If you’ve been following me on here for awhile, you must know by now that I’m all about living a balanced life - for me, that means lots of fitness and careful attention to my health most of the time, punctuated by indulging in life’s events and experiences fully when the important opportunities arise.
I bust my ass in the gym every day not only for the way it makes me feel and the health benefits it provides, but also so that I can eat a delicious burger at a family barbecue, say yes to a piece of a friend’s birthday cake, or order what I really want for dinner on a date with my boyfriend and feel totally great about it!
Since I am at the point where I’m confident in my routine and ability to maintain a level of fitness that I’m comfortable with long-term, I feel very peaceful and content indulging in some not-specifically-goal-friendly foods now and again. Not super often, obviously, but if something truly special comes along I am happy to be able to participate and enjoy the experience without guilt.
Like special ice cream with my dude and my sister in law - can't miss that!
Once you’re able to create this balance and learn the meaning of true moderation for yourself, there’s no need to feel bad about the times that you do decide to indulge a bit, because it isn’t frequent or over-the-top enough to offset all of your focused and consistent healthy behaviors you stick to most of the time.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS FREEDOM.
This is a way to truly enjoy your life but also feel consistently confident about your health, fitness, and body.
Making smart choices is most of the battle - figuring out what really matters to you and which things you can leave behind is an important part of the process of finding a lifelong healthy path that works for you.
Because I believe these occasional indulgences can have a place in any healthy lifestyle, Chris and I like to call them “treats” instead of “cheats.” In our opinion, assigning a negative connotation (“cheating” sounds so yucky) to these infrequent instances isn’t really necessary or helpful.
I much prefer to find a way to feel great about the times when I deviate from my routine, because it’s really nothing to be ashamed about - especially when you’re careful to fit it into your otherwise healthy lifestyle. It’s still fully possible to stray a little from your usual healthy plan from time to time and still “break even,” or even continue to make progress!
Plus, everything tastes better and is more fun if you know you earned it!
My clients, particularly those looking to lose weight and overhaul their nutrition, ask me all the time when it’s ok to start having “cheat meals.” I know Instagram is full of hard-bodied gym fanatics who post their gnarly “cheats,” where they crush huge pizzas and ice cream sundaes with pop tarts or whatever, and they still look shredded all the time. It does seem encouraging, I’ll give you that!
But the ripped fitness pros you see online eating all the things aren’t doing that often, it’s likely a very well-calculated part of a specifically designed plan, they are likely doing a TON of hard work behind the scenes that you might not see, and they know their bodies extremely well.
Also, if you’re not being mindful about the size or magnitude of your off-plan treats, it’s very easy to undo a day (or multiple days, or even a week) of hard work in a single meal.
For example, if you’re working toward slowly losing weight eating at a caloric deficit of 300 calories a day Monday through Friday, then every weekend you go out to dinner each night and order something less healthy than usual, it’s completely possible that you might not only cease to lose weight, but you may even gain weight. Lame!
So my advice is this: the farther you are away from your goals, the smaller and less frequent your treats should be.
I’m not saying that even if you have a long way to go before you reach your desired health and fitness goals that it’s never ok to have a little treat. It’s just important to make sure it’s within reason and carefully planned for. For example, if you're out to eat at a great place and HAVE to have some pizza (like the one above), go for one slice and stop there. Taste and savor your piece - you don't need 10 slices to experience the flavor!
Much like flexible dieting, knowing that you can have a little bit of the foods you love and still stay on track can be really motivating for people. Extreme restriction works for some but certainly not everyone, it’s very difficult to sustain, and can have a tendency to lead to bingeing. It’s not an approach that I personally advocate because I’ve never really known it to be effective for anyone looking to be generally healthy and not preparing for an event like a fitness competition.
So a little treat here and there can go a long way, as long as you can stay in control. Learning true moderation as well as what you can “get away with” in terms of indulging and still make progress toward your goals is a very personal part of everyone’s fitness journey. Expect to deal with some trial and error, and don’t be hard on yourself if you make a choice you’re not happy with - instead, make a mental note and learn from it so that you don’t repeat it and let it become a pattern.
Once you get your feet on the ground and you’re maintaining a physique and level of health that you’re comfortable and happy with, it’s a better time to incorporate more treats and see how your body responds. At this point I’ve found that it’s easier to see how your treats affect the way you look and feel, and you can decide what you’re ok with and what’s worth it or not.
Until then, keep your treats mini and farther between, and your progress rolling along!
So just to recap: moderation and keeping portions in check is crucial, but after that - ENJOY!
I’ll keep pushing for a change of vocab from “cheats,” a rather dirty-sounding word, to “treats” - I say let’s embrace the concept of enjoying hard-earned, well-deserved, and intelligently incorporated indulgences when it’s really important to us, and not feel guilty or bad about it knowing that we’re balancing it all out in the end!
Need help figuring out how this works? We all need a little extra guidance from time to time - please reach out to me anytime in the comments or via my website!
Please feel free to comment, upvote, or resteem if you’d like! :)