Thursday, June 16, 2011

Cake Is A Sometimes Food

I know that I am not supposed to reward my hard work with food.  I have read it, I have heard it, and in my mind, I wasn't rewarding myself.  I have realized that I was justifying eating junk, because I was working out a lot.  I think I knew this all along but did not want to accept it.  Just because I lost 7 lbs. does not mean I get to eat 7 lbs. worth of cookies. 

The hard part about this is that I need to find a balance.  Yes, I am not supposed to reward my hard work with eating, but I do need to have things I enjoy every now and then.  I think that is where my justification was coming into play.  "I am not rewarding myself. I am just treating myself to a treat."  Well when I do that every other day, it is not helping me.

Cake is a sometimes food.
 Cake and cookies are sometimes foods.  Like birthday parties and special occasions.  Losing 5 lbs. is not a special occasion.  Two Philly Cheesesteaks is not a birthday party.  So, my new mantra has been, "Food is not a reward, food is fuel."  I need to find other healthy ways to reward myself for good choices.

What do you do to reward hard work?  I need to keep feeling good about my hard work but not with food.  HELP!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a really good way to think about it.

bigdaveandlittleem said...

I like to reward my self with a new pair of jogging shoes or something that will aide in my quest for a hot bod. Yoga stuff is always a good option... or a long hike somewhere beautiful that I can't go to every day... those are just a few of my faves.

Meagan said...

I agree with bigdaveandlittleem. I reward myself with new workout clothes...and sometimes a high quality one. I also just want to put in that you can have some delicious foods, but just make them a different way. Sweets are what's hardest for me to give up, so I learn to make sweets in a healthier way. Also if you feel the need to reward yourself with good food, just pick an expensive one that you don't buy very often. For me, it's the Naked Juices, or buying the Minute maid pomegranite blueberry juice (I usually buy generic OJ). One more thing, TCBY's mountain berry yogurt tastes better than ice cream and is between 100-200 calories for a small serving...well worth it.