I saw some posts recently that argued that the mentality that you had to earn your food with exercise is unhealthy. No one should deny food and if you are hungry you should eat.
Having just written a post about doing some exercise to earn some more calories for my dinner, reading these posts made me question if that mentality was in fact wrong?
One thing that does play at the back of my mind when writing a blog about weight loss is that something I say could have an adverse impact on someone who perhaps has an eating disorder or on the brink of one.
I very nearly went down that dark path. It was a chance action that stopped me. I used to be in shows and the cast (only the females I think) were weighed weekly. If we didn't lose weight or remain in the agreed weight range we were fined. It was an unhealthy environment. All the girls were obsessed with weight watchers, and the weekly weigh ins were awful. I joined the show after a period of not working in the industry and so had put on a bit of weight - not a great deal I was probably a 8-10 UK dress size, but I was heavy (although probably thinner than some girls lighter than me). So I had a target to reach and being young, naive and desperate to please agreed to try to lose weight. I had lost over a stone since I joined the show but seemed to plateau at about 9.5 stone.
We were doing up to 4 shows a day so I was fit and toned. Although I was a size 6-8 at this point, I was never super skinny and carried my weight on my bum and thighs. I really struggled to lose weigh (as I am now) and I got desperate. I didn't think I had the will power to eat less so instead I made myself sick. I remember shaking each time during and after I did it because I knew this was a really bad choice but I was desperate.
Although I knew it was dangerous, I also knew I had lost weight so I convinced myself it was worth it. Weigh day came around and as I stood on the scales in the portacabin dressing room one of the other girls jumped up on to the counter directly behind making the floorboard jolt the scales. It showed that I had gained 1lbs. As they had a no second attempts rule, that was it I was recorded as gaining and fined. I was devastated, I weighed myself again when everyone had gone out and I was significantly lighter but it counted for nothing. I could have cried, I had put myself through hell and no good had come of it. Thank goodness, because in that moment I realised it simply hadn't been worth it and it was the wake up call I needed and I stopped.
So I have some, all be it limited, experience of having such a negative relationship with food and I stand by my burn to earn mentality. For me, I know that I need food to survive and be healthy. I know that my body needs food to convert to energy to function, to enable me to go about my day to day life. I know that with too little food I become unwell. I enjoy food and I don't want to feel guilty or unhappy after I have eaten. I don't want to feel regret or self loathing because I haven't been able to control myself or had the will power to say no. I also don't want to have to say no all the time. So I burn to earn the extras and I think that is OK.
The problem is that one approach / mentality doesn't fit all - or it isn't that simple. Arguably, to say to someone who is unhealthy due to being overweight that if they want to eat they should eat isn't necessarily good for them if it means they continue to add to their health issues. If you said to me when I am desperate to lose weight you have the right to eat you should eat then I might not make healthy choices. Of course, on the flip side, if someone is unhealthy due to being underweight that they have to earn every calorie is also dangerous. I do agree that you need to listen to you body and if you are feeling hungry you need to eat but you need to eat the right thing for you!
For me, the option to burn some extra calories to enjoy some food and stay on track to lose weight and keep a happy relationship with food is a positive in my mind. So it is a mentality I will keep up for me and hopefully, the way I talk about it will not have an adverse effect on anyone but might help others.
