For some reason we have taught ourselves over time to think if we’re “not all in” and giving our diet 100% every day then we have failed.
Scenario: You’ve been on top of our game, exercising every day, eating healthy all week and then you have one slice of unplanned pizza or cookie one night and it’s all over- might as well throw in the towel because you feel defeated and that you’ve blown it!
Read more as I uncover how we unknowingly self-sabotage our diet (as well as our results), and how to stop doing it!
The Classic Scenario
You’ve made a decision to “eat healthy“, and things are going great! You feel strong and upbeat, and you’ve lost a little bit of weight. You’re coasting!
Then one night, your friends want to go out for dinner. You really don’t want to turn down the invitation, because you’ve been so ‘perfect’ with your ‘diet’ all week long, eating only ‘good, clean’ foods, and you deserve a treat! You’ve also intentionally avoided eating out because your “diet” doesn’t allow a lot of the foods that are on restaurant menus.
You go for the meal, dessert, a second glass of wine, and who knows what else.
The next morning, you wake up feeling bloated and defeated. Just because you overindulged the night before, you feel like you might as well extend the party though the weekend. Off you go to brunch, and later on in the day, the cookies (or your favorite food of choice) come out of hiding. The next day, you feel so bad about yourself for ‘failing’, you can barely stand to look in the mirror.
You decide you’ll get back on the diet wagon…on Monday. But right now, you’re craving some ice cream…and why not? You’ve already blown it. Might as well get it now before you’re dieting once again.
This all or nothing attitude towards food is probably the single most common way I see my clients sabotage their “healthy eating” efforts.
Stop Expecting Perfection
In all honesty, in nutrition, there’s no such thing as perfection. When you expect some sort of divine perfection in your eating habits, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Even the healthiest of eaters (dietitians, perhaps?) eat junk food and overindulge sometimes.
What is perfect, anyhow?
A ‘perfect’ diet is unheard of. I assure my clients that each slip and each stumble are necessary “teachable moments”. This is perfect time to rewind, identify the trigger and ask yourself what “can I do different next time? – trust there will be a next time!
Then move on and move forward. LET IT GO!
However, if you find this pattern constantly repeats itself, getting trained support and guidance is important to avoid unwanted weight gain and health complications. Remember too: No matter what you eat, and even if your diet is ‘perfect’, you will remain the same person inside. You are not defined by your diet.
Let Good Enough Be Good Enough
For an all or nothing person, a restrictive diet is the road to guilt and shame. If that person is not on a diet, they’re off one – and by off, I mean OFF (over-eating), no happy medium. My recommendation is quite simply, don’t diet, which includes low-carb, low calorie, high protein, overly restrictive…… Diet
You want to eat healthy! For many ‘eating healthy’ requires defining. I want you to find your ‘healthyish’ or ‘good enough’.
Forget about the diet mentality of restriction, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods, guilt and shame around food, and linking your value as a person with what you eat. It doesn’t make you feel good, and it never works in the long run. Life and food are supposed to be enjoyable! Restrictive diets – the ‘on a diet’ stage – are usually not sustainable, and tend to result in cravings and binges on the very foods your trying to avoid.
When you inevitably have a slip up, the resulting guilt may actually cause you to eat more. Then comes the ‘off a diet’ stage of overindulgence. It’s an exhausting and vicious cycle. Also the diet mentality can also be full of judgements about food like ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’, that you transfer onto yourself as a person.
Again, not being kind to yourself. Let’s just put it out there: you are NOT your diet. Eating unhealthy food does NOT make you unhealthy, and it doesn’t make you a failure or a bad person. The food you eat – healthy or unhealthy – has ZERO to do with your self-worth.
Summary
In a nutshell, we are not defined by how and what we eat. When we are trying to change habits and eat healthier set yourself up for success.
Remember that you are human. You will slip up. You will not always follow the ‘script’. Approach slip ups as ‘teachable’ moments. Rewind only to determine the trigger and to ask yourself “what can you different” the next time?
Then MOVE ON and LET IT GO.
Know and Trust you are still moving forward to reaching your ultimate goals! Slip ups helps us grow to the next level!
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