Changing My Relationship with Food for Workout Motivation
It’s delicious, it’s comforting, it’s hot, it’s cold….it’s food, and I have a deep relationship with it. My relationship with food is like the childhood friend that you’ve never dated, but always had a thing for.
No matter what happens in life, food is there to comfort me. I’m a person that enjoys eating, and I live to eat, I don’t eat to live.
But my body knows when it’s over consuming because it gets bloated and slower. No one has ever said “I really should’ve eaten a lot more”. The problem with my love for food is that it is an emotional attachment, and when you emotionally attach to anything or anyone, a part of your happiness depends upon that.
Think about why would you give a THING, like food, so much power? It’s quite silly when you think about it… allowing food to control your happiness.
I’m guilty of this, I get HANGRY when I miss important meals, and then I want to binge eat all of the things I shouldn’t because I “haven’t eaten all day”. Or when I go through a breakup, I immediately go to the grocery store and buy a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream. For workout motivation, if I run a certain number of miles during the week, on Friday’s I eat pizza for dinner.
I have habits and emotional connections to food. This is what I know needs to stop in order for me to have a healthy relationship with food. I have to explore new ways of celebrating successes and coping with heartache. Here are some things I’ve been thinking of trying:
- Getting an easy clean up painting kit that I can pull out and set up with my easel. Taking a trip to a local spot that makes me feel inspired, like the beach or a busy cafe where a lot of different personalities come in and out.
- Joining group exercise, like Zumba or Bunda, to get more physical activity associated with fun music, exciting physical challenges, and other people! The bumpin’ music so I can dance in my favorite high waist leggings and the social interactions are my workout motivation.
- Suggesting to my family playing a game of softball after Thanksgiving dinner each year
- Try getting some steam off at an anger room, like Rage Ground in Los Angeles, Rage Room Philadelphia, Break Bar NYC, or Kanya Lounge in Chicago.
- Gift myself new body shaping leggings, like Tribe 35’s matching Tribal Set.
- Getting a deep tissue massage or a Thai massage.
- A visit to my local Glam Seamless hair salon to get my extensions reinstalled and glammed up.
- Planning a summer beach vacation and ordering sexy new pieces from Coco et Dolce.
- Paying it forward by getting involved in non-profit organizations whose missions I believe in.
- Challenging myself with a self-development goal, like learning how to meditate on my own without an app.
My hope is that after dissociating emotional events directly with food, I will have the strength to control my eating habits so that I can improve them. When I don't feel bloated, it's a lot easier for me to talk myself into a workout. I know that my weight fluctuates every few years because I still have not tackled this lifelong challenge.
When I’m happy in a relationship, it’s “celebrated” by eating more. When I lose a friend or family member, it’s grieved with food. I challenge myself to celebrate happy relationships by starting healthy habits with my partner like group fitness, or when I do grieve again, to hit up an anger room to process my feelings.
I don't aspire to be skinny like Khloe Kardashian, I just want to adopt the same level of physical activity she now does. Girlfriend is killin' it!
What are you going to try this summer from the list?