As a high achiever, it can feel disorienting and downright baffling, when yet, again, you cannot control yourself around food. 

So much of life can be planned, controlled, and directed, and yet when it comes to food, you cannot stop yourself from inhaling whatever food is in front of you. 

The definition of perfectionism in my google search came up as “refusal to accept any standard short of perfection.” Lets talk about the link of that to binge eating. 

Mary was on a diet and she developed a number of rules that seemed to be helping her lose weight. She avoided “bad” foods she used to enjoy, like cookie and cakes. She like to make sure her stomach was flat and was careful to eat less food than those around her. It gave her pride to see she was the thinnest of all of her friends. The problem became that her unrelenting standards were not always realistic. If she made a food mistake, or wanted to indulge, she became overly critical. If she ate one “bad” thing, she got trapped in all-or-nothing thinking. In her view she had already screwed up her entire day, so she had to keep eating, and start from a perfect slate the next day. 

1. Rigid rules about perfect do not allow the real life

2. If it is not perfect, you might as well go for it

3. You never see yourself as enough, so even a slight slip up becomes evidence of failure

4. Preoccupied

5. Overvaluing your achievements while undervaluing your worth as a human 

6. Hyper-focus on mistakes, rather than what you’re doing well

Amber @breakingupwithyoyodieting

This podcast is not meant to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any medical or mental health condition. Check with your health care provider before making changes.