I posted the following on the I’mperfect Life Facebook Page a couple of weeks ago…

This post started an awesome conversation that resulted in over 150 comments!  In case you can’t see the full image on your screen I asked the question…

If I told you that I ate almost an entire thin crust pepperoni pizza by myself tonight would you think…

A) You obviously have no self control, Andrea! You really need to get it together or you’re going to weigh 328lbs again!
B) One little mess up is no big deal, just do better tomorrow
C) Yeah, I do that sometimes. Whatevs.
D) Man Andrea you must have been hungry
E) other, please specify

It wasn’t a test or anything, just a poll to gauge how people would respond to that kind of statement. The responses were all over the spectrum but the majority of the answers were B along with comments like these…

“B but A is the truth. you can do this”

“It proves that you’re only HUMAN!! Everyone makes mistakes!! In the end it how you handled the mistake. Thanks for sharing.”

“Life is too short for regrets. Tomorrow is another day so Forget today and get back on track”

And then there were my favorites…

“Why didn’t you eat all of it?”

“Why didn’t you invite me?”

“I got nothing but love. Pizza is awesome.” 

And then this one…

“Habits of long ago handling of stress catching up with you? What emotional void are you trying to fill or stuff down the feelings of?”

My response to all of this?

“If you’re new to my page I would urge you to look at pictures of the foods I normally eat as a reference point.

I don’t see this as a mess up. It’s just something that happened. Yes I ate more than I needed. And I probably would have eaten less if I had put it on my plate and eaten it at the table rather than straight from the box while sitting on the couch. But I did stop when I was full and did not gorge myself.

This was not a binge. It was not emotional. It was not a planned splurge. It was a combination of hunger and mindless eating. I’m not blowing it off as no big deal, because it’s certainly not something that should be considered a healthy HABIT, but I’m also not making a big deal out of it BECAUSE I don’t allow food to have that kind of power over me.

#imperfectlife Letting go of perfection to live a happy, healthy I’mperfect Life.”

***

Because it seemed that a large number of the responses were B’s, I wanted to be clear about something that is very important to me:  I do not see this as a mess up.

“Messing up” is what got me to 328lbs

In the past, back when I weighed 328lbs, I would have considered eating that pizza as a mess-up and perceived it as a failure.

I would have thought that I had messed up; that I needed to start over tomorrow, or Sunday, or next month…or whatever arbitrary day I decided would work as a “fresh start.” Spending the days leading up to it throwing myself a food funeral, eating all of the foods that I’d never be able to have again because I was “going to be ‘good’ from now on.”

I couldn’t wrap my brain around letting go of perfection in order to live a happy, healthy life. I could only see black and white, pass or fail, win or lose…and I was in a constant state of losing.

The diet-fail-repeat cycle was the story of my life, and I refuse to ever live that life again.

These days I eat with #NOSHAME and I can honestly say that since embracing my I’mperfect Life, food has no power over me. I still love it, I eat it when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full, enjoy everything I eat, and I never regret it.

Sometimes I eat more pizza than I need. Sometimes I don’t. I love pizza. Pizza is good. Pizza.

How about you?  Does food control you? Do you beat yourself up over food choices that you make, allowing them to make you feel powerless, like a failure and out of control?  It doesn’t have to be that way.  You ARE in control, even if you feel like you’re not and I promise, you are not broken, you just haven’t found the method that works for you.

You can also download my FREE Quick Start Guide to Creating a Healthy Lifestyle, hire me as your coach, and learn how to let go of perfection to create a happy, healthy I’mperfect Life!