Do you ever slip up on your eating plan? I slipped up big time yesterday. I felt very virtuous walking to the new Berkeley Bowl West from my office to pick up bread for the boys and a little sushi for me. And some tamari nuts-what’s the harm, right? Nuts are healthy!
Except not so much when you eat most of the bag. And I didn’t really check yesterday how much was really in that bag; I was just surprised I wasn’t hungry all day.
When I went to dip in that ol’ bag of nuts today, it was mostly empty. And then I wondered… just how much DID I eat yesterday? Turns out nearly half a pound!
Yikes! So what did I do? Did I vow to starve the rest of the day? Did I smack myself repeatedly? Did I try to do a double workout?
Nope. I didn’t do anything. Well, not quite–I laughed and forgave myself. And I recommitted to doing better for the rest of the day.
You don’t lose a lot of weight without messing up. A lot. The trick isn’t to try to be perfect, because you won’t hit that. As Michael J. Fox said, “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.” I don’t know if God ever ate half a pound of tamari nuts, but if He did I hope He enjoys them as much as I did.
No, the trick isn’t being perfect, but to start again when you’ve done something you regret. I can’t hope I won’t make mistakes, but I can hope I can recognize them when I make them, and come up with a plan of action for next time.
I don’t regret eating those nuts, but I do regret not portioning them out immediately after I got them so I could enjoy them for the entire week. I realize that these nuts are a trigger for me, so I might need to either buy them in tiny quantities or forgo them altogether. I need to remember there will be more nuts when I want them, and I don’t need to eat them all at once. No one will take my nuts!
How do you bounce back?
