Change Your Mind-Set to Start Losing Weight: Part 2
By Nutritional Weight & Wellness Staff
March 17, 2015
By Kristen Gunderson, Nutrition Educator
On March 4, I shared one way you can change your mind-set to start losing weight (Learn how to have a specific action plan here). Today I want to share another way to change your mind-set.
Tip 2: Nobody’s perfect, so ditch the perfectionist mentality
Are you a perfectionist? Do you have an all-or-nothing attitude? It is a crutch, and it needs to go. What do I mean by a crutch? Well, when you set up a situation in your mind where you require perfection, it is next to impossible to achieve, isn’t it? What happens when you aren’t perfect? You “go off the rails” or “act out,” as I like to say to my class participants. Understand that there WILL be mistakes along the way. And when they happen, it’s time to learn from them, not give up completely and head to the nearest drive through.
We only truly fail when we completely give up. So don’t! Get right back at it. Here are some examples that I hear from class participants:
- I didn’t do any cooking over the weekend and ended up eating fast food.
- Monday rolled around and I didn’t eat breakfast. Then I got to work to find donuts and I ate 3.
These are mistakes you can learn from. You do not need to beat yourself up for the rest of the day (or the rest of the week!) and eat poorly that entire time.
Instead of beating yourself up, realize that nobody is perfect. People make mistakes all the time. Rather than focusing on your lack of perfectionism, the focus needs to be on better planning. Ask yourself: “How can I manage my week better in order to have food ready in the morning to take with me?” And tell yourself: “I clearly need to figure out how to plan better, but in the meantime, the very next time I eat, I will make sure it’s a balance of protein, fat and vegetable carbs that will help me fuel my body and feel good.” That’s a healthy mind-set that will result in a healthy body.
Do you tend to have a perfectionist mentality when it comes to weight loss? Leave your comments below.
Kristen Gunderson, Nutrition Educator, has a double BA in psychology and sociology, with an emphasis in behavior modification.
