Perfectionist Thinking

Perfectionist thinking...it's one of the mindsets that causes problems for people practicing an intuitive eating/no diet lifestyle.

Perfectionist thinking is that thinking that whispers seductively when a little more has been consumed than was needed, "Ah come on, you've already blown it today, you might as well have dessert, you know you want it. Even if you aren't technically hungry." It's that little voice that says, after a binge, "Well, you've undone all the good you did all week. You might as well start fresh on Monday."

Perfectionist thinking is about attaining perfection...it's about doing it right... It's a mindset in where nothing but absolute perfection is acceptable, and when following this approach it's pretty much deadly as perfection is hard to identify and hard to attain.

Perfection is not required to be successful with a no diet approach. Rather, what is important is embracing the process and the journey and being willing to measure success in small increments that may not at first be measured on the scale or in one's dress size.

Success in this process is measured in small incrments. The first step for most is to become attuned to their body's hunger and satiety cues. For some people the eating has become so disordered that it is difficult to even recognize true physical hunger and even more difficult to recognize satisfaction.

Many of us have been schooled to disregard our hunger and satisfaction signals and to eat because it is time to eat, or to clean our plates because it is what good boys and girls who want dessert do. But being forced to clean our plates when we are not hungry teaches us to disregard our body's signals of satisfaction. The more we are forced to practice that unnatural behavior the more we learn to disregard our body's cues in favor of what is correct behavior at the time. Eventually we become so disconnected from the signals themselves that we no longer hear them at all, or if we do it is only with a great deal of focus.

This post is not about blaming our parents for our weight, our compulsions, or our behavior with food. It is about beginning a journey. It is about taking control and responsibility. It is about looking at where we are and how we got here. It's about plotting a course that takes us to a new relationship with food.

It's not about celebrating the journey or the self discovery that can stem from this approach.
We've probably all practiced that kind of thinking in our dieting days. We're probably all familiar with the promises to start a diet tomorrow, or on Monday or after the first of the year. And then we put off starting till the next day...or the next Monday or the next year because we are after that feeling that comes from doing it right...experiencing perfection.

With intuitive eating it is helpful to recognize perfectionist thinking as a negative thinking pattern that can and will lead you down a negative path.