Written by Jen Keck
Perfection: Enemy of the Good When it Comes to Nutrition
A couple of years ago I was following a really regimented nutrition plan. After many months my willpower began to wane, as it often seems to do with so many of us, and I was sneaking extras, preferably dark chocolate pecans if I had my way. I’d toss back a big delicious handful and then I was immediately overcome with guilt.
I’d think, great, this day is ruined, and then I’d proceed to do what the majority of people do when they fall off their plan. Rather than just veer ever-so-slightly off course, I’d go whole-hog and blow the rest of my day to smithereens.
Since I screwed up by eating the chocolate, I may as well throw all kinds of stuff down the hatch! I’ll order a pizza for dinner, and who can have pizza without wine, and how do you not have dessert?!
The next day would roll around and I’d be pissed (and usually bloated). Why didn’t I just stop when I ate the chocolate? Because I expected perfection, and anything shy of it wasn’t going to cut it. I had an ‘all or nothing’ mentality.
Expecting perfection
Day in and day out I was expecting perfection, which was a huge mistake. I saw my success with nutrition and training as black and white. Everything was either perfect and I felt like a total rock-star, or it was a shit-show and I felt like a failure; there was no middle ground. All it took was one small handful of chocolate to make the day feel like a monumental waste, which then resulted in a landslide of poor food choices for the remainder of the day.
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire
What Gives?
Maybe it’s because we are so overcome with guilt that we eat even more to help ourselves feel better, or perhaps it’s because we get angry with ourselves and suffer from such a severe case of the Eff-its that we convince ourselves that it just doesn’t matter anymore.
The problem is that it does still matter and eating more junk will not pacify the situation. In fact, it will make it all worse, both from a mental and physical standpoint.
Salvage the Day
Just because we eat one unplanned donut in a moment of rainbow-sprinkle-induced euphoria doesn’t mean that our body flips a switch and decides everything else we eat for the rest of the day doesn’t count.
Our body will respond accordingly to each and every single calorie we consume, every single time.
This means that the single initial dietary indiscretion may not cause much damage in the big picture, but shit-canning your entire day every time you mess up probably will.
So you screwed up? Big deal. You’re human. Just don’t wait until tomorrow to turn things around. You need to salvage the rest of your day as soon as possible because your body does not issue a free pass to continue eating whatever you want.
Shit happens.
We will mess up and we will make mistakes. The important thing is how we choose to respond to it. Do we throw everything away, or do we do our best to hop right back on track?
All we can do is our best. It’s probably not ever going to be perfect, and that is okay. Screw perfect. It’s not feasible. When we let go of the idea of having to be perfect, we get rid of unrealistic expectations and the guilt that is associated with it, and we can focus on consistently being damn good, because that is where the magic happens.
A 30 minute workout is always better than no workout, a 5 minute meditation is better than nothing, and a couple of meals per day full of nutrient dense food is better than saying “to hell with it all, I’ll start again tomorrow… but first I will completely ruin the rest of today.”
Today may not have gotten off to a perfect start, but you can still make it damn good.
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” – Voltaire
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Jen Comas Keck is a nutrition expert and NASM certified trainer. Keck has a very diverse fitness journey, from cardio queen, group fitness instructor to figure competitor. This range of experience allows her to speak on a variety of topics facing people. In addtion to the mergers and acquisitions company Jen owns with her husband, she also operates a successful nutrition coaching business. Website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
