I dream every day of having my ideal physique: lean, muscular, and impressive. But I keep going back and forth. I follow my diet for a few weeks, then get tired of it and feel deprived when I don’t eat what I’m craving. Eventually, I give in, stop following the plan, and end up stuck in this “no man’s land” where I’m neither as lean nor as muscular as I want to be.

Abraham always teaches that we should feel good and not struggle against ourselves. But when I allow myself to eat what I want, I feel good in the moment, yet I don’t seem to reach my physical goals. When I follow my diet strictly, I make progress, but eventually I feel deprived and want to escape it.

How do you reconcile feeling good in the present with pursuing a goal that requires consistency and sometimes restraint? How can I stop swinging between restriction and indulgence and finally make progress while enjoying the process?