Good enough days

Hello all,
Day 3 in weight loss country.
I made it to the gym and did 50 minutes on the elliptical..
It's the precor elliptical...I don't do machine assisted ellipticals..I don't feel they give a good workout.
anywhoozle.
Day 3 is where I have usually fizzled in the last year...
I have two great days...one crappy day...followed by a mediocre week..
then two great days and so on...
It's the "I earned it"  feeling you get when you eat well and exercise for two consecutive days.
You say, "Just for today, I will have a little extra."
You know you aren't digging a hole...you have calorie deficit..
so you won't gain.
Or conversely, you eat more than intended..you feel you messed up anyways...so why not just go whole hog and start again tomorrow...aka perfectionism.
Then tomorrow never comes..
or it becomes monday..or friday...or the beginning of the following month.
There is no correct day.
The correct day to begin to achieve your goals is now.
And if you mess up one meal...
it's the next meal...not the next day.

But you also aren't getting any closer to your ultimate goal.
So typically, day 3 is hard for me..
But having wrapped last night  up in a neat little bow...
I approached today with twice the determination because I know me.
I ate 1730 calories today..
But I consider it a win.
I will tell you why..
gummy vitamins 35
I ate 1 cliff bar..250 calories
I ate 3 eggs 1 toast 300 calories
I ate 2 to 2.5 ounces of cheese and 10 crackers (here is where I made my error)350
2 cups of coffee with creamer (I round to 100)

Now, by the time I came to dinner....I had practically forgotten about the cheese and crackers.
It's not hard to do...get busy and it happens.

I had 8 oz of steak on my plate (tenderloin...boy was it tasty) 650 calories as it sat
I had a very small potato with just light sour cream on it...
120 tops.
four asparagus spears and some mushrooms 60 calories

I began to eat my steak and half way through it...realized my mistake..
and took the last two or three ounces and gave it to the dog..
I had taken two bites of my small potato...threw the rest away.
and ate the asparagus.
I estimate I ate around 500 calories of steak...50 calories of potato...50 calories of asparagus..
so, 1670....then I rounded up by 50 incase I ate more than 2.5 ounces....which I doubt.
I burned 500...so my caloric total was 1230...or enough to sustain a 123 lb female.
I had a deficit of around 500 to 550 calories for the day.

I used to have a perfectionist mindset.
If it wasn't perfect...then screw it...binge and start again tomorrow.
realizing I could stop mid snack or mid meal and just not eat the rest is not something I used to do...
You can stop at any time.
Your day deosn't have to be perfect for it to be a success...
having a deficit is a success...
tying this day off in a bow with a deficit is a success.
Letting tomorrow be it's own day with a clean slate will be a success.
Don't let perfectionism ruin your 'good enough day."

IF you allow yourself to believe that the only effort that is worthy is a perfect effort, you will never lose the weight...because imperfect days happen..because they are created by imperfect people.
Some days will be stellar, some will be good enough...and some will be plain awful.
The majority of your days will be good enough days.
YOu get maybe five stellar days a month....it's the good enough days that get you where you want to go....
day after day after day.
let it go and move on to the next day.
It will happen.
With love,
Chris out.