The weekend is finally upon us! For me, that usually means i will eat whatever the heck I want and drinking more wine than I usually would.... if I was drinking wine. *cough* I can rationalize anything when it comes to a food I love to eat. I'll say "oh, I ran today and burned 600 calories, so I can eat this and be okay." In fact, when I hit the measly ten pounds lost mark...I rewarded myself with.... A CHEESEBURGER. Not just a little McDonald's cheeseburger, a burger from the local ice cream shop (which has killer bar-type food). I remember the wintry afternoon, sending my husband out for a 'real' burger, because Hey, I just lost a whopping ten pounds.
That burger sucked and was burned and dry and almost inedible and I still
I was all mad. I kept saying "that was not worth it." The burger was terrible, I wasted hard earned, burned calories. Then I thought..."what if the burger was good?" It was then, back in March....I realized that rewarding with food...isn't a reward at all. It was a trigger for more bad food, an excuse to eat bad food, a great way to feel bad for eating bad food. I realized...you cannot reward yourself with food!
So, this weekend, think twice about what you eat. Do you need it? Are you truly hungry? Are you feeling snacky? Is there fruit available instead? Have you had your water? Is it the best possible choice for fueling your body? I know those are tough questions, I battle them daily. One step at a time, and we'll all end up happy with our choices and happier with our bodies.
This is so smart. I'm super bad about food rewards. When I was pregnant with Tommy, I worked out like a machine to stay fit and healthy, but after one appointment with my midwife, I rewarded a zero weight gain by going to Coldstone. Counter productive, what?
ReplyDeleteI love this post on so many levels. First of all I would make the "Don't reward yourself with food - You're not a dog" sign my mantra if I ever did anything to deserve a reward. Therefore my mantra will have to be "Do you need it? Are you truly hungry? Are you feeling snacky? Is there fruit available instead? Have you had your water? Is it the best possible choice for fueling your body?"
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm going to print it and hang it on the cabinet that houses the chips and Swiss Cake Rolls. Maybe THIS will be my turning point.