Why you Don’t Need to Perfect with your Nutrition

“Oh well I screwed up my diet. May as well eat all the things and start again on Monday”

Have you ever said that to yourself?

I have and since giving up dieting I no longer say that to myself anymore. I don’t believe in giving clients meal plans. Menu Planning for the week? yes but giving out specific meal plans? No. All that does is give them something to obsess about and use as a method of judgement.

Menu planning is different. This is the plan for the week and we’re going to execute on it. Meal plans say this is what you must eat and your ability to follow this perfectly will determine your success.

Trust me as one who followed rigid meal plans for at least six months this helps to promote a disordered relationship with food.

You don’t need to be perfect with your nutrition for fat loss. As a matter of fact, it’s better that you aren’t if you want SUSTAINABLE results.

There is No Perfect

Once you get that there is no perfect, then all the pressure is off. Perfect does not exist. Trying to be perfect with your nutrition or anything will lead to anxiety, frustration, and defeat once the inevitable happens. There is no such thing as perfect. There is such a thing as progress and that’s what I measure.

Trying to be perfect sets up “All or Nothing” Mentalities which ultimately lead to eating an entire jar of Peanut Butter and pint of ice cream only to start again on Monday.

Perfect is Unsustainable

Barbecues happen. Parties happen. Tastings happen. Life happens.

The “I Have to be perfect with my nutrition” mentality will lead you straight over the cliff to the nothing when life gets in the way.

You cannot live a rigid diet lifestyle indefinitely. You can but you would be miserable and it wouldn’t be long before you gave up.

It’s an excuse to give up and quit

People who have an all or nothing perfectionist attitude have an “out” to quit when they inevitably go off the plan or life happens. You have given yourself the excuse of, “Well I wasn’t perfect so now I can give up”.

I believe it’s an excuse to give up and quit rather than to stay the course.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being consistent

In order to have SUSTAINED success you don’t need to be perfect.

You need to be CONSISTENT.

You need to consistently shun sugar, eat foods that promote health, and a thriving lifestyle. The more you do these things, the more momentum you will gain, and the more choosing good foods consistently will become a healthy.

Promotes the Diet Cycle and enriches the Diet Industry

The Diet industry thrives on people trying to be perfect on this diet or that one. Since there is no perfect, people play right into the diet industry’s schemes. Once you fall off one wagon you’ll be ready to find the next “perfect” diet and start…on a Monday.

The Diet Industry preys on people’s insecurities by advertising perfectionism and alluding that if you don’t have the perfect body from the perfect diet, then your life is worthless.

Go back to my first point. There is no perfect. Once we understand that, we understand the futility of trying to get to a place that isn’t even on the map.

Stop looking for perfection.