Emotional Eaters!

It's Time To Change The Rules.

It doesn't have to be this way

Do you get down on yourself more times than you care to admit?
Are you fired up and ready to hit it out of the park at the start of each week but continue to strike out?
Is your 'lack of success' getting you down so much that you question giving up?
Well, before you throw up your hands and throw in the towel you may want to read this.

I used to consider my efforts - failures, ridiculing my attempts to work towards my goals.
When I was trying to get to my ideal weight I would 'fail' at my exercise regime, only making it to the gym a couple of times a week, instead of my self-promised seven days.
My healthy eating was often sabotaged by my 'lack of willpower' when I succumbed to a dessert after dinner.
And I would criticize an indulgent lunch outing with friends if I ordered a pasta instead of a salad.

I wanted to be healthy but I had a very rigid way of looking at what healthy meant.
I thought healthy meant:

• Weighing 10 kilos less than what I did
• Eating NO junk food
• Working out at the gym everyday

I would set the bar so high, giving myself a very slim chance of succeeding at my unrealistic rules.

But one day something happened that would change my way of thinking forever.
I was at a personal development seminar, taking in every word of what the speaker was saying when the example that was being given to the audience of over 100 people sounded like it was meant for me.

• Weigh 10 kilos less than what I did
• Eat NO junk food
• Work out at the gym everyday

Time For a New Strategy?


The speaker, as if he could hear my thoughts said,
"Don't beat yourself up with the rules.
Don't set yourself up for failure.
Some people won't allow themselves to feel successful until they reach their goal."
He said, "I had a client who would only allow herself to feel successful when she had lost the whole 45 kilos she put on after her pregnancy; she's lost 32kilos but she's beating herself up about it.
What kind of a life is that?"

Kinder more achievable rules

It occurred to me that I was never going to be satisfied unless I shifted my thinking and created kinder and more achievable rules.
So, on a blank sheet of paper I wrote down my top value and what would have to happen for me to feel healthy.
It looked like this.

Author Renae Bressi