leads to the end of you following your plan and losing weight.
So rather than being so strict with yourself, what about aiming for B-? This can work or you can also think about it as 85% good with your eating. This takes the pressure off you feeling you need to be perfect. It gives you that bit of room to eat food that used to be bad, wrong or off limits or seen as just a slip-up move.
So here is how not eating perfect would look. You start by following your meal plan, something happens and you slip up and you then stop and observe what you ate. You need to be curious about why you ate it what you did. You do this from a nonjudgmental place and you give yourself the love and compassion that you need. You remember to be patient with yourself. You then keep moving forward taking small steps to get back on track in reaching your weight loss goal.
Know that you will go off your plan at times and it is not the end of the world. You need to maintain flexibility if you want to lose weight and to keep the weight off for the rest of your life.
By being kind to yourself and changing the way you think about not being perfect is so important. It means taking that self-critical thought of, “I failed” and change it to a more compassionate and empowering thought. It could be, “I ate because I was stressed, bored or tired and that is ok, what I do next is more important”. that I Or I am “In the process of learning how to eat that will work for the rest of my life”.
www.karenschaible.com
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