All-or-nothing or everything in moderation?

Imagine this… You come home from a long day of work and there is a piece of your favorite chocolate cake sitting on the counter (or whatever your favorite indulgence is).

What do you do? Do you have a couple of bites and having satisfied your craving, save the rest for another day? Or do you have a debate in your head for a few minutes about whether to throw the cake away or eat the cake, and having decided to have some, eat the entire cake? 

If you relate to the first scenario, then you are probably an everything in moderation person. You are able to have a couple bites of a cake, eat just a handful of chips, and can easily put your fork down after one bite of dessert. The thought of giving something up forever is enough to send you into a panic, while occasionally indulging in that thing helps you stick to your goals and comes very easily to you. Having a little bit of something makes you want that thing less.

If you are the second person, you are most likely an all-or-nothing person. The idea of moderation doesn’t really make sense to you, but you generally have no problem giving something up completely. You think that abstaining from something is much easier than having or doing that thing occasionally. You will either eat zero cake or the entire cake. You will have no chips or the whole bag of chips. Having a little bit of something makes you want it more.

This does not just apply to food and weight loss. It can carry over to all areas of a person’s life. Watching television, exercising, using your phone, socializing, and so on.  

There are certain things that are helpful to know about yourself when you are trying to change your behaviors and habits. Knowing if you are an all-or-nothing person or everything in moderation person will help you determine what advice to follow and how to tailor things to your specific situation. The common advice of “everything in moderation” will not work very well for you if you lean more towards all or nothing. Similarly, going “cold turkey” is not going to set a everything in moderation person up for success.  

Now that you know which one you are, feel free to ignore any advice that is not going to be helpful for you personally. And do not feel bad because you are not the type of person who can have 1/2 a cup of ice cream once a week. Or if you are unable to just finally and completely give up candy. The quickest path to changing your habits and achieving your goals is doing it the way that works best and is easiest for YOU.

So, which one are you?? All-or-nothing or everything in moderation?