When you want to lose weight, you might think of ways you can exert more self-control. But there is something to beware of in the realm of trying to have self-control - it's over-control.
Over-control means that a person may make a very stiff, tight, absolute commitment to change her eating. She may vow to adhere to very strict limits when it comes to food consumption. In this case, she may demand of herself a flawless performance on her chosen weight-loss plan. She expects to be totally free from error.
This is, to say the least, an all-or-none approach. It may lead a woman to expend a great amount of energy trying to restrain herself from falling back into old eating habits. She needs to monitor herself constantly. It is like having to keep the dangerous part of herself locked up in a box - the part of her that might give in to the bad eating habits. It puts her against herself.
This is not a good way to go about changing anything about yourself. A moderate approach is much better. With moderation, you can accept the bad eating habits as part of yourself not as the enemy that needs to be banished.
As a matter of fact, you can actually become friends with the part of you that engages in those less than helpful eating patterns. See if you can understand the way it works with you. Accept it for what it is - part of you. That's the way to begin to change those habits.
If you try to exert an inordinate amount of control over yourself, it is likely to backfire - one transgression will often lead to a big swing over to total loss of control. A more moderate approach that allows for learning and errors ultimately gives you much more true control.
