's motd Oct 16, 2008

[Guest guest]

MY BAD!

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Louise was so proud of her new commitment. She decided to finally go on a weight-loss program because she'd begun feeling really uncomfortable with her image when looking in the mirror. She just didn't like what she saw. Her face had never been so round before and there was something else about her face that really disturbed her...the old "DC." Double chin, that is. (Oh, oh!) Louise decided that it was time to get to work losing the weight, once and for all. And get to work, she did!

Louise began by making a list of all the foods she'd been eating that were making her fat. After completing her list, she was shocked to see how long it was. So Louise removed all of the high-calorie, high-fat foods from her eating routine and began focusing on salads, lean proteins and healthy choices from all of the food groups.And lo and behold, 60 days after starting her new eating program, Louise had lost 10 pounds! For the first time in a long time, she was actually beginning to feel good about the lady she saw looking back at her in the mirror. Her face had slimmed down and the best news was that her double chin was fading, too. Not only that but her clothes were also fitting better and feeling more comfortable on her body.Soon after her early success, Louise's job called on her to make a business trip to San Francisco. While there, she had to attend a company dinner. The layout was all Chinese food and it looked simply beautiful and so-o-o mouthwatering. There was everything from crispy duck, to cashew chicken to pork fried rice. Louise was feeling so good about her weight loss and maybe even a little, shall we say, overconfident. So, throwing caution to the wind, she let her guard down and ate more than she knew she should be eating from that tempting spread of Chinese food.The hotel at which she was staying was, uh, "thoughtful" enough to include a scale in each guest's bathroom. And the next morning, Louise got on that scale and...yikes! She had gained three pounds! Oh, no! She was just disgusted with herself but not disgusted enough to get back on program, like she should have!

In fact, that very same day, Louise went out with some business associates to a French restaurant where, once again, she overate, repeating the same pattern from the night before that had gotten her in trouble. Again, Louise had done something that she knew was a bad thing. She was f-a-l-l-l-ling...falling off the wagon, that is!Lesson not learned, when she returned home, Louise continued to eat out of control until, one day, she got on the scale, (after a long absence from weighing herself). Then she discovered the not-so-pretty truth, that she'd gained back every one of the ten pounds she had worked so hard to lose!That's when Louise wrote me and asked what I thought she should do. Well, I told her that she should not try so hard to reach for perfection because, after all, none of us are perfect. I explained to her how so many people try to be perfect in everything they do to lose weight. But when they slip up, when they cheat, when they make a bad in their weight-loss efforts, they discover that they, like everyone else, are not perfect. And that fact often upsets them enough to keep right on overeating.I told Louise that when she has a slip-up, to simply face it, admit to it but then to immediately get right back on track! You know, it's like learning to ride a bike. If you fall once, you get up, dust yourself off and get yourself right back on that bicycle and begin to ride again. After all, that's how you learn to ride a bike!So, do you suffer from "perfection syndrome?" Is it part of the reason you're not losing weight? Hey, come on, give yourself a break! Be kinder and gentler to yourself. If you've recently stopped your weight-loss program because of a slip-up, because of "a bad," then get back on that bike, uh, I mean...on your weight-loss program. Start again and keep the fight going. That's how you learn to "ride that bike"...all the way to your weight-loss goal Turn you bad into your good.Love,