Finding Middle Ground
It’s Sunday night and you reflect on all the poor eating choices you made over the weekend. You vow to be incredibly strict and meticulous with your diet and exercise plan this week.
Monday: You wake up at 5:00am to hit the gym, and eat egg whites, ground turkey, and asparagus. Boom! You’re feeling like a champ!
Tuesday: You hit another home run. Workout – Check! Diet – Check!
Wednesday: You white knuckle your way through some broccoli and dried chicken and talk yourself into going to the gym after work.
Thursday: Your significant other brings home pizza for dinner or your friends invite you to Happy Hour. You feel the anxiety setting in and think to yourself: I shouldn’t be eating this, but I’ve been so good this week. I’ll just give-in and get back on track next week – You overindulge and feel guilty.
The ‘all-or-nothing’ approach to fitness and nutrition is when you resolve to be perfect. This can be destructive because every action and choice you make requires strict discipline and willpower. It can also lead to an unhealthy obsession with food and an unrealistic fitness plan that isn’t sustainable. In a 2000 study, researchers Mark Muraven and Roy Baumeister demonstrated that self-control is a limited, physiological resource that is easily exhausted.
I want to encourage you to find your middle ground. The middle ground is where the magic happens because it leads to more consistency and more happiness. It’s a fitness and nutrition routine you can maintain all the time rather than a vicious cycle of extreme restriction, binge eating, and guilt.
Focus on building a healthy lifestyle rather than being perfect 100% of the time. Go to Doozies with the kids, eat a piece of pizza, or have a beer. You will get results based on what you do the majority of the time so focus on finding your middle ground.
By Conner Edelbrock