Skip the perfection....Aim for Balance

One of the things that I find many people attempting when starting off on their journey, is focus on being perfect. Placing unrealistic expectations on yourself only makes the lifestyle change more difficult to maintain.

Perfectionism is defined as: 

a personal standard, attitude, or philosophy that demands perfection and rejects anything less.

WOW, that makes for a lot of pressure.  I am not saying that you should cut corners and not adhere to any type of regimen. I just feel like seeking out absolute perfection is a sure fire way to cause unnecessary stress and anxiety.  Your journey should be about creating changes in your life that you can live with day to day. You should strive to make this journey a positive one.  These changes shouldn't be so severe and restrictive that you are constantly beating yourself up when you achieve anything less than perfection.

Balance is defined as: 

a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight amount, etc.

mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.

Strive to achieve a healthy balance.  Commit to making the healthiest choices you can.  Say.......80/90 percent of the time.  If you can find balance at a higher level, by all means go for it! However, by allowing yourself a little cushion you give yourself room for planned AND spontaneous indulgences. 

Unless you live under a rock surely you've seen the Keep Calm and Carry On slogan.  I totally feel like we should apply this to our lives when we find ourselves struggling to stay on task.

Don't burden yourself with perfectionism.  Instead focus on staying grounded and true to your goals.  Keep a positive outlook and forgive yourself if you fumble the ball.  Lose the uptight attitude and figure out where your balance lies.  Your success depends on it.

 

 

Knock Off Meals

Over the years I have learned to create my own knock off meals at home.  Many restaurants have full descriptions of their entrees on their menus and websites.  If you have a favorite meal, why not try your hand at a knock off version at home?  You're able to control the portion sizes, sodium, fat and added sugar content when you're the chef.  

I also recommend skimming website menus online when you're at a loss on what to prepare for dinner. Avoid the deep fried, cheese covered, heavily sauced options.  Someone has already done all of the work and figured out the pairings of proteins, veggies and carbs.  All you have to do is figure out how to emulate it in a healthy way.

Today I decided to knock off my favorite salad from Bahama Breeze. This salad is all types of delicious:  Fresh pineapple, almonds, goat cheese, strawberries, mandarin and red grapes.  

Grilled Chicken or Shrimp and Tropical Fruit on Mixed Greens


Tossed with vinaigrette dressing, fresh pineapple, red grapes, strawberries and mandarin oranges with goat cheese crumbles and candied almonds. 

The menu basically outlined all the ingredients I needed. Grocery shopping was a no brainer.  The website also graciously shared the recipe for the Island vinaigrette.

 ISLAND VINAIGRETTE

 The only real preparation was the 'grilling' of the chicken breast, (which I did on my George Foreman).  Check out the Emeril's Creole Seasoning recipe on my recipe page.  This stuff is about to be my 'house' seasoning for my meats.

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!

I was very pleased with the outcome of this salad.  If I had to give it a score from the range of 1-10 I would give it an 8.5 or 9.  I've said it quite a few times on my blog already, don't eat what you don't like!  A little effort and variety can make your healthy lifestyle change second nature. 

The nail...

How bad does it hurt?

I've heard several variations of this story over the years. I see a lot of similarities in this short narrative and how many of us approach weight loss or lifestyle changes.

One day a man was walking down the street on his way to work.  There were dogs sitting on just about every front porch.  They would bark at him as he passed.  There was one dog that only whimpered and whined when he went by.  The man was curious why this particular dog whimpered instead of barking. After about a week of observing this behavior the man saw the dog's owner sitting on the porch.  <Man approaches house>
Man:  What's wrong with your dog? Everyday I go by he's whimpering.
Owner: He's laying on a nail.
Man: Well, why doesn't he just get up?
Owner:  It's not hurting him bad enough.

                              When will you decide to move off your nail?

I constantly hear people complaining about their weight gain, health and the fact they don't have the quality of life they would like.  However, with some people...complaining is the only action that they take. This complaining is very similar to the whining that the dog on the front porch did. If the situation is truly uncomfortable for you, GET OFF THE NAIL!
It's just that simple.  Getting off the nail doesn't mean that there is going to be an overnight metamorphosis.  But, it does mean that you're tired enough of the issues that you have to initiate a change.

Trying and faltering a little, is better than becoming complacent.  I know there is safety in familiarity.  But there's also a hint of dysfunction when we are afraid to make changes that we know will only benefit us for the better.  Make a commitment to yourself to explore the endless possibilities that are out there, if you'd only get off the nail....