Day 86-Where is that damn button?

I am awesome. 

I have walked 86 days in a row. 

I have written 86 days in a row. 

But I am not perfect. 

Far, far from it. 

No one is--we all know that. 

But we try to be, we feel like we should be perfect, and when we miss that mark, some of us chip away at ourselves, from the inside-out.

I'm not sure if that's just a human condition, or a modern condition. Either way, it can bring a person down, and prevent them from trying once again to achieve their goal. 

Today, I'm going to eat well. No sugar. Okay, well, just one little Oreo. Mmm. Good....okay, one more, but that's it! Oh, poo! I said I wasn't going to eat any sugar today, and now I've eaten two Oreos! What the hell, I might as well eat the whole bag! I blew it again. Might as well eat a pizza for dinner, since I've already screwed up today.

Sound familiar?

I've done that a thousand times. 

At least. 

But there is a different way to deal with that, according to Renee Stephens. She's the creator of Inside-Out Weight Loss, and a pretty smart gal. She's got free podcasts and she's written a book. When I began listening to her a couple of years ago, I learned something that really stuck with me. A concept she calls "self-correction". I call it the reset button.

How it works: you eat the forbidden Oreo. Maybe two. But then instead of beating the spit outta your self-esteem and throwing in the towel on your whole program or goal, you stop, and say to yourself, "Hey, it's okay, I'm stopping now, I don't need to eat the whole bag. I'm okay, I'm not a failure, I'm just going to correct my behavior starting NOW."

And that's it. Move along, there's nothing more to see here. 

Don't dwell on the fact that you blew it. Just stop whatever you are doing that makes your self-esteem cower in the corner like an injured mouse, and move forward. Self-correct. Don't use slip-ups as an excuse to throw in the towel and toss your goals. 

And don't use them as an excuse to beat yourself up. There are enough people out there in the world who will give you a hard time--you don't need to be one of them. 

I'm not gonna lie. I went to the dessert line twice. With both hands.

I used my reset button last night. We went to a casino buffet. I don't really need to say anymore, except that I over-indulged to the point of looking like I was going to deliver a food baby. A buffet baby. I ate things I've not eaten in months, and I felt like poo, physically. But I did not beat myself up. I knew that my indulgence stopped there, and that I would reset immediately.

Which is what my walk did this morning. One sunny, sweet smelling, fresh-air reset button.

Walk on, 

Dani