Contradeating (contradict typical eating)

It's common in the workplace (or classroom!) to have the occasional birthday celebration or going away party. These celebrations usually consist of a cake, some cookies, other types of sweets, soda, lemonade, etc. So you walk into the party with the thought "no, I'm not going to have a slice of cake... I'll be good today". Five minutes later you see the rest of your colleagues enjoying a piece of cake and not taking a second to think about it. Well guess what? One piece of a Giant grocery store chocolate cake is 320 calories, including 38 grams of sugar. Keep in mind, these "parties" usually take place in the middle of the morning, say 10 am? Okay so you have your cake... But then what? You're full at lunch so you skip lunch. Well you just lost a HUGE opportunity to get nutritional value into your daily macros.  So because you ate cake, you have sacrificed your good calories for the bad!  

1. You didn't even realize... It's 10 am and you are eating cake!!! 2.  The sugar in that cake is making you crave more sugar and that's what made you eat that cookie on your way out the door 3. You need to break habits. 

Contradicting the typical society and habits of Americans, we all need to break the habit of 'eating because there's food'. You don't realize how quickly that piece of candy here, that piece of cake there, or that half a cookie will add up. Just because it's there (especially at 10 am), doesn't mean you need to eat it. Eat to live, don't live to eat. 

Aka plan your meals. Pack your lunch and bring snacks as back ups to put in the fridge or your backpack at work or school. For example, today I packed left over stuffed peppers from last night's dinner, a sweet potato, and an avocado. BUT, in case I needed a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, I packed a packet of Justin's Almond Butter, a small baggie of carrots, and an orange bell pepper. And you know what? Sometimes I just need something to chew on... And neither of my snacks will make me feel guilty or be harmful to my body if I chow down just because I want to. 

I thought I needed a snack, so I broke open the almond butter and four carrots... Turns out, the almond butter didn't even taste good... So I stopped eating it, walked my carrots back to the fridge in the office and continued with me work. I've already made progress not to eat just because I want to, but there's still a long way to go. 

My daily meals:

Breakfast at 7 am

Snack around 10-10:30 am

Lunch around 12:30pm

Snack around 2:30-3pm

Workout 5:30pm

Refuel dinner at 7pm

Snack after dinner (I'm working on breaking this habit-but only because I go to bed around 10pm)

Long term goal for you: break the habit of eating just because food is accessible. Plan your meals. Pack your snacks so you don't have to resort to that nasty cake or cookies. Or drink water instead!! You'll feel full, I promise!! I feel like I'm going to bust out of my dress because I'm full from sippin on my water 😄

Ps. I've already had over 2 liters of water today... Are you drinking your water? (3 bottles down for me, about 3 or more to go)

✌❤ and good health. 

Stay balanced.