Runner's Entitlement Part 2

LaTaya,
First, I’m happy that you are still running and working on your weight loss goals. Secondly, I can relate to your entitlement feelings of wanting to reward yourself after working out. But the simple fact is that your reward, Popeye’s chicken, really robbed you of all of the hard work you put in. After checking out the nutrition information on Popeye’s website, I calculated that you consumed around 940 calories! That is around 500 calories less that what your caloric intake should be for the entire day. My advice to you is to first, start planning out your meals. You should be eating 5-6 small meals a day and each meal should range between 100-400 calories. Secondly, I am challenging you to keep a food journal and write down EVERYTHING you eat. Then at the end of the day, calculate how many calories you have consumed. Lastly, you have to let go of your entitlement feelings.

5 ways to combat Runner’s Entitlement

1. Plan your meals. Planning ahead not only helps you
stay full, but you will also know what you are eating right after a workout.
This eliminates the fast food drive-bys.

2. Keep you eye on the prize. Remember that the prize or reward for a good workout is
looseness in your jeans or dropping a dress size, not food.

3. Schedule a small reward once a week. When I was first losing weight, I
had a strict diet everyday except Friday. Fridays were essentially my reward
days because I wanted to go and eat Mexican food with my co-workers. I didn’t
pig out on Fridays,but was selective about what I ate throughout the day knowing
that I would consume roughly 600 calories that evening. Doing this allowed me to
meet my 1400-calorie a day goal.

4. Destroy old paradigms. When you first get into running and working out, you have to realize that this is a LIFESTLYE change. Essentially you are deciding to eliminate or greatly
limit those things from the old life that kept you from having the healthiest life. Popeye’s is now a part of your old life.

5. Learn a new recipe. I am a recovering “fry-aholic” I love fried chicken, French
fries, tortilla chips – basically I loved fried foods. In order to beat the habit, I had to learn how to cook some of these same foods without frying. Thus began my friendship with broiling and baking. I admit, parting with the fried foods was EXTREMELY hard, and it took about three month for the craving to subside. Three years later, I don’t crave fried foods and when I do eat them I usually get sick as my body rejects all of the grease and fat.

Also in Black Girls RUN!