How was your Thanksgiving? Did your plan work out the way you wanted? Did you eat just enough and then pop out of bed this morning, unafraid of the scale?

Or maybe it didn’t quite go that way.

Maybe you ate more than you planned. Maybe you forgot to leave room for dessert and then after you ate it realized that it was too much, and you felt overfull. Maybe you were going to eat slowly but you were distracted by the conversation around the table, and the next thing you knew the whole plate was gone and you wanted more. So you got seconds and were so full afterward that you felt sick.

No matter how it went, it’s ok.

I know you don’t feel like it’s ok. You’re avoiding the scale like it’s the spawn of satan. You want a few days to go by while you behave and THEN you’ll approach the scale. You feel guilty and you’re kind of frustrated that you didn’t just do what you said you were going to do. Actually, you’re really angry at yourself – why can’t you just DO what you said you would do?

Don’t do that to yourself.

I promise it really is ok.

One meal is not the end of your progress. If you ate more than you planned yesterday, it doesn’t mean that you are doomed to fail. If you got on the scale this morning and it went up, it’s temporary. It will come off.

What you don’t want to do right now is beat on yourself. You did more than you did in the past – you made a plan instead of going in blind. So it didn’t go the way you wanted – you still can move forward.

If you spend time now angry and resentful with yourself, promising that you’ll whip yourself into shape and get back on track by eating celery and running two miles, that won’t last. Soon, you’ll rebel against that kind of restriction, and you’ll be back to eating whatever comes in front of you. Back to the diet roller coaster…

You only need to do one thing right now.

Wait until the next time you’re physically hungry to eat.

Recommit to your plan and wait for hunger. You don’t have to write off the whole weekend and start over Monday or quit until the New Year. Start over RIGHT NOW. The faster you start over each time you make a mistake, the more time you spend on plan and the more times the scale will go down.

You CAN do this. I know you can. Don’t give up on yourself – you’re the one who has the power to make this work!

And if you want extra help, I’ve got two mini courses on my site that you can grab while you’re cyber-shopping today. You can get the Mindful Eating Meditation course or Weight Loss For The Holidays (or both as a bundle!) to help you get through this challenging season of the year. You really can support yourself while you’re cooking and shopping and cleaning and entertaining everyone else. You just need a little help! Give yourself this gift of self-love and support. You deserve it!