The #1 thing to eliminate overwhelm when making lifestyle changes!

All too often, I hear folks say how overwhelmed they feel with trying to make lifestyle changes.  That is one of the major reasons why they reach out to me.  They feel like they have tried everything and nothing is working.  They cannot keep up or maintain their changes long term.  The diets they have been on previously were so strict or could only be maintained for so long with their given lifestyle.

The thing I see wrong with most diets is the “All or Nothing” mentality it demands. 

Have the words, “If I cannot do it perfectly, why bother trying?” ever crossed your mind?

How about, “Well I screwed up this morning. Today is blown! I’ll start again tomorrow.”

Another is “It’s not worth it!  It’s too much effort for too little results!”

These are all responses when we are stuck in the all-or-nothing mentality. It is a perfect way to sabotage ourselves too!!

If we can’t live up to “doing it all” then it gives us the option to do nothing as an alternative and talk about how much we have tried to do, but just couldn’t.

If you are serious about improving your health and losing weight, I have a new focus for you!

Progress, not perfection!

This is the only way we will see true lasting results!!

It takes away the excuse of I just can’t get it together.  It gives us the freedom to keep moving forward, no matter how small the steps are!

Are you doing/feeling better today than last week or last month? Yes? That is a win!

There is no such thing as being perfect!  Not a perfect day, a perfect person, a perfect life.  Life will always throw a twist in to keep it interesting.  Have you ever heard the expression, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans!”?

It’s true, you can wake up with the best of intentions and that will be the day you have to join your boss for a lunch meeting.  You get to choose, don’t you?

You can say, well I was going to eat the salad I brought with me from home, but now I have to go out with my boss.  I’ll eat whatever I want at lunch (pasta, burger and fries, etc.)  I don’t have a choice. I can’t stay on my plan, so I might as well enjoy it! Then I’ll have my salad tomorrow (which seems to rarely happen in these scenarios).  Does that sound remotely familiar?

I get it!  I used to live on the excuse train. 

I was insanely talented at finding reasons to justify why it was ok for me to eat poorly or give up, sometimes before I really even got started.  I would use meetings, birthday parties, vacations, social engagements, fatigue, busyness, and just about any other reason to justify why I couldn’t eat healthy.

I was so good at it, that it kept me feeling sluggish, mentally foggy, and flabby.  I would always talk about how much I wanted to lose weight or complain about how tired I was, but when it came down to it, I wasn’t taking much action.  I was so focused on what effort it was going to take and the overwhelm I felt trying to be perfect, I did nothing!

Then I figured out that if I focused on being better instead of being perfect, I would actually do something!  It may not have been major changes at first.

At first, I would just cut off the part of the bun that had no meat on it because it was just extra that had no impact on the meal. Then it was removing ½ the bun. Then it was ordering veggies instead of fries. And so on. Today, I rarely eat a burger out, but if I do it is bunless and accompanied by veggies. (I may just steal one or two of my daughter’s fries though.)

I don’t have to be perfect, but my health is absolutely my first priority when I eat.  I CHOOSE what I indulge in and know that usually just a taste of a food I used to eat and crave is more than enough to satisfy that want or desire.

Before your next meal:

1. What is your priority?

2. How can you make this meal more nutritious?

3. What can you do to focus on progress, not perfection?

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