Today’s guest post is by Pamela Hernandez. Pamela is an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer and an ACE Lifestyle & Weight Management Coach. Today, Pamela writes about how you can derail your goals by rewarding yourself with food after a workout. Pamela is the owner of Thrive Personal Fitness. Follow her healthy weight loss and fitness tips on twitter: @thrivefit. She is ThriveFit on DailyBurn.

I can remember one of my first attempts at fitness and working out.
 
I got a gym membership because my employer at the time paid half. It was a great benefit and certainly ahead of its time, almost 16 years ago. One of my co-workers had just had a baby and she also signed up to try to work off some of the baby weight.

Neither of us had a clue what we were doing. The last time I had lifted weights was in high school, when the coach spent most of his time with the athletes. The other girls in class and I sort of half did what we were supposed to and half sat around and gossiped.

When I attempted to start exercising with my friend we basically did the same thing. We wondered from weight machine to weight machine and spent some time on the Stairmaster gossiping. I don’t even know how long we actually were there that first time. I don’t think we cared. We were at the gym and that was something, right?

In fact it was such a good thing we felt we should reward ourselves for our hard work. How about the Olive Garden? Yes, ma’am pasta and breadsticks sounds like a great idea after a “hard” workout.

I can only shake my head at my own past flawed logic. I also know there are many other gym goers who still think the same thing. I see them at with huge, calorie-dense post workout smoothies, giant muffins or hitting the drive up for a burger and fries.

I can see the justification in their faces. I know I’ve worked hard, so I deserve this, they are telling themselves. Meanwhile all their work is slowly undone by excess fat and sugar. When they step on the scale a day or 2 later they just can’t figure out what the problem is. I’m working so hard, they think to themselves, why isn’t the number on the scale going down?

Because you can’t out train a bad diet.

Exercise doesn’t justify eating excessive amounts of food. Many of you are probably starting (or restarting) an exercise program this month. If weight loss is your goal I want you to remember 3 things about exercise, food and fat loss:

1. You can exercise all day long but if you refuel with too much of anything you won’t see the results you want. You must balance calories in with calories out, no matter if these calories come from protein shakes or gluten free organic cookies. Quality and quantity matter.

 

2. Exercise is not and should not be means to a reward. Don’t negotiate with yourself, saying that so much exercise equals so much ice cream or soda. It doesn’t work that way.

 

3. You are probably burning fewer calories than you think. Calorie calculators on many machines and web sites can be way off. Don’t use them as a justification for additional snacks or treats.

 
Exercise is good for health and the calories burned will help you reach your fat loss goals. The key is to not use exercise as a justification for the foods you know aren’t good choices but want to consume anyway. Refuel post workout, but do it with a balanced and healthy choice.

Thanks for the tips, Pamela! Readers – what mistakes have you made in the past with rewards the actually derailed your progress? Share your story so that other people don’t make the same mistake!