Before a big meal have you told yourself that, “I can only eat this if I have an intense workout session first?” or “I can eat pizza if I run 10k?” Using exercise to earn food is common and it’s an unhealthy way to view fitness. There are many issues with this approach and there are also better ways to view the connection between exercising, eating, and weight loss. Here’s why it doesn’t work that way and better approaches to leading a healthy lifestyle.
The first issue with this approach is that there’s no precise way to count calories from exercising and you can’t count how many are coming from fat and carbs. It’s also hard to know how many calories are in the food you’re earning. We usually overestimate the amount of calories burned from working out and underestimate the calories in food.
Another issue with earning food through exercising relates to your relationship with food as viewing food this way can lead to unhealthy and obsessive eating behaviors as well as hating exercising.
Some better ways to lead a healthier lifestyle include making sure you’re eating a balanced, nutritious diet, focusing on non-exercise activity like walking to work, and viewing exercise as a lifestyle to build strength and to make your overall health better.
