Ok, I do a lot of writing and speaking, and one of the most powerful tools that I am always talking about is food logs / food journals.
Something that I talk about often with my individual clients that doesn't always come up in my writings or speeches is the concept of good and bad. There is no good and bad.
You are not bad when you go over on your calories.
You are not bad when you eat something with lots of sugar or trans fat.
You are not good when you hit your calorie goal.
You are not good when you eat really healthy.
There is no good or bad with food.
There is only what works.
And what works for you is different from someone else. If I had a client that needed to gain weight (I've had clients that came to me underweight because of an illness or injury) they could be totally indescrimant about where their calories came from. Sometimes they are so not used to eating that I will recommend simple sugars – because they can eat a lot of them. I'd also recommend a lot of protein. My point is, what works for her may be different from what works for you.
If you have a fat loss goal, it would work for you to eat less calories than you are burning. It would also work for you to burn more calories than you are eating. But it's not "good" in a moral sense. It just works.
If you have a weight loss goal you are not "bad" in a moral sense if you eat a twinkie. Now if you eat a twinkie five times a day, it won't work for your goals. But it's not bad.
But lets say your food log is rocking, you hit your calories all of the time. You are eating foods that work for your health – fruits, vegetables, lean meats, chicken, nuts, ect. Then lets say you plan in a "free meal", and for that free meal you have McDonalds and you top if off with a Twinkie. Is that bad? No. In fact, it probably works for you to have a free meal once in a while. Usually when people plan free meals into their schedule, it makes it easier to eat healthy the rest of the time. So in that instance, it's not bad, and it's not even that it doesn't work – in this case it definately works.
Don't think in terms of good or bad. Think in terms of if it works / doesn't work. Don't let yourself get wrapped up, self esteem wise, in your calories. Don't beat yourself up if you have a day that doesn't work in your food log. Everyone does. Perfection is not required.
I took a really emotionally draining leadership class once. It stretched every inch of who I was, called me out for all of my bullshit, and forced me to be the man I always wanted to be. Most of the time. The expectation was greatness, and I often fell short of that. But the things I achieved in my life just shooting for greatness was unbelievable. Through all of the ups and downs of the course, I met someone else in the course who shared a quote with me – I think it's from AA
"Just for today I will have a plan. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it."
I'm getting slightly off-topic. It's starting to lead into, "don't beat yourself up", which is very important. But it's a different conversation from "Don't moralize food". And "Don't get wrapped up emotionally in your calories." Which is more what I really wanted to talk about today.
By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES)
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC) and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC/CAS)
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