Perfectionism and Procrastination Are Keeping You Stuck [Ep 131]

0:00 This is the eat well. I think while LivWell podcast, I'm Lisa Salisbury and this is episode 131 perfectionism and procrastination are keeping you stuck. Welcome to eat well. Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite. I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here. You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food. When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating. Hey there. Thanks for joining me today.

0:41 I'm so glad that you're here. Before I jump into my, um, topic. I want to teach you about today. I want to remind you. That for the month of January, I have a special promotion on my jumpstart, your weight loss program. So, if you are a woman who is. tired of feeling like you're on the diet hamster wheel. And you battle with the yo-yo of overeating versus restricting. I want you to get started right this year with the jumpstart, your weight loss. So check the link in the show notes for all of the details, but in a nutshell, this is a single 90 minute one-on-one coaching session that is going to be tailored to your exact needs. You'll leave with a plan that will get you going on your weight, loss and health goals.

1:23 And set you up for success. You're going to hear in today's episodes, things that might be keeping you stuck and they are things I will specifically address. During your one-on-one session. So check the link in the show notes for again, all of those details.. So our topic today is about procrastination and perfectionism. So I'm going to dive into sneaky ways. Procrastination shows up in your weight loss journey. And it's often disguised as productivity or perfectionism. If you've ever felt like you're putting in effort, but you're not seeing results. This episode is for you. It might seem like a weird time of year to be talking about procrastination, because we are usually pretty jazzed about our resolutions in January with weight loss or health improvements being top of list for most people.

2:15 But we have already past quitting day. Which is when most people give up on their goals. I know that's not you though, because you're still here listening and trying. So why isn't it working? If you're putting in effort. Then you aren't actually procrastinating. Are you. I'm going to talk about some sneaky ways. Procrastination ends up in your action line. In fact, whenever I am teaching the model and we get to the action line, you know, it goes circumstance, thought, feeling action result. That's the model. You can find that in lots of other episodes, but the AA line is your behavior that comes from the way you're thinking and feeling. And I always say, this is also the inaction line as well.

2:58 These are the things that we aren't doing that also give us results in our lives. It's also the things that we're doing to avoid the things that we maybe quote unquote should be doing, or that we know would actually create the results that we want. So it's inaction and sort of miss action. If you will. It also is that kind of procrast, a working thing where we're procrastinating and working at the same time. So it's like we're working on the wrong things. Anyway, let's get into it though, as it relates to weight loss. Okay. So the first one is procrastination masked as action. So this is when you sign up for every challenge membership course or summit that you can find.

3:42 Your learning a ton, you're soaking up all the information. But here's the problem. There's no actual plan. It feels productive because you're doing something right. But without a sustainable system or structure to put those lessons into action, you're stuck. And it might be part of that course that you purchased. But you're often joining these things in groups where it's easy to hide in the back of the class. Right? Whether that's a zoom call or just lurking in the Facebook group. Or they are self paced and you join and you pay, but are you doing it? If this resonates with you, ask yourself, am I collecting information instead of taking consistent, meaningful action.

4:29 Another way. This shows up is in consumption versus creation. Are you consuming information, looking at recipes, reading through blogs on fitness, following these folks on Instagram and watching every story they put up. Or are you sitting down and making a meal plan complete with a grocery list? Going to the store and creating those meals. Are you printing out the workout that you were given and taking that to the gym? This is the difference between consumption versus creation. Creating can be anything from creating a meal. To eat, to creating muscle from lifting weights. It's not just creating a painting or a craft.

5:10 A lot of times when we think of being creative or thinking of kind of that like arts and craft world, but there are so many ways to create in your life. And if you find yourself mostly in that consumption mode, You are in procrastination, masked as action. You think that you're taking action because you're consuming all this information. But you don't actually have a plan to follow. Okay. Number two. Is procrastination masked as perfectionism. Another way procrastination shows up is through perfectionism. You might find yourself overthinking every detail, looking for the perfect diet.

5:54 And this is in air quotes, the perfect exercise plan or the perfect time to start. I see this all the time. I have clients that are hung up on the exact right food to lose weight and are they eating clean enough or is this particular food going to be a problem? Spoiler alert 99% of the time. The answer is no, that 1% is reserved for things like allergies or sensitivities and intolerances. And if you wash your fruit, you're eating clean. So that's kind of. We're at what I tell people, but the truth is there's no perfect. Anything when it comes to weight loss. Paralysis by analysis keeps you from taking any action at all.

6:35 Remember from the last two weeks with our discussion with Dr. Sarah Ballantine, the diversity of foods we eat over the course of a week, or even over the course of a year. Is what makes the difference. Continue to add variety to your diet and pay attention to your hunger scale. Those are honestly the two best dare I say. Perfect places to start. And, you know, you're not going to find those in any fad diet plan. the perfect exercise plan is the one that you love and that you can continue doing. I had my mom over at the fitness facility, in her senior community. She lives in one of those like Del Webb community.

7:15 If you're familiar with those, it's like an entire neighborhood of seniors and it's all built around a golf course and a clubhouse. And there's a nice little fitness center there that I take her to, um, help her exercise. And there was a man running on the treadmill this morning. And she just could not get over it. Look at him, run. I didn't see him like from the front, but my guess would be that he was in his late sixties, just judging on, you know, the general clientele and in the facility. I told her that the man has probably been a runner for decades. He didn't move in here into this neighborhood and decide to start running he's running because it's something he loves doing and learned to do probably quite some time ago.

7:58 If I was a betting woman, I say, he's a person who's even done a couple of marathons. This is what you're looking for. The kind of exercise that you'll still be doing in your late sixties and beyond. That you're still excited about that someone looks at you doing it and goes, wow. I can't believe a person of that age is doing that thing. That's the kind of exercise I want you to find. Because we totally can continue moving our bodies for decades, regardless of how old you are now. We want to find something that is something you can continue doing. Right now for me, it's a mix of strength training, weightlifting.

8:38 Um, walking plus a couple of days of cardio and that's the part that changes up for me. So sometimes I use my stationary bike for cardio. Sometimes I do hot yoga, which ends up really actually being cardio lately. I've been going to the indoor pool here, getting the swim workout in about once a week. Um, I love talking to the older individuals there that are still went swimming laps with me, and they've been swimming like forever. If you haven't found your thing yet. Keep trying. It might be something from your youth. Like swimming is for me. I started swimming competitively in sixth grade, just like with rec league, but Hey, you know, we were racing. It was, it was competitive. I've gone several years without swimming laps in my adult life, but then I get back into it.

9:22 So, what did you do when you were young that you think you might still enjoy? Again, there is no perfect answer here. I'm just want you to brainstorm, like what could I do? Or what have you always wanted to try? Have you wanted to try hot yoga? That's why I pulled into a hot yoga place and I was like, what's this all about? And I just gave it a try. Um, you know, if you wanted to bro, or. I don't know, random stuff, pickle ball. My husband just got into pickle ball recently and he plays for hours at a time now. Seriously, just keep trying different options. Until you find something you like, because any movement is better than no movement. There is nothing perfect. There's no perfect workout except for the one that you want to stick with.

10:07 And regarding the perfect time to start. Here's the good news. Action creates clarity. You don't need to have it all figured out before you start. So today is just fine. Small imperfect steps. will teach you what works and what doesn't. The key is to get moving with your goals, make the meal plan with your current level of nutrition, knowledge and get out and take a walk. If nothing else today. All right. third thing. Diets are rigid. Lifestyles are realistic. So finally, I want to talk about procrastination and sustainability. This is where I want to attack the cycle of the yo-yo diet.

10:51 Maybe you've jumped from one quick fix to another one, plan to another following a strict plan for a few weeks or months, but once it's over. You don't know how to make it part of your lifestyle. Or worse your on a diet Monday through Friday, but when the weekend comes, it's like the wheels fall off. You overindulge and then feel like you're back to square one on Monday, this two steps forward one step back approach whether by the week or by the month. Makes it hard to build momentum. Another example, you join a 30 day challenge this month. And for that month, you're all in eating the right foods, sticking to the workouts. But what happens on day 31? You are actually procrastinating building a lifestyle.

11:35 You're thinking that once you get this weight off, then you can figure out how to maintain your pushing off the figuring out how to keep it off thinking that's a future you problem. Isn't that what procrastination is just leaving your problems to future you. Now is the time to work on what you want your lifestyle to look like when you've lost your weight. In fact. It's one strategy I love using is to actually use that future you to help you make decisions now. What does the future you who is down 30 pounds, eat for lunch? It's a great question. I encourage you to focus on structured flexibility with this. This means creating habits that work for your life.

12:18 Not just for the short term. Okay. How do we break these patterns? I gave you some ideas as we were going along, but here's a few more number one. Stop chasing perfection. This is first and foremost, pick one or maybe two small changes for this week. And just commit to those. We do not need to overhaul your entire life. In one week that is a fad diet. That's a 30 day challenge. That's not going to stick. So we want to stop chasing. This pedestal that we think are our life. Our lifestyle needs to be on and just choose. One to one or maybe two things this week. So for example, you could choose to incorporate one new vegetable this week.

13:01 Like literally this is what I'm saying. It's so easy. If you want to step it up a little bit more, you could say I'm, I'm going to have a salad for lunch three times this week. If you're trying to eat more vegetables, it's a great way. Um, or you could say I'm going to go on a walk after dinner two or three times this week to start building that after dinner walk habit. but we don't need to do all of it all at once. All right. Number two, turn learning. Into doing the next time you find yourself scrolling through recipes or workout plans or the weight loss Facebook group that you're in. Put your phone down. And think, how can I create this in my life? Maybe that's creating the grocery list for the week or printing out the workout plan for tomorrow's gym session.

13:44 And number three, I want you to think beyond the diet. Start asking yourself, how can I make this a habit I can stick to for years? Not just weeks. If this change you want to make doesn't feel sustainable just yet. But it's something you actually want to do. Ask yourself. How could you baby? Step it up. For example, if your goal is to cut out added sugars, but going cold Turkey this week feels not sustainable. And, um, yeah, I totally agree. It's not. Then your first baby step could be to skip the added sugar treat after lunch this week. So say you're accustomed to having a dessert after lunch and dinner this week. You're just going to skip it for after lunch. That's the only thing you're not going to throw out every added sugar thing in your pantry.

14:28 You're not going to have. Start homemaking all of your barbecue sauce and catch up because those have added sugar. You're just going to start with that one added sugar treat. So whether that's a cookie or candy or whatever it is you typically have in the afternoon, we're just going to cut out that one thing and then still eat it after dinner. Okay. That's like a nice baby step on something like this, but you have to decide like what your goal is and what is the very first step. I do not recommend that you do anything quote, unquote cold Turkey, right? We just want to think beyond the diet. Remember procrastination in disguise can keep you stuck. Even if it feels like you're doing all the right things.

15:08 The key is to shift your focus from collecting information or chasing perfection. Into taking action, no matter how small. If you're ready to stop, spinning your wheels and create a system that works for your life. Of course, I'm here to help. I had to the link in my bio and get your jumpstart, your weight loss session scheduled it's on sale for the month of January, you will leave with a specific plan to get you started on the lifestyle that will help you reach your health and weight loss goals. Remember, it's not just about the food. It's about empowering yourself with the choices that truly serve you have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the eat.

15:49 Well, think while live wild podcast.