I used to be so “all or nothing” with my mindset about food and fitness.

I would go all-in, throw out every tempting packaged food in my pantry, plan out the play-by-play calorie and protein/carb/fat breakdown for ALL of my meals for the week, say no to all after-work get togethers and events, and even do everything I could to skip all office birthday cake parties.

Then I would hit the gym for an hour at 5:30AM before work, take a fitness class at lunch 3x a week, and then go for an hour walk after work to get in some “extra” calorie burn.

I was strict, focused, and driven to achieve my weight loss goals.

But then there’s the part that I wouldn’t have shared so openly at the time.

I was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. I was so hungry all of the time that I found myself chewing a pack a day of sugar-free gum (sometimes more) to try to curb my appetite, which was causing my stomach to bloat so much that by the time I got home from work I looked like I was 3 months pregnant.

And, here’s the part I was most ashamed of, on weekends I would binge like a crazy-woman. 

I remember walking the aisles of Whole Foods, in the hey-day when they would have all kinds of food samples out, and I would eat them all. I would eat things I didn’t even like simply because they were there in front of me.

I’d eat so much on Saturday night (because it was my cheat night, and that’s what you do…duh) that I’d feel overly full, uncomfortable, and ready for bed right after dinner.

I’d wake up Sunday morning, feeling guilty for what I ate Saturday and say what the heck, I already overdid it so I might as well indulge today too, so I’d snack most of the day on anything munchy, crunchy, snacky, sweet, or whatever else I was craving (probably because my blood sugar levels were all out of whack).

And Monday morning I’d wake up, ashamed, and committed to making my workout twice as sweaty to make up for it all. It was a vicious cycle.

Fast-forward to today and my life looks nothing like this. I get it now. I know that my all or nothing mindset was exactly what was holding me apart from my weight loss goals.

And I am willing to bet you might be able to relate to this all or nothing way of living.

You’re either on or off. Committed or totally off the wagon.

And I’ve got to tell you, it just doesn’t work that way. But I know it’s scary and feels almost impossible to do anything different.

That’s what I’m here for. To help guide you and support you in making the necessary changes to refocus and align with the path that will actually get you the results you want — AND — to then be able to maintain them for the long term.

Because that’s the key. You don’t want to get there and then freak out because you’re afraid of not being able to sustain it (been there, done that too!).

So, here are 3 steps to ending all or nothing thinking for good.