Last week I ran an informal poll of some of my friends at thedailyplate.com. I asked some of those who have a significant amount of weight to lose and/or who have lost a significant amount, for their thoughts and feelings about exercise. I wanted to know if my hate affair with exercise was normal. Here are some of the comments:
“I hate to exercise”
“…a little over a year ago I hated exercise. But I did it because I didn't want to be in pain anymore… I just started out going for 15-20 min walks. It was all I could really handle. Now I think I'm an exercise junkie.”
“The more I exercise, the more I like it. Once I've made it into a habit, the less I complain about it and the more motivated I am.”
“I love to exercise.”
“It's one of those necessary evils in the weight loss process.”
“I don't love or hate exercise. It's sometimes hard for me to get going, but once I do, I feel really good. I always feel great afterwards too.”
“I love to exercise! …When I was heavy as a teen I hated to exercise but once I started I learned how awesome it can make you feel.”
“I love to exercise, but I have trouble getting up to do it. It's hard for me to talk myself into going somewhere just to burn calories… I've always hated exercise for exercise's sake, and loved physical activity.”
“It is definitely a necessary evil, but I must say I love the way it makes me feel!”
“The more I do it the more I like it, and it’s definitely harder when you first start.”
The consensus (with a few exceptions) seems to be that even people who hate exercise, once they make it a habit, a regular routine, they begin to like it and many even grow to love it. In fact, I did another, general poll in the forum and over 70% of those polled said they love exercise! (Keep in mind this is a site primarily populated with people who are dealing with their weight.) Of course, there are exceptions, and I would expect that with any group of human beings, on any question! For the vast the majority, however, exercise is a positive force in their lives. Now, the truth is it may not be the exercise itself that they love. In many cases it seems to be the endorphins, how the exercise makes them feel afterwards, or even the results of the exercise on the body (more energy, more muscle, less fat, etc.) I also noticed that many times people were very active as kids, but became inactive as adults, which seems to indicate that an active childhood is no guarantor of an active adulthood. One of the most interesting things to come out of the conversation was that no matter how difficult it was to make oneself exercise, they were always glad, afterward, that they had done it. As one poster said, “I never, ever leave the gym thinking, "Gee, that was a bad idea. I feel like sh*t!"
As I said in my last post, my relationship with exercise has been fairly negative. Even during steady stretches of regular exercise, I never grew to love it. That "30 days make a habit" garbage simply doesn't work for me, seemingly! I thought maybe my endorphin machine was malfunctioning, and besides, LVIMH was always quick to remind me that I simply despised exercise.
Then one day I realized that LVIMH was – don’t be shocked now – lying to me! Yes, indeed. LVIMH does NOT always have my best interests at heart. In fact, I have discovered that LVIMH is lazy, self-indulgent, and has lied to me a lot! I think most of us tend to accept what we tell ourselves without questioning it. The thing is? We really should question it!
I remember I read a book back in high school called Telling Yourself the Truth. I thought it was a really good book, but I don’t think it sank in very well. We are talking to ourselves all of the time. “Self-talk,” the shrinks call it, and it is powerful stuff. More importantly, we can change what we say to ourselves, and by doing that, we can change our behavior. So I have started telling myself “I love exercise. I enjoy it.” even though it is not actually completely true -- yet. I would say that in regards to exercise, I have crawled out of the hate swamp and have reached the level of “It’s hard to make myself do it, but once I do it I am glad I did and it wasn’t so bad.” Furthermore, I firmly believe that if I continue to tell myself that I love exercise, I eventually will love exercise. Proverbs says that “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” which seems to indicate that our hearts and minds have a lot of power over who we are.
Wait a minute, though! If I tell myself “I love exercise,” isn’t that a lie? Aren’t I now lying to myself? Again? Just in a different way? Maybe. But the truth is, I have been lying to myself for years about exercise, and about a lot of things more significant than exercise. And “I love exercise” is perfectly capable of becoming the truth, because I am capable of changing – not just my behavior, not just my weight, but my eating habits, my exercise habits, and what I like or don’t like. Dr. Phil calls it “behaving your way to success.” In other words, decide how you want to be, and behave that way until it becomes who you are.
So given the choice of sitting on my internal high horse, nose in the air, proclaiming that this is who I am and if you don’t like it, tough tooties; or actually changing and growing and becoming a healthier, happier person? I’ll take the latter, thank you.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
But I Haaaaaaaaaaaaate Exercise!
When I was a child, I had asthma. I still have asthma, but when I was a child, it was very helpful, because it got me out of a lot of exercise, and I was not athletic. For example, in elementary school I had a doctor’s note saying that I did not have to “run ells” and boy was I glad! My elementary alma mater sits on a huge lot, and the grassy part of that lot is L-shaped. The (sadistic, whistle-blowing) p.e. teachers used to make us children run around this green space, sometimes for the entire p.e. period:
They say (“They” being all of these health/exercise/weight loss gurus) that everyone can find some sort of exercise that they enjoy. “Find out what you like. Try different things: swimming, walking, biking – until you find out what you enjoy.” If I heard that mantra once I heard it a thousand times, and nearly every time I heard it, it was followed by LVIMH (the Little Voice In My Head) saying “Bull-doodles! I hate exercise! I’ve tried it all, and although a few things are tolerable, I don’t like any of them! And, I never will. I simply do not like exercise!” (LVIMH tends to get a little verbose, plus she really likes exclamation marks, almost as much as I like commas.)
Since compulsory exercise became a thing of the past, LVIMH has pretty much had the upper hand on this topic. Not that I have not made attempts to become active. I joined Curves once, and the Y once, and I have tried other things, but always it was under the duress of LVIMH, who reminded me constantly that I HATE exercise. And it’s not just the exercise itself, it’s the sweating. When you get all sweaty, you have to take more time out of your day and shower, blow-dry, etc. If you want to exercise before work, you have to get up at a simply ungodly hour to fit it in. If you wait until after work, then the sun is gone by the time you get home. Exercise is a pain. And it’s inconvenient. And it’s stinky.
So, until a few months ago, I had pretty much resolved that I was never going to enjoy exercise. That I was going to have to do it as a necessary evil, like going to the dentist or paying my taxes. I had accepted this as FACT: “I hate exercise!”
To be continued…
(My parents still live across the street from this school, and I can testify that they still make kids run ells over there sometimes!)
Since I was excused from ells, the (sadistic, whistle-blowing) p.e. teachers would make me do jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, and flexed-arm hangs while the other children ran. Have you ever done a flexed-arm hang? Basically it’s a pull up to a horizontal bar, but once you are up there, you stay up there as long as you can. Your chin has to be above the bar, but not touching it, and sometimes our p.e. class would have competitions to see who could hang the longest. Suffice it to say that although I was a skinny child, and got lots of flexed-arm hang practice while other kids were running ells, I never won those competitions.
It’s not that I was inactive. As a kid, I was outside all the time – I rode my bike, I swam at the pool, I played at the park. But organized sports and activities just weren’t my thing. I wasn’t any good at them. I played 1 year of soccer (fullback), 1 year of softball (right field), took 1 year of trampoline – I didn’t like any of it enough to stick with it. And in Jr. High and High School - I hated p.e.! P.E. was a dumping ground for all of the non-athlete kids who were not on a school team of some sort. I have to give them credit – they planned a wide variety of activities for us – from aerobics to swimming to archery to softball…but I didn’t like sweating, and particularly not in the middle of the school day with 5 minutes to clean up and dress for the next class.
In college we had to take p.e., too. It was a little better, because we had so many more choices, and you could schedule yourself so that you were not rushing from swimming to calculus, but I still took the minimum required. I did make an honest attempt to start running. My freshman roommate was a runner – she would get up at about 5:00 am each morning and run 6 miles. I was impressed! So I started trying to run (not at 5 am certainly) and I worked up to a couple of miles. I was actually in pretty good shape my first couple of years of college. But then I finished all of my required p.e. courses, remembered that I hated exercise, and quit running.
Since I was excused from ells, the (sadistic, whistle-blowing) p.e. teachers would make me do jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, and flexed-arm hangs while the other children ran. Have you ever done a flexed-arm hang? Basically it’s a pull up to a horizontal bar, but once you are up there, you stay up there as long as you can. Your chin has to be above the bar, but not touching it, and sometimes our p.e. class would have competitions to see who could hang the longest. Suffice it to say that although I was a skinny child, and got lots of flexed-arm hang practice while other kids were running ells, I never won those competitions.
It’s not that I was inactive. As a kid, I was outside all the time – I rode my bike, I swam at the pool, I played at the park. But organized sports and activities just weren’t my thing. I wasn’t any good at them. I played 1 year of soccer (fullback), 1 year of softball (right field), took 1 year of trampoline – I didn’t like any of it enough to stick with it. And in Jr. High and High School - I hated p.e.! P.E. was a dumping ground for all of the non-athlete kids who were not on a school team of some sort. I have to give them credit – they planned a wide variety of activities for us – from aerobics to swimming to archery to softball…but I didn’t like sweating, and particularly not in the middle of the school day with 5 minutes to clean up and dress for the next class.
In college we had to take p.e., too. It was a little better, because we had so many more choices, and you could schedule yourself so that you were not rushing from swimming to calculus, but I still took the minimum required. I did make an honest attempt to start running. My freshman roommate was a runner – she would get up at about 5:00 am each morning and run 6 miles. I was impressed! So I started trying to run (not at 5 am certainly) and I worked up to a couple of miles. I was actually in pretty good shape my first couple of years of college. But then I finished all of my required p.e. courses, remembered that I hated exercise, and quit running.
They say (“They” being all of these health/exercise/weight loss gurus) that everyone can find some sort of exercise that they enjoy. “Find out what you like. Try different things: swimming, walking, biking – until you find out what you enjoy.” If I heard that mantra once I heard it a thousand times, and nearly every time I heard it, it was followed by LVIMH (the Little Voice In My Head) saying “Bull-doodles! I hate exercise! I’ve tried it all, and although a few things are tolerable, I don’t like any of them! And, I never will. I simply do not like exercise!” (LVIMH tends to get a little verbose, plus she really likes exclamation marks, almost as much as I like commas.)
Since compulsory exercise became a thing of the past, LVIMH has pretty much had the upper hand on this topic. Not that I have not made attempts to become active. I joined Curves once, and the Y once, and I have tried other things, but always it was under the duress of LVIMH, who reminded me constantly that I HATE exercise. And it’s not just the exercise itself, it’s the sweating. When you get all sweaty, you have to take more time out of your day and shower, blow-dry, etc. If you want to exercise before work, you have to get up at a simply ungodly hour to fit it in. If you wait until after work, then the sun is gone by the time you get home. Exercise is a pain. And it’s inconvenient. And it’s stinky.
So, until a few months ago, I had pretty much resolved that I was never going to enjoy exercise. That I was going to have to do it as a necessary evil, like going to the dentist or paying my taxes. I had accepted this as FACT: “I hate exercise!”
To be continued…
Monday, April 7, 2008
Losing Momentum
I have put off writing this post, because I know that there are people out there in blog-reading world who are easily discouraged by anything that does not qualify as uplifting, Rah! Rah!, AlwaysThinkPositive stuff. But this (in my opinion) is one of the most important concepts when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, so here goes…
Last week I wrote about my Turning Point. My life changed on that day, permanently, but I would be remiss if I did not mention that before that day came, I had multiple other times when I THOUGHT I had reached a true turning point, only to discover later that I had not. It is very common among those of us who are striving to become smaller than we are to have mental, emotional, or spiritual “events” which give us motivation and momentum for a little while. Trouble is, the momentum dies off (at which point we typically revert to our old habits). And the more times we ride that merry-go-round, the more discouraged we get, and the less we want to try. (Sidenote: So how do you know the difference between a genuine turning point and one of these temporary will-power feasts? Because the change is in your thinking – not just how you feel, but in your actual thought processes about food, exercise, and weight. The world looks different, because you are looking at it from a different place. I hope that makes some sense! Perhaps I can elaborate more in a later post.)
I spent years thinking that if I could just find the right program, the right group, the right plan, then suddenly all of this would become EASY and that once I found that path I would skip merrily and effortlessly to my ideal weight. This is how the folks on TV get rich, by the way – by convincing you that THEIR program is THE program that will revolutionize your life. They have before/after pictures, testimonials, and the like to help you buy into it (by the way, in a later post I will address why I think each and every one of these programs have people for whom it does work). But back to the point: If you continue to believe that this journey is akin to climbing a mountain, reaching the top, and then sliding down smoothly to your goal, you are in for a one great big hairy disappointment after another. It is much more like a long distance bicycle ride – with uphills and downhills, and lots of pedaling, and lots of sweating. There are nice long downhill stretches, when the wind is at your back and you can rest your legs and just enjoy the ride. And there are grueling uphill bits when you may not even be able to pedal at all, but instead have to get off the bike and push it inch by inch upslope against the wind. And there are lots of miles in between. The thing is, even if you have a genuine turning point, you are going to lose momentum somewhere along the way.
I started my life change on September 27, 2007. That October I lost 15 pounds! Of course, we all know that the first month you tend to dump a lot of water, so I was quite pleased when in November I lost another 9 pounds. In December, I gave in to a lot of Christmas temptations, but still lost 4 pounds. (Most of my friends at thedailyplate.com agree that “not gaining” in December is as big an accomplishment as losing, so I was happy.) In January 2008 and February 2008 I lost 6 pounds per month – a respectable 1.5 a week – but I had to work hard for it, and my weight graphs for both of those months look like a bad EKG.
Then in March I gained 4 pounds. Actually I gained about 8, then lost back some of it, for a net monthly gain of 4 pounds. And I was exercising, so it wasn’t that I was not burning calories. I was just eating too many of them!
So I threw in the towel, decided that none of this was worth the effort, and ate an entire turtle cheesecake followed by 4 large french fries and a bag of Cheetos™. Right?
NO! Of course not! Stop and think a minute about how RIDICULOUS it is to suggest that after losing 40 pounds I would throw everything away because I gained back 4! Yet people just like you and me do this all of the time! We mess up, we backpedal, we lose momentum, and instead of pedaling harder, we just quit.
Oliver Goldsmith, 18th century writer, said “Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” If you want a more modern version, you can take it from Jon Bon Jovi, who put it this way: “Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” Personally, I think a more accurate view is this: "Success is falling 998 times and getting up 999!" Look, I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you are going to screw up! You are going to lose momentum, you are going to fall and you are going to have to get back up again. The TV is lying to you, ok? There is no magic pill, or surgery, or food, or exercise, that makes this effortless. This is not a process that comes without pain and it is not a process that succeeds without ups and downs. Even The Biggest Loser™ contestants, who are in a highly controlled environment, sometimes have weeks when they don’t lose any weight. Rather than discourage you, this should encourage you! Because it does not matter how many times you fail, as long as you get your chubby bootie back up again!
I didn’t eat turtle cheesecake. Or french fries (and I dearly love french fries!) As for the Cheetos™ (which were in my pantry, and shouldn’t have been)? I trashed them. Because I am in this for the long haul. I plan to finish this race. I’m gonna pedal. I’m a week into April, and those pesky 4 pounds from March are already gone, so I’m sure glad I didn’t throw in the towel. You shouldn’t either, ok? Get back up!
Last week I wrote about my Turning Point. My life changed on that day, permanently, but I would be remiss if I did not mention that before that day came, I had multiple other times when I THOUGHT I had reached a true turning point, only to discover later that I had not. It is very common among those of us who are striving to become smaller than we are to have mental, emotional, or spiritual “events” which give us motivation and momentum for a little while. Trouble is, the momentum dies off (at which point we typically revert to our old habits). And the more times we ride that merry-go-round, the more discouraged we get, and the less we want to try. (Sidenote: So how do you know the difference between a genuine turning point and one of these temporary will-power feasts? Because the change is in your thinking – not just how you feel, but in your actual thought processes about food, exercise, and weight. The world looks different, because you are looking at it from a different place. I hope that makes some sense! Perhaps I can elaborate more in a later post.)
I spent years thinking that if I could just find the right program, the right group, the right plan, then suddenly all of this would become EASY and that once I found that path I would skip merrily and effortlessly to my ideal weight. This is how the folks on TV get rich, by the way – by convincing you that THEIR program is THE program that will revolutionize your life. They have before/after pictures, testimonials, and the like to help you buy into it (by the way, in a later post I will address why I think each and every one of these programs have people for whom it does work). But back to the point: If you continue to believe that this journey is akin to climbing a mountain, reaching the top, and then sliding down smoothly to your goal, you are in for a one great big hairy disappointment after another. It is much more like a long distance bicycle ride – with uphills and downhills, and lots of pedaling, and lots of sweating. There are nice long downhill stretches, when the wind is at your back and you can rest your legs and just enjoy the ride. And there are grueling uphill bits when you may not even be able to pedal at all, but instead have to get off the bike and push it inch by inch upslope against the wind. And there are lots of miles in between. The thing is, even if you have a genuine turning point, you are going to lose momentum somewhere along the way.
I started my life change on September 27, 2007. That October I lost 15 pounds! Of course, we all know that the first month you tend to dump a lot of water, so I was quite pleased when in November I lost another 9 pounds. In December, I gave in to a lot of Christmas temptations, but still lost 4 pounds. (Most of my friends at thedailyplate.com agree that “not gaining” in December is as big an accomplishment as losing, so I was happy.) In January 2008 and February 2008 I lost 6 pounds per month – a respectable 1.5 a week – but I had to work hard for it, and my weight graphs for both of those months look like a bad EKG.
Then in March I gained 4 pounds. Actually I gained about 8, then lost back some of it, for a net monthly gain of 4 pounds. And I was exercising, so it wasn’t that I was not burning calories. I was just eating too many of them!
So I threw in the towel, decided that none of this was worth the effort, and ate an entire turtle cheesecake followed by 4 large french fries and a bag of Cheetos™. Right?
NO! Of course not! Stop and think a minute about how RIDICULOUS it is to suggest that after losing 40 pounds I would throw everything away because I gained back 4! Yet people just like you and me do this all of the time! We mess up, we backpedal, we lose momentum, and instead of pedaling harder, we just quit.
Oliver Goldsmith, 18th century writer, said “Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” If you want a more modern version, you can take it from Jon Bon Jovi, who put it this way: “Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” Personally, I think a more accurate view is this: "Success is falling 998 times and getting up 999!" Look, I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you are going to screw up! You are going to lose momentum, you are going to fall and you are going to have to get back up again. The TV is lying to you, ok? There is no magic pill, or surgery, or food, or exercise, that makes this effortless. This is not a process that comes without pain and it is not a process that succeeds without ups and downs. Even The Biggest Loser™ contestants, who are in a highly controlled environment, sometimes have weeks when they don’t lose any weight. Rather than discourage you, this should encourage you! Because it does not matter how many times you fail, as long as you get your chubby bootie back up again!
I didn’t eat turtle cheesecake. Or french fries (and I dearly love french fries!) As for the Cheetos™ (which were in my pantry, and shouldn’t have been)? I trashed them. Because I am in this for the long haul. I plan to finish this race. I’m gonna pedal. I’m a week into April, and those pesky 4 pounds from March are already gone, so I’m sure glad I didn’t throw in the towel. You shouldn’t either, ok? Get back up!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Don't Eat in Your Car!
Have you ever ridden in the car with someone who told you that they do not allow anyone to eat in their vehicle? Odds are they have no children, they are very obsessive about their vehicle, and/or they are thin!
Eating in the car has been around for a lot longer than fast food has. I can remember as a young child, when we took long trips, my mother would pack food for the road. This served a dual purpose: to save money and to save time. If we did not have to stop and go into a restaurant to eat, we could arrive at our destination quicker and with more change in our pockets. If I close my eyes, I can still taste bologna sandwiches, feel the Cheetos™ between my fingers, smell freshly peeled oranges, and hear John Denver on the radio as we streak across Oklahoma in our VW van.
Nowadays, we still eat in our cars to save time, but instead of packing sandwiches, chips and fruit for the road, we zip through one of the ubiquitous drive-thru windows and plunk down more money than we have any business spending on something that will be consumed in fewer than 10 minutes. (Sidenote: if you must eat fast food, pay with cash! McDonald’s revealed that the average transaction rose from $4.50 to $7 when people paid with plastic instead of cash. Wendy’s says their plastic purchases run about 35% higher than cash purchases.)
Anyhow, the two main reasons people eat in their cars is to save time, and for convenience. A third reason that is not so readily admitted to is secret eating. Even though we are surrounded by windows, for some reason when we are in our cars, we feel like we are alone and that no one can see us (for proof of this, start paying attention to other people in their cars at stoplights! You will be amazed at some of the things you see). There is a big difference between going into a restaurant, sitting down at a table (those fast food booths are TIGHT for us chubby girls!), eating in front of people, and getting it from a drive through then shoveling it down while you navigate the traffic. For years nutrition and behavior experts have advised not to eat in front of the TV, because you are not paying attention to what you are eating, and therefore you generally overeat. I submit that eating while driving is even more unconscious!
And let’s talk about salt. I once got into a conversation with a guy who details cars for a living. He told me you can always tell the people who eat a lot of fast food in their cars because there is salt in every crack and crevice. Setting aside for a moment the fact that most us eat WAY more salt than we should, consider your poor car! Salt is very corrosive, promotes rust, and can stain carpet. You know this if you live near an ocean or in a climate where salt is used to de-ice roads. So if you are constantly baptizing your car with salt, it is actually causing damage to it.
Even if you are not worried about salt damage, make a resolution to not eat in your car. Sure, it saves time, but how much, really? Maybe 15 or 20 minutes? Don’t you realize that every time you chow down a 1,000 calorie fast food meal you are shaving time off your life? You are worth getting up 15 minutes earlier to fix yourself a bowl of wholegrain cereal instead of paying $5 for a 500 calorie breakfast sandwich! Next time you go to Subway™, instead of getting it to go, sit down and eat it there in the store. It might cost you 15 minutes, but you will be so much more conscious about what and how much you are eating. Plus you can get a (sugar-free) drink refill! And when you drive by your favorite fast food place, listening to the siren song of piping hot fries, tell yourself this: “If you must eat fries, then you will have to go in, and sit down and eat them. I am not going to let you eat them in the car!” Trust me: the siren song will lose a lot of its power.
And what about convenience? It is so much easier to pick up chicken nuggets for the kids on the way home from school than to go home and make something! We are so busy nowadays, running from one activity to another – working, parenting, trying to keep our email inboxes below 1000…
I know, it’s hard, but you know what? It’s important enough to outweigh the hassle. I know you love your kids, so don’t feed them garbage for the sake of a little expediency! If your mornings are hectic, make sure to keep fresh fruit and (healthy!) granola bars in stock for grab n’ go breakfast. How about natural peanut butter spread on whole-grain bread? Or a boiled egg (boil a dozen ahead of time and keep them in the fridge). Smoothies are a quick and easy option, too. Consider setting your alarm just 10 minutes earlier so you can eat something before you leave the house. As for lunch and dinner, sit down on Saturday or Sunday and plan your meals for the week. That way you won’t use fast-food as a stop-gap for poor planning.
If you decide not to give up fast food altogether (and fortunately, more and more healthy options are being offered), and you don’t have time to go in and sit, consider waiting until you reach your destination before digging in to that paper bag. Your car (and your waistline) will thank you.
Eating in the car has been around for a lot longer than fast food has. I can remember as a young child, when we took long trips, my mother would pack food for the road. This served a dual purpose: to save money and to save time. If we did not have to stop and go into a restaurant to eat, we could arrive at our destination quicker and with more change in our pockets. If I close my eyes, I can still taste bologna sandwiches, feel the Cheetos™ between my fingers, smell freshly peeled oranges, and hear John Denver on the radio as we streak across Oklahoma in our VW van.
Nowadays, we still eat in our cars to save time, but instead of packing sandwiches, chips and fruit for the road, we zip through one of the ubiquitous drive-thru windows and plunk down more money than we have any business spending on something that will be consumed in fewer than 10 minutes. (Sidenote: if you must eat fast food, pay with cash! McDonald’s revealed that the average transaction rose from $4.50 to $7 when people paid with plastic instead of cash. Wendy’s says their plastic purchases run about 35% higher than cash purchases.)
Anyhow, the two main reasons people eat in their cars is to save time, and for convenience. A third reason that is not so readily admitted to is secret eating. Even though we are surrounded by windows, for some reason when we are in our cars, we feel like we are alone and that no one can see us (for proof of this, start paying attention to other people in their cars at stoplights! You will be amazed at some of the things you see). There is a big difference between going into a restaurant, sitting down at a table (those fast food booths are TIGHT for us chubby girls!), eating in front of people, and getting it from a drive through then shoveling it down while you navigate the traffic. For years nutrition and behavior experts have advised not to eat in front of the TV, because you are not paying attention to what you are eating, and therefore you generally overeat. I submit that eating while driving is even more unconscious!
And let’s talk about salt. I once got into a conversation with a guy who details cars for a living. He told me you can always tell the people who eat a lot of fast food in their cars because there is salt in every crack and crevice. Setting aside for a moment the fact that most us eat WAY more salt than we should, consider your poor car! Salt is very corrosive, promotes rust, and can stain carpet. You know this if you live near an ocean or in a climate where salt is used to de-ice roads. So if you are constantly baptizing your car with salt, it is actually causing damage to it.
Even if you are not worried about salt damage, make a resolution to not eat in your car. Sure, it saves time, but how much, really? Maybe 15 or 20 minutes? Don’t you realize that every time you chow down a 1,000 calorie fast food meal you are shaving time off your life? You are worth getting up 15 minutes earlier to fix yourself a bowl of wholegrain cereal instead of paying $5 for a 500 calorie breakfast sandwich! Next time you go to Subway™, instead of getting it to go, sit down and eat it there in the store. It might cost you 15 minutes, but you will be so much more conscious about what and how much you are eating. Plus you can get a (sugar-free) drink refill! And when you drive by your favorite fast food place, listening to the siren song of piping hot fries, tell yourself this: “If you must eat fries, then you will have to go in, and sit down and eat them. I am not going to let you eat them in the car!” Trust me: the siren song will lose a lot of its power.
And what about convenience? It is so much easier to pick up chicken nuggets for the kids on the way home from school than to go home and make something! We are so busy nowadays, running from one activity to another – working, parenting, trying to keep our email inboxes below 1000…
I know, it’s hard, but you know what? It’s important enough to outweigh the hassle. I know you love your kids, so don’t feed them garbage for the sake of a little expediency! If your mornings are hectic, make sure to keep fresh fruit and (healthy!) granola bars in stock for grab n’ go breakfast. How about natural peanut butter spread on whole-grain bread? Or a boiled egg (boil a dozen ahead of time and keep them in the fridge). Smoothies are a quick and easy option, too. Consider setting your alarm just 10 minutes earlier so you can eat something before you leave the house. As for lunch and dinner, sit down on Saturday or Sunday and plan your meals for the week. That way you won’t use fast-food as a stop-gap for poor planning.
If you decide not to give up fast food altogether (and fortunately, more and more healthy options are being offered), and you don’t have time to go in and sit, consider waiting until you reach your destination before digging in to that paper bag. Your car (and your waistline) will thank you.
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