Do your Best - No One is Perfect

You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet. Lots of people have tried (including me). But that doesn’t mean you have to be obsessive about food.

I’ve had several people talk to me this week about messing up on their diet or indulging in a treat. Invariably, they all felt guilty about it. And I’ll ‘fess up too. I enjoy my Starbucks. My hubby brought me a Chai Latte this morning and my son shared a few mini eggs. Yep, I’m feeling a bit guilty about it but I know I'll be getting in a workout today so it's okay.
I came across an article in regards to eating habits. Food is tied to life and our social interactions, and we have to be able to interact with food in this way without succumbing to guilt and dejection about not following a “perfect” diet. In other words, if you’re going to indulge in delicious but calorie-dense food, enjoy it fully and move on. Don’t make a habit of it, but don’t dwell on it either.

Try this Ratio

90% — 10% Balance

I often frame this as the 90% rule. Pick a nutritional strategy that works for you and that makes sense. Then stick to it like glue 90% of the time. The other 10% you can indulge reasonably and you’ll do just fine.
To get the hang of it, you can chart it out at first. Figure out your ideal week and make up a sheet with every meal mapped out. Put the chart on the fridge. Count the total number of meals for the week.
Once you know how many meals and snacks you’re working with, multiply that by 10%. So if you’re eating 4 meals and snacks a day, that’s 28 meals. 10% of that is 3 meals that you can use as leeway.

80% Full

That does NOT mean you can pig out during those meals. It just means you can loosen your restrictions on what you eat. So if you go out with friends for lunch, pick whatever you want off the menu, then eat until you are ALMOST full, but not quite. This is a custom which comes from Japanese culture (Hara hachi bu). It take 20 minutes for your brain to receive the message from your stomach that it's full so chew slowly to prevent over eating. As a mother, I have succumbed at times to inhaling my meals since time is at a minimum. Its when I rush through meals, that I realise I have not satisfied my hunger, and will continue to mindlessly eat through out the day

Don’t Try To Be Perfect

The most effective way to ensure you will fail is to set yourself up as perfect. When you fall, dust yourself off and keep trudging along. Every single day you get to start over again in the quest for a better you. That’s a pretty amazing gift. Embrace it.