All or Nothing!
ALL or NOTHING!
For periods of time in my fitness/nutrition journey, I’ve lived the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. I was either super-strict or crushing life, OR I was off the train and shoving Twinkies in my face in-between runs to McDonald’s. Sound familiar???
Clearly, the NOTHING mentality leads us down a path of physical destruction (and I would say mental too). If we don’t have a compass that leads us down the healthy path, it’s incredibly difficult to live a life where the sky is the limit. Instead, we park ourselves on the couch and eat chips while binging every hot new Netflix show.
OR, the opposite is that we are ALL IN and eating perfectly. Hitting every workout. Doing it all EXACTLY to the “T”! We are locked and loaded and crushing everything! Making every good decision imaginable.
BUT, what happens that first time when we eventually make a mistake when we are trying to live perfectly? If you’re anything like me, you might feel like you blew it…AGAIN! Sound familiar? We already screwed up the plan so we might as well eat the whole bag of M&M’s now, right?
NEWSFLASH – it’s impossible to be perfect all the time! Sure, we can do it for a period of time. Maybe you’ve done #75hard and crushed it for 75 days. I have too! It feels AMAZING to keep your integrity for that long, BUT eventually, everyone reading this eventually puts a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in their mouth!
There is a time and a place to be ALL IN and striving for nutritional perfection, but I’m going to make the argument that the optimal LONG-TERM strategy is some sort of moderation – but probably not what you’re thinking. You might have heard the 80/20 rule. That’s a good starting point, but often times in my life, my 20% was plenty enough to destroy my good 80%. Sound familiar? Ever had a great week followed by a monstrous cheat/reset day consisting of 5,000 calories? (I’m raising my hand!)
I prefer something in the neighborhood of 90/10 percent where we follow the plan most of the time, but are also able to enjoy a few things along the way a few times each month *in moderation* which helps us stay true to the mission! C’s get degrees in school, but mediocre effort during your transformation will not get you A+ results.
If you are struggling along the way, just remember why you started! I am ready, willing, and able to help! All the coaches in Larger Than Life have had significant transformations. We understand the daily struggle. The binge eating. Eating in the car before you get home so your family doesn’t see you pounding extra food. If any of this is ringing a bell, I’d love to help point you in the right direction or answer any questions you have. Shoot me a quick message – I got you!
