Apply 'BabySteps' thinking to goal of losing weight

If you have been taking FlyLady FLYing lessons for any period of time, you know how BabySteps have revolutionized our lives. You also know if you have fallen and feel like you can't get up what to call it: perfectionism.

Perfectionism is who writes our unachievable, over-the-top, New Year's resolutions. When you're FLYing, it's a BabyStep Revolution, daily. All-or-nothing attitudes paint us into a corner. There is either great success (and believe me, it's the rare person who is able to pull that off) or there is, more commonly, dismal defeat, guilt and a self-beating that follows.

FlyLady always says to jump in where you are — I totally agree with that. Why does it have to be Jan. 1 before we are willing to start fresh? Fresh starts are something we're capable of every day. And we don't need a New Year to do it, either!

So where does food fit into all of this? Well, isn't it obvious? What do you think the No. 1 New Year's resolution is? That's right — lose weight. How many have you said, "And this year, I mean it!" only to end up at the end of the year actually gaining weight?

Think about it for a minute. These weight-loss gimmicks you see on TV make their living off our perfectionism: that all-or-nothing attitude. The "Lose 50 pounds in just 6 weeks" scenarios have our names on them and we line up willingly with credit cards in hand to make three easy payments of just $19.95 each. Like lemmings, we're willing to jump off any weight-loss cliff to get to our goal. Even if it means messing up the family budget to do it. The BabyStep approach isn't enough for us. Even though we have seen what BabySteps can do to a house full of clutter, we don't see the corresponding principle for our body clutter.

This has got to stop. Stop this insane behavior before you get sucked into another infomercial and plunk down another hunk of cash for a bunch of stuff that promises you the impossible. Let me rephrase that — what they promise you is possible for some people; however, you need to radically change your entire life to accommodate their programs. Read the fine print, too. On the bottom of the screen when they are giving their testimonials on their dramatic weight losses, it always says, "Results not typical."

Let me tell you something: When it comes to weight loss, what is typical are the people they would never bring on screen in a million years — the ones who didn't make it and didn't get "Results not typical" in fine print under their before and after shots. These are the women whose "failure" financed the hype of this infomercial!