How Are Your New Year’s Goals?

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you.  What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.  ~Mary Pickford

I saw this quote and felt compelled to write about it.  We’re just over the one month mark from New Year’s.  How are the goals you made just over a month ago coming?  Are you still on track?  If not, that’s okay.  It isn’t too late.  It is actually never too late to start again.  Just as this quote suggests, it isn’t the falling down or stumbling on some food choices that you wish you’d made differently.  It is staying down and continuing to make unhealthy food choices.  Think of when you or your kids started to walk – they fell down a lot!  They walk successfully today, right?  They walk (run!) today because they kept getting up.  Same is true for us as we continue on the path to our weight loss goals.

Whether it was a Super Bowl party, the second day after New Year’s or any other detour off your healthy eating track, you get right back up.  You might regret or feel guilt and shame from getting off track.  What if I told you that is part of the path?  It is.  If we were perfect, 100% on track all the time, we’d almost be setting ourselves up.

Try this……..take a deep breath and hold it……keep holding it for as long as you can and then let it out.  Did you blow it out with force and feel a sense of relief?  Probably so.  Same as with eating.  When you stay on a “diet” and become rigid in your food choices never allowing yourself a treat or to take a small detour, you are holding your breath in being perfect with your food choices.  Eventually, you’ll blow out that rigidity resulting in a series of possible binges and continual overeating.

The key is to find moderation, balance in your food choices.  The majority of the time, make healthy food choices and stick to them – say 85-90% of the time as you lose weight.  The 15 to 10% of the time, you can take a detour but for a limited period of time (a meal or a day, if necessary) and then get right back on track.  During your detour, promise yourself you won’t “go for it” and undo all of the healthy choices and weight loss you’ve achieved.  You can bend a bit in your food choices but not result in binging or out of control eating.  Stay in control but enjoy your temporary detour.

Just as a road doesn’t have bumps and turns along the way, neither does the road to weight loss.  It isn’t a straight shot with perfectly paved roads.  I’m not giving you permission or license to overeat regularly but occasionally.  If you take a detour, do it guilt free with the complete and total knowledge that with your next meal or next day, you will get right back on track.  That is moderation and balance, and the key to your weight loss success and maintenance.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator