Background
long term weight loss is becoming harder than ever, people do manage to lose weight once they opt for a professional coach, and honestly speaking losing weight and maintaining it is not very difficult for a shorter duration, once people are under professional guidance however real challenge arises in a longer period, wherein due to the dynamic or ever-changing environment sometimes it become unsustainable to put an effort, which they have managed to put in so far. That is where the whole idea of going “All in” becomes highly problematic, people once they get started with any regimen, they either want to go “all in” or when they fall off the regimen they want to do “ nothing”, making them someone who is not able to sustain fitness in the long term and yo-yo around their weight management issues.
Some examples which can sign toward ‘all or nothing’ mentality are:
- You eat a piece of cake outside of your plan, and you end up giving up on your diet the rest of the day
- You are not doing any workouts now and waiting for the gyms to reopen so that you can give 100 percent to your workouts
- You are waiting for Diwali/Christmas to get over because you are waiting for the ideal conditions
- Your job involves a lot of travel, and you feel that managing your diet and workout will be impossible now
Can you relate to any of this?, I am sure most of us can.
Is it really bad?
Now, that we know about the “All or Nothing mentality” and what could be its implications, however, it is not something that we need to think about negatively, the context matters a lot. For example, when we are in preparation for a competition or a transformation challenge, it really beneficial for us to go “All in”, similarly when we are going through some serious crisis in our professional or personal life, doing “nothing” is also not to be looked down upon. The idea here is to let people know that in a usual scenario, it is not necessary to operate in extremes.
What to do?
Whether you are an “All Person” or “Nothing Person” or routinely swing between the two, none of them lead to long-term success.
Keep these 5 things in mind when you find yourself leaning on the ‘All or Nothing’
- Don’t chase perfection, rather chase progression. A good diet is better than a perfect diet that causes stress.
- Factor in food that you enjoy and don’t pain yourself with foods you don’t enjoy. Let the quantified nutrition work for you.
- Don’t start with diets with large calorie deficits (not more than 15%) from your existing maintenance calories.
- Break your long-term goal into short terms goals. People generally overestimate what they can do in short term and underestimate in the longterm.
- Take each day as it comes and acknowledge the small victories and don’t beat yourself on few deviations.
