You may want to sit downthis could be a huge shock to you, but perhaps its time to come to grips with the raw truth.

Are you bracing yourself for this one? Be brave now.

Ready or not, here it comes.

You are NOT perfect.

Yoo-hoo. Hey, whered ya go? Oh, whew! There you are. I thought I heard a funny noise.

Now I cant imagine why this may be a shock to youthat minor detail of not being perfect.

Youve been reminded of your imperfections all your lifeyour parents were good at that. I can still hear my mom say: What ails you anyway, Leslie?

Your siblings, peers, teachers, bosses, spouse(s), and a bunch of insignificant others were good at that toogenerously figuring out your imperfections for you.

And if that wasnt brutal enough truth, those teenagers came along and made sure they nailed home your flawslike every day, just in case you had forgotten from the day before. I knowI survived three teenagers (girls are ruthless) and have the scars to prove it.

Yet, in spite of life lessons in how perfect youre NOT, you still think youre perfect, or should be.

Go figure.

Ahhhh, I can hear the rebellious grumbles. Leslies off the mark this time. Not me. I dont think Im perfect; in fact, far from it.

Okay, my friend, let me put it this way.

You decide that, once and for all, youre going to lose weight or go for whatever dream for your body strikes your fancy. Am I on track so far?

You sit down with me (or whomever you may choose), and we create an eating plan to help you step into your body dream-come-true.

The plan makes perfect (ah, yes, that word again) sense, and you know that youll be able to follow the plan, maybe even perfectly. In fact, it sounds like such a perfect no-brainer that you cant imagine why you hadnt done it before.

Youre flying high. Youre perfectly confident that you will lose that weight that just keeps creeping up, plummeting your self-esteem down.

You shop for the perfect foods to fill you up and help you shed fat and build healthespecially lots and lots of fresh, whole fruits and veggies.

(Remember, the common sense answer to the common sense question: what foods are the perfect cancer- and disease-preventing warriors? Fruits and vegetablesthe perfect answer, my friend.)

On your mark. Get set. Go. Out of the gate you fly.

The first day on your new food planBINGO! A perfect day. The second dayanother perfect score. Wowthis is easy. Youre perfectly proud of yourself, and should be. You keep that up for a perfect week. You lose a couple of pounds.

Perfect!

Youre on a roll and feelin a bit cocky. In fact, you even strut a bit when you walk.

And then. You get blind-sided and you fall flat on your face. You were so busy strutting your stuff that you didnt even see it comingthe inevitable crash.

Oh, dear, how it hurts to be reminded, once again, that youre not perfect after all.

It couldve been a dinner out with friends or a craving for pizza or that out-of-control car that drove itself into the hamburger joint or that willful piece of chocolate (just a little one mind you) that flew into your mouth.

Whatever it was, you get derailed, and deflated.

You dont get it. Everything was going perfectlyuntil this happened.

And now those ugly, bad feelings haunt you again: I am a failure. Im weak. Im lazy. Im dumb. I know better, but I still eat that stuff. Whats wrong with me anyway?

Theres only one thing wrong with youyou think that you should be perfect and changing eating habits should be easyno glitches, no hitches.

Think again. How long does it take to learn anything new? Ages. How long does it take to learn a new, better way of eating? Agesin fact a lifetime.

Of course you get off track, silly. What did you expect? That with just a swoop of a thought, a plan, and no more time than a day or a week or a month that you would never ever again eat those not-so-good-for-you foods youve eaten and loved all of your life?

Goodness. If thats not thinking youre perfect, I dont know what is.

One more timeyou are not perfect. You have never been perfect, will never be perfect, and dont have to be perfect to lose weight and gain health. Whew! Thats a relief, isnt it?

Be reasonable and realistic with yourself and shoot for the casual/dress-up rule: You wear casual clothes most of the time. Well, fill-up on the good-for-you foods most of the time. Now and again you dress-up. Well, now and again treat yourself to the not-so-good-for-you-but-you-just-love foods.

Get off the I have to be perfect kick. It will only kick you right off your good intentions and burst your dream for your body and your life.

Approach weight loss and health gain with humility and patience. Recognize and embrace all of your strengths and all of your perceived flaws. It is precisely those strengths and flaws that make you uniquely you with all of your gifts, talents, compassionate, depth, and love.

Next time you slip and fall flat (and it will happen), just remember this: the only slip-up is to give-up.

Just get up one more time than you fall, and you will step into your weight and body dream-come-true.

And just how perfect would that be?