How you think affects the way you feel and act. By changing the way you think about food can change how you act about food. Thin people usually don’t think about food and overweight people think about food all the time.
I work with clients to think about food as a trade off. If you plan on eating that piece of cake, what are you going to do to burn off those extra calories? If you have to spend 1 hour on the treadmill walking at 4.0mph, then it better be worth it. Some foods are just not worth it.
But if you really want that piece of cake then plan for it. Either reduce the amount of calories you eat during the day to accommodate the calories from the cake or plan the time and exercise to burn it off. I believe Weight Watchers calls it banking points (since each food is assigned a point value). You are allowed a certain amount of points per day or per week. You can reduce the points one day and add them into the next day.
During this holiday season when there are more parties to attend and festive foods to eat, you really need to plan for the food you will be eating. Before you put food in your mouth think about what you are going to do to burn off the calories. Maybe you need to do a second set of reps when lifting weights or you are going to have to increase your cardio minutes or intensity.
I know that the calories in a donut (or I like to call them DO NOT’s) is not worth the amount of time I need to be running on the treadmill. So, I don’t eat the donut. But a piece of chocolate is worth every minute on the treadmill.
Holly Kouvo is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Specialist, speaker and writer who specializes in helping people lose hundreds of pounds. Learn more at www.FittingFitnessIn.com.