All or Nothing Thinking

Changing/improving our lifestyles is a challenge for some of us and it's easy to fall into the all-or-nothing mindset.

To get in shape or change our eating habits we often rationalize: 1.) You have to follow a restrictive diet to succeed and/or 2.) If you fall off the wagon and eat junk for a meal/snack, you've blown it.

"No matter how far along you are down the wrong path, it's never too late to turn back.”

Just because you made bad food choices today, doesn’t mean you can not start over at your next meal or snack. Every day is a new beginning, you can't erase last night’s binge, but you can make it a goal for a much healthier today!

Don’t beat yourself up! You’re learning how to be a new, improved, healthier you. After all, you're only human... soon you will be a fitter, leaner human!

The key isn't about how perfect you are it's about how consistent you are.

My belief is that all or nothing thinking is the ultimate saboteur. It sets us up from the start to fail. And it is a very naive way to move through our lives.

I totally agree with this.

The best way to start out on a weight loss journey is to make small steps, and if you mess up, put it behind you and just keep on trying.

It's so true, but so hard!

This is so true! It's so much better to live a balanced lifestyle - which includes days of "falling-off-the-wagon, pizza-and-beer" kind of days - than to seriously restrict calories and exercise for hours. I'll admit that it's hard to stay in that mindset when the scale doesn't budge for a few weeks, but I try to keep myself in check. Here's a quote I really like:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

Being healthy and maintaining a healthy weight is important, but so is actually LIVING!