How to stop seeing high-calorie punishment in training

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We will tell you how such an attitude to sports is formed and why it is harmful.

Why training turns into punishment

The culture of weight loss is incredibly widespread in modern society. Moreover, the desire to lose weight often appears very early. For example, according to American statistics, from 40% to 60% of primary school students aged 6-12 are worried about their weight. And these experiences often last a lifetime.

For many people, weight loss is inextricably linked to exercise. The fitness industry only keeps us alive with the toxic idea that exercise is meant to lose weight or reshape our body.

Together, this leads to an unhealthy attitude towards sports - with its help we begin to punish ourselves for high-calorie foods. For example, after eating a slice of pizza or cake, we rush to the treadmill or squat 100 times. Sometimes it even comes down to exercise addiction. She is characterized by an obsessive desire to exercise, which often goes hand in hand with eating disorders.

Changing your point of view is not easy, even when there are no nutritional problems. But this is real. Even if in the past your attitude to sports was not entirely healthy, this does not mean that it will remain so forever.

Remind yourself often that training is not a punishment. It is an opportunity to admire the abilities of your body, achieve something new and feel strong.

How to stop punishing yourself for food

Here are practical steps to help you build a new approach to sports.

1. Find what gives you pleasure

The work on changing your mindset should begin even before you put on your uniform - at the training selection stage. It is worth for the time being to abandon the types that you were engaged in before. You need to change the conditions that lead to overwork or an obsessive desire to exercise. For example, if you've been running around until exhaustion before, try yoga or dancing. Don't run until you've learned to re-think about movement.

Also, think about what you genuinely like. Let's say you love nature, then long walks or swimming will suit you. They will delight you and not be perceived as punishment.

We hear so much about how our body "should" look and what we "should" eat that we lose touch with our own desires.

If you have ever suffered from an eating disorder, you may need to consult a professional at this stage. It will help you to competently introduce sports into your life and establish a line that you should not go beyond.

2. Learn to maintain a healthy attitude towards training: before, during and after

To get in the right mood, start each workout with breathing exercises. This will help you feel the connection between body and mind.

• Sit on the floor in a comfortable position.
• Relax your neck, shoulders, and other areas of your body where you feel tension.
• Inhale slowly for a count of five. Hold the air and count to seven. Then exhale for the count of five.
• Repeat as many times as you see fit.
• When you are completely relaxed, set a goal for your upcoming workout. For example, taking care of yourself, health, vitality, but not weight loss. If goals make you anxious, skip this step.

Listen to your body. Choose your workout based on how you feel and what your body needs on the day, not pre-set plans or commitments. Are you cheerful and feel like you can handle anything? Do an intense full-body workout or kickboxing. Feeling weak? Work on flexibility. Are you tired? Try yoga to restore balance.

Take notes after class. But this is not a training diary. Now it is important for you to track progress not in speed or in the number of pounds lifted, but in your feelings. Notice how you felt during and after the session, and observe how your attitude gradually changes.

3. Start thinking about food differently

Try to think of it as a source of energy and not as something to burn in your workout. If you want to get stronger or take care of your cardiovascular system, you need to regularly fuel your body with good fuel. If you exercise to "deserve" a meal or to atone for what you have eaten, you will be physically and mentally exhausted.

We eat in order to move, not move in order to eat.

Of course, food isn't just fuel. It is associated with cultural and family traditions, it reminds us of loved ones and helps to express care and love. Food helps us survive, but it also brings pleasure. Remind yourself of this, and you will no longer see evil in her.