Foundation Series

“Great class! Shall we go for coffee now?”

This happens so often. You workout and then you feel as if you deserve a little treat for all your hard work. Not to mention, you are feeling so strong and full of energy that you’re convinced you must be immune to calories, so why not have a cake with that coffee after your class has finished?

We can see what’s wrong with this scenario without having to look to hard, right? The interesting thing is, it’s a very common, and now documented phenomenon, that people feel as if they have a free pass or a need to overcompensate with food after a workout.

A recent study by Carolina Werle, an associate professor of marketing at Grenoble Ecole de Management in France, found food decisions after physical activity depend on weather the focus of a workout was to exercise or just have fun. A group of 56 women all were given the same task, but with different instructions. Some were told they were do a mile long walk to get some exercise while the other half were asked to listen to music while they took the same walk. The second group were told specifically that this was just to “do something fun.”

The buffet that followed the walk gave the researches the opportunity to see what happens in a self serve situation (like we all have at home). The difference between the ‘exercisers’ and the ‘fun walkers’ was that the ‘exercisers’ served themselves 42 % more dessert and Coke than the ‘fun walkers.’ Interestingly, there was little difference in the calorie intake of the main course dishes between the two groups.

So now I want to bring this around to the idea of rewards after exercise. Do you feel like you ‘deserve’ a sweet treat or a larger helping if you have done a workout that day? Could you be subconsciously self-sabotaging all your efforts? If you find that you’ve hit a plateau after getting some great results then this may be something you need to consider.

“I think we can frame our workouts in different ways, focusing on whatever we consider fun about it (listening to our favorite music while running or chatting with a friend during a brisk walk) instead of focusing only on the effort that will be performed,” Werle wrote in an email to HuffPost. “The more fun we have during the physical activity the less we’ll feel the license to indulge or the need to compensate for the previous effort.” (Huffington Post)

The great thing is, if you are practicing Callanetics your goal is already to take out the effort and relax while you workout. Can you think of a way to also had some fun into the mix? You are not trying to work hard, you are simply doing an effective workout.

If indeed you feel that in all honesty you are giving yourself treats for your good work, here is a great tip that can help you feel that your efforts have been acknowledged without discounting their effectiveness.

Think of another (inedible) reward.

There are so many things that you love! Right? So choose a small thing that makes you feel happy and look at it as your moment of sweetness post workout. Will it be a chapter of your book, 10 minutes meditation, a bunch of happy flowers? You will be able to get just as much pleasure and satisfaction from an inedible reward, without sabotaging the workout you just did.

Here is the link to the article that inspired this blog, which was brought to our attention by one of our lovely members. (Thank You!)

So next time you finish a workout and feel the need to head to the café, make the healthier choice of coming over to The Café a la TCS, where you can chat about your amazing workout sans calories!

Let me know in the comments if you feel like you have been compelled to indulge because you had an amazing workout. Also, what will your inedible reward be now that you’re overcoming self-sabotage?