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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Eat Right, Don't Count, Stress Less.

Some lifestyle change regimens incorporate a "cheat day" into each week. They suggest it helps make the healthy activity you do for the remainder of the week more tolerable.  While this may be true (and rest is a key component of any good wellness routine) I would rather not think of my cardio-swag mission as  inconvenient. Besides making it more stressful, it makes it less sustainable.  We all know that "honest cheating" is an oxymoron, and if you have the will-power to do that, you probably don't need a cheat-day. 

One problem with the "off day" is that we can end up undoing the hard work that we put in during the "on days".  Even if we are not habitual calorie-counters, we are probably under-estimate our caloric intake in the same way that we are not so good with the "eye-ball scale" for weight.  We may also under-estimate how many calories we burn during our work-outs, so what should you do? 

I like the advise in this article about "caloric theory" and it's impact on our health. 

1 - Quality over quantity
2 - Don't count the calories 
3 - Stress less  

Not counting the calories is the easy part. Portion control can be harder, but it's doable. Stress control may be the toughest of the trio, but the benefits are real, and you have nothing to lose.  A mid-morning workday walk, a sixty-second time out with your eyes-closed, a musical interlude.  Find what works for you, and make that count.