Healthy Eating Habits, Part 5 - The endless cycle of binge and guilt

For my last article about healthy eating habits, I thought I would talk about one I had a lot of difficulty breaking.

Making a mountain out of a mole hill

During my first healthy year, I would set goals for myself in terms of eating and weight loss. I knew I needed to eat healthier and I knew exactly what I should do to accomplish that. Here’s the problem though. As soon as I ate a single bad item, a piece of candy for example, I would immediately start feeling guilty. It seemed like that one small piece of candy meant my entire day’s goal had been destroyed.

That feeling of guilt would inevitably lead into “well, if I already messed up today’s goal, then I might as well binge! Because if the day is a failure, it might as well be a big failure!” I would then proceed to annihilate entire buffets, chocolate cakes and small Mexican restaurants.

Following the binge would be even more guilt. I knew I had eaten way too much, I could feel it. So of course I would vow to do better the next day. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow I will eat perfectly and not make a single mistake. There will be ZERO candy tomorrow and then I will instantly be healthy again. Of course that last for maybe a day or two. Then I would see that candy dish again and the whole cycle would start over again.

Sound familiar? A lot of people who try to lose weight and get fitter go through this. So how do we fix it? Well, first I had to realize a few things.

Failing a little is better than failing a lot

Yes, there is a difference between failing a little and failing a lot. If you eat 1000 bad calories, that’s worse than 10. So get out of the mindset that once you make a little mistake your whole day is shot and you can feel free to binge. A small mistake is just that, small. A binge at the buffet is not a small mistake, it’s a huge one! Remember, weight loss is simple math, eat less than you burn. So eating one small piece of candy is not as bad as eating one small piece of candy and then two giant burritos.

Fix your mistakes, don’t make them worse

Who ever said a small piece of candy is failure? Yes, it’s not the healthiest thing in the world, but you’re still fine. Go take a 30 minute walk and that small piece of candy is gone. Just drank a giant chocolate shake? Well, maybe you can make dinner slightly smaller. Remember, it’s all math! So you ate 100 extra calories at lunch? So what! Just make dinner slightly smaller or work out slightly more. It’s not a big deal!

Your calorie savings account

Save up some calories during the day. For example, I know I should eat around 400 calories for breakfast, but most of my breakfast options are actually around 300 to 350. So hey, there’s a 50 to 100 calorie cushion there. I don’t deliberately try to fill it but it’s nice knowing that the extra bit of dessert isn’t going to kill me.

Your calorie cushion

Give yourself a cushion. I know I should eat around 2600 calories a day, but I plan my meals for around 2400. That’s another 200 that can go to unexpected lunch room donuts without any guilt.

By the way, it may sound like I’m counting calories all the time, but I really don’t. I spent a few months doing a lot of research. I looked at everything I ate and how many calories it contained. I was especially interested in what ingredients had a lot of calories and what didn’t. After that bit of education, it became much easier to come up with a rough guess as to what foods are bad and what are good. For example, I realized early on that creamy sauces like ranch and mayo were high in fat and calories. So I can look at a variety of sandwiches in a store and tell that some are bad and some are good. I don’t care about an exact count because I know that I have some cushion built into my diet.

Realize why you’re trying to get healthier

Finally, stop punishing yourself. Yes you like candy, who doesn’t? Relax, being human is nothing to feel guilty about. Rather than punish yourself for enjoying something, how about using it as a reward instead? For example, on days that I know I did really well, ate healthy and had a great workout, I splurge a bit and eat ice cream. So what if I only lose .5lbs this week instead of 1lb. Who cares? I’m doing this because I want to enjoy my life, right? Not feel guilty all the time.

Summary

So stop the small mistake, guilt, big mistake, guilt, rinse, repeat cycle. Put a bit of cushion into your diet, save up some calories during the day and if you happen to still make a mistake, oh well. Rather than make it worse, how about fixing it?

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«Healthy Eating Habits, Part 4 - Stop drinking your caloriesFive Super Foods You’re Eating Wrong!»

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