Scones and steps

I went to a hen do last weekend in Liverpool and from waking up (fresh) on Saturday morning to going to sleep (not so fresh) on Sunday morning at 2 I had done -

4.5km run to parkrun, I'd ran the 5km, walked the 4.5km back to the apartment via Starbs, walked around Liverpool trying to find blister plasters (the irony), walked to afternoon tea, danced on tables at Bongos Bingo, walked to a takeaway, danced to a live band on Matthews street and finally walked back to the apartment.

40,000 steps done.

For context, about 40km and a marathon is 42km.

My Garmin has told me all this, it has also told me that I had "burned" nearly 6000 calories that day.

Now it's really common to track steps, track workouts, track runs and some people are really motivated by that. I personally use it to see pace, for navigation and for the time would you believe.

But there is a dark side.

You see when exercise, steps and movement is linked to burning food and to earning food, that can be problematic.

And not to mention inaccurate, anyone who has ever pushed a buggy with a watch on will know that it doesn't track steps correctly.  

The "burning" of calories is based on heart rate, therefore the most efficient way to "burn" calories based on fitness watches is running. Which devalues strength workouts and Pilates due to the calories being "burned" being a lot less.

But health and fitness is multidimensional, we need power, strength, endurance, flexibility and mobility to live in a body which is healthy.

So what I do as a coach is separate exercise and food (plenty don’t).

And this is called unconditional permission to eat.

This does not mean that you eat everything in sight all the time.

I repeat this does not mean that you eat everything in sight all the time.

It means you don't make little deals with yourself about exercising and having food.

You don't earn a takeaway because you've done a workout.

You don't burn a slice of cake with a run the next day.

In my upcoming Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop, I have a whole section on this. 

So if you are checking how many steps you do, if you burn off calories, close your rings or earn food then please come to it, because you learn tools and strategies to not be checking your watch all the time, be intuitive to your own body and create a sustainable and peaceful way to live without all those little deals.

Could you imagine if I had taken my calories burned as truth on Saturday but been really disappointed if I hadn't lost weight on Monday, felt like a failure, like I couldn't lose weight when actually they are just made up numbers......

Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop

Saturday 15th November

Flaxmill Maltings - Shrewsbury

2-5pm

£45

**Includes a FREE 1-1 call** with me to personally implement everything you will learn into your life.

Book on here