Over the weekend, circumstances didn’t allow me to think, focus on, or even really care about exercise. There are times when life and family are a priority. I knew that, and I knew that exercise was a few rungs down on the ladder.
Yesterday, while getting back into a routine with an early evening yoga download, I realized how much my perspective has changed, how much I’ve stabilized and matured in my relationship to exercise.
natural energy on-the-go: pure bars and larabars
A year ago – even a few months ago – a weekend without a calorie burn would be cause for panic. It would affect how I ate, what I ate, how I felt I should eat. It would involve planning and calculating, and it would take up unnecessary space in a brain that could, and should, be doing more important things.
The general philosophy that I experienced in the mainstream, usually female community seemed to be that exercise was an excuse to eat. Forty minutes on the elliptical was payment for eating a brownie. In the health arena, perhaps the gym session canceled out some oats and almond butter. Whatever the food selection might be, if the time wasn’t devoted, a decent amount of food didn’t belong.
energy spike: fresh figs + nut butter (equally delicious with dates)
While propelling myself through my vinyasa series yesterday, I felt strong, present, and awake. The extra days of rest were apparent in the additional energy I felt I had. The result was a fulfilling practice and a great sweat.
I began to wonder: why did I spend so much of my past exercising simply to justify eating a normal amount of food? Especially now, I’m certainly not trying to lose weight; I simply want to be healthy. I’ve found the exercise that I enjoy, that I crave, that clears my mind, and that is correct for my body. By no means am I doing it to counteract calories; in fact, I think I’m doing the opposite, as without food, I’d have no fuel to exercise at all.
classic natural fuel: peanut butter (last remaining jar), banana, and jam. enjoyable on its own, in a sandwich, or in a bowl of oats.
So I don’t spend ninety minutes on my yoga mat as a means to feast afterward. I don’t do it because I ate an extra banana, or because I wanted a snack before bed. I do, however, eat well and eat often, day in and day out. And as a result, I can achieve strong, powerful sessions of exercise, whatever the form, as the sweetest reward.
Where do you stand? Eat to exercise or exercise to eat? Both? Or neither?
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Interesting post. I can definitely relate. When I danced, I swung between eating for energy to dance, and dancing to justify eating. I often didn’t realise it until I had to stop dancing for whatever reason and notice how my eating was affected (or not). When I look back at my dancing days though, I really only remember the feeling of food being fuel to power me through my classes, and the couple classes I took where I hadn’t eaten properly beforehand (thinking, “I need to earn XXX before I eat it”).
Nowadays…it’s hard to say. I walk a lot and in my mind, I guess it’s partly to justify eating. I definitely do not eat to fuel my exercise because it’s not strenuous (more to fill time than anything else right now) but I struggle with getting my head around the fact that bodies need a certain amount of fuel just to live. To me, i guess, I am still caught up in the whole ‘exercise = food’ thinking. Which i didn’t realise until just now and thought about it!
Thank you for your messages…xxx
I love this post and have felt this way often lately. Sometimes I catch myself throwing on my HRM and forcing myself to run until I burn 500 calories because that’s how much my lunch was – or how much my dinner is going to be.
It’s hard sometimes – because I’m trying to lose weight without being obsessive, and I feel like too often in the past, they have gone hand in hand for me.
It’s nice to see that exercise has a new place in your life and that you are present. It’s very inspirational – thank you.
At this point, I’m probably (ok, definitely) living to eat…but I know I should be eating to exercise
I couldn’t agree more, and luckily it seems that more and more women in blogworld are on board with this mindset. Thanks for the reminder!
Such a great post. I, too, have struggled with un-healthy thoughts regarding exercise or lack there of, and have recently developed a much healthier relationship with my workouts as well. I definitely eat so I can have a good sweat session. Thanks so much for posting this, it really made me think
I can’t agree more with you!!! Years ago I’d burn some cals just to justify to eat normal and felt bad when I don’t. But now, when I don’t want to exercise, I just don’t, it could be a day, a week or even a month. And I do more yoga than cardio burns, because it makes me feel better and less obsessed about food. Of course, I do enjoy the endorphin that cardio gives me, but only when I need it, not because of food.
It feel so great this way!
I don’t exercise so I can eat, but I do feel like I should exercise because of what I’ve eaten. I really want to just do exercise when I feel like it and not feel guilty or bad if I don’t do any. I enjoy swimming and dancing and should just do it because of that
i think i def eat to exercise since im training right now..but otherwise I exercise for pleasure and i eat for pleasure! i love just “being” and not having to worry about burning off a brownie or cookie.
Great point! I think that it is definitely a delicate balance, as well as a line that I easily go back and forth over. Sometimes, I’m excited to fuel my body for a great workout I’ve planned, yet others times I find myself in the old mindset of working out BECAUSE I ate my meal plan and I want to maintain the balance.
It’s definitely something I’m always working on, thanks for your thoughts on this.
I completely agree with you and think Ellie pretty much said a lot of the things I would have. As a former athlete, I always remember how I trained and how I ate (tons) and compare now to then. Not good.
So, I try and remember that even “normal” people that don’t exercise still eat large amounts of food without justification or worry. They eat because they’re hungry and they exercise to stay fit. We need fuel to function.
However, in my mind, I still find the need to justify extra anything, even though I should just eat more and not exercise at all! There’s that balance I’m trying to achieve, and I think this post was both very timely and very inspirational.
Thank you!