Why You Keep Starting Fresh On Monday — Rachel Molenda

If you are here and reading these words, I’m guessing you’ve “started fresh” on more than one Monday occasion. And hey, I’m here to tell you that I have had my fair share of “start fresh Monday” moments too. I’m also here to provide some insight as to why you might be constantly “starting fresh on Monday” and what you can do instead to avoid it.

The "start fresh Monday” mentality typically comes about after someone has engaged in behaviours around food or exercise (or lack of) that they deem to be “bad”. For example, someone that ate “healthy” all day long but capped off the day with chips or ice-cream might feel like they “ruined the day” of their healthy or clean eating because they didn’t do it perfectly.

Often when people arrive at this point, they feel like they’ve already done enough damage, so they throw in the towel on their healthy eating habits for the day and have a free-for-all and say something along the lines of “I’ll figure it out later” or “I’ll start fresh Monday” (sound familiar?!).

But what usually ends up happening is later, tomorrow or Monday comes, and the cycle repeats itself with the diligent healthy eating for the day or a few days, before it all falls apart. So, why does this keep happening? I’ll tell you why!

Why You Keep “Starting Fresh On Monday”

1. You’re being a perfectionist

This might seem backwards because it’s thought that the harder we try and the more “perfect” we are, the closer we will be to reaching our goals. What actually happens when we bring perfectionist ways to food, exercise and health as a whole, is that we live in the “all or nothing” mentality. It’s very black and white. You’re either doing it “right” or you’re doing it “wrong”. There is little to no flexibility, which means the minute you happen to eat something that isn’t the most healthy, you see it as a failure, which invites in that “start fresh Monday” mentality.

In my upcoming FREE webinar, I’m going to be sharing how you can still pursue health without perfection and, in turn, stop starting fresh on Monday (woohoo!). Save your spot here.

2. Your food rules are too rigid

A natural response to the restriction or deprivation that comes with chronic dieting is overeating and in some cases, binge eating. When this happens, it induces feelings of guilt and shame, but because you’ve already strayed from your food rules, you feel like you’ve “ruined the day” so the eating then continues until you’re met with a super uncomfortable belly ache. Yikes :(.

I recognize that sometimes various foods need to be eliminated for food sensitivity or allergy purposes, but if you’re eliminating foods or food groups (like carbohydrates) simply because you deem them to be “bad”, recognize that that is going to make you want and obsess about them more. Then, when you actually have the food, you may engage in what we call “Last Supper eating” because you’re eating it like it’s the last time you’re going to have it, because again – “gotta start fresh Monday”. And the cycle just continues!

So if you do find you’re constantly starting fresh on Monday, it may be to your benefit to look at the food rules you’ve created for yourself. Are they actually serving you? Or are they hurting you? Again, if you find you constantly feel restricted and obsessive about food, it may be because the food rules you’ve created for yourself are too rigid.

3. You’re overly fixated on weight loss

Let me start off by saying that I’m not against weight loss. I am, however, against the conventional means of weight loss that is often promoted and sold to people through lofty promises and persuasive words. But that’s another story for another day … ;)

The reason why being overly fixated on weight loss can be dangerous, and often result in starting fresh Monday after Monday, is because every action that doesn’t directly support weight loss is criticized. For example, if weight loss is your goal, then the minute you eat a chip, is the minute you’ve “messed up” and have to start fresh tomorrow (and I’m speaking heavily in quotations because these aren’t my beliefs, but are the common beliefs surrounding the subject matter).

How I was eventually able to stray from starting fresh every Monday and hopping from diet to diet was recognizing that “health foods” and what I like to refer to as “fun foods” can exist in the same day. It doesn’t mean you ruined the day. In fact, it allows you to move forward more easily with your health habits.

So yes, even as an Intuitive Eating Nutritionist, I still enjoy everything from chips, chocolate and ice-cream from time to time and the surprising thing is, when you give yourself unconditional permission to eat these foods, you actually don’t want them all the time. People often think if they give themselves this permission that they’ll go off the rails and demolish the food, when that’s just not the case. But that takes time to work up to and it’s why I dedicate a whole week to coaching my clients through this in my Intuitive Way For Eating program.

How To Stop “Starting Fresh On Monday”

I know people love a fresh start, but let’s admit it, starting fresh Monday after Monday is frustrating and deflating. If you want to stop starting fresh on Monday and learn how to incorporate health habits into your life that are sustainable, enjoyable and don’t make you feel like a failure time and time again, I’d love for you to join me for my upcoming FREE webinar, Pursuing Health Without Perfection.

In this webinar, I will be talking more in-depth as to why perfection in the pursuit of health does not work, as well as a number of strategies you can implement to incorporate healthy habits that last and will leave you feeling your best. The fun is happening on Tuesday February 11th at 8pm EST. Save your spot here.

If this post resonated with you and hit home, I’d love to hear it! Let me know in the comments below, as well as if you have any questions!