Why not reward yourself with food?

2

Replies

  • 25lbsorbust
    25lbsorbust Posts: 225 Member
    Generally people don't do it if they have some sort of disordered eating pattern that means that food-based reward could cause an avalanche of bad choices. However, if you're like me and are lucky to not face those triggers and patterns, food-related rewards are totally fine.
  • JamestheLiar
    JamestheLiar Posts: 148 Member
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited October 2016
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Eh for me it's not a big deal either way, I just don't see the point of waiting for an excuse to find a donut if I really want one. It's the whole 'demonizing food' thing all over again... putting labels on foods and thinking that some of them should be considered a reward instead of just food.

    But in the end, whatever works for you.

    Why would anyone reward themselves with something demonic??

    I mean considering some foods as something that should only be considered a reward and, as such, avoided the rest of the time. It's just not the way I personally want to see things because then I'm more likely to go overboard when I finally get to eat some. But as I said, I suppose it can work for some people.

    I can better understand that. But the demonizing food remark seemed very odd in this context. Saving a favorite high calorie food for a reward is pretty far from demonizing it.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    I think the logic comes from the "you can't out exercise a bad diet" and the "I went to the gym, I have can have a large pizza to myself and not gain now!" way of thinking. So there is some sense in it.

    Being able to fit in more treats because I exercise I guess is a form of reward but it's conscious and measured. And I think that's the difference.

    Yes, exactly this.

    I fit in my treats because I'm always making choices. The difference now is that it's not a free for all. The "rewarding yourself with food" problem is with those who undo all their progress.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited October 2016
    I rewarded myself with a milk frother, and now every morning after my post-run shower is reward time.

    I recently discovered the joys of brewing cocoa, and I have a pot of that with frothed Fairlife milk for breakfast.

    Chocolately heaven.

    I guess I'm a dog. Or a hedon.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    I rewarded myself with a milk frother, and now every morning after my post-run shower is reward time.

    I recently discovered the joys of brewing cocoa, and I have a pot of that with frothed Fairlife milk for breakfast.

    Chocolately heaven.

    I guess I'm a dog. Or a hedon.

    Whoa, what a great idea--frothed chocolate. I am going to have to look into frothers now.
  • CaptainJoy
    CaptainJoy Posts: 257 Member
    I just can't fathom rewarding myself with food, the very thing that got me in this fat mess. Too much food caused me to become morbidly obese. I couldn't get the job I wanted because they put me on medical hold. Something about requiring sleep apnea tests before my application could proceed. The weight caused injury to my knees to the point where I couldn't kneel at the alter to pray. My back ached terribly after short walks because I was carrying too much weight. All caused by eating too much. No thank you. I don't care for donuts but I'll fit a Klondike bar into my daily diet if that's what I'm craving.

    As far as rewards go, I am rewarding myself with a 10K walk/run through the Christmas lights at Callaway Gardens this December. I am rewarding myself with a trip to see my grandkids where we will go hiking through the state park. There will be more rewards but they will not be food.

    99081209.png
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    I reward myself with a small piece of chocolate at the end of every day. (within calorie budget, of course)

    My pups are mutts, but look like they have some whippet or greyhound in them.

    q2bssno50dsk.jpg
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    I love those snooters! All this thread has done is make me want to adopt another Grey!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.
  • EricaH7
    EricaH7 Posts: 74 Member
    Thanks everyone for the responses it gave me a lot to think about! I usually am under my calorie goals! Mainly because I run a 10k or greater multiple times a week which gives me a thousand extra calories those days. I never have felt the need to eat back my exercise calories either! I am very close to my goal weight. I weighed 161 today and healthy BMI for my height starts at 159. The most I ever weighed was 25 pounds overweight. I guess I have always been extremely competitive and telling myself I can't have something until I reach my goal just gives me an extra challenge and it keeps me going. I don't deprive myself of anything really. I am a foodie! I still go out to restaurants and eat pizza when I am craving pizza. Just finding something that I want and using that as an item of competition seems to help me. :smile:
  • EricaH7
    EricaH7 Posts: 74 Member
    I guess I should reword the never eating back the exercise calories because usually I will end up going out to eat once or twice a week where that will blow through a bunch of exercise calories :wink:
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.

    They don't do it when you're watching. :smiley:

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Gamliela wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.

    They don't do it when you're watching. :smiley:

    Then how would one know they were doing it?
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.

    Kitty Krunchies are the best!



    WOOF
  • KelBgess
    KelBgess Posts: 27 Member
    Rewarding ourselves with food is clearly why there are so many food addicted people. It's a terrible cycle so many of us are all too familiar with, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I still indulge in all the things, cookies, ice cream, candy, etc. but I limit the amount that I eat to a real serving size and I never eat them as a reward. "Food is fuel, not a reward" is my healthy eating motto (okay, yes, I just made that up... lol). My preference is to reward myself with a pedi, massage, new article of clothing, shoes, a trip, a special hike or running event, etc. A reward that I feel I enjoy and benefit from, long after a food reward digests.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    Gamliela wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.

    They don't do it when you're watching. :smiley:

    Then how would one know they were doing it?

    Well, my cats would poo in one of the litterboxes. My dog would come out of that room a little later licking her lips and want to kiss me. She had terrible breath. When I went in that room, the litter box was free of poo.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    KelBgess wrote: »
    Rewarding ourselves with food is clearly why there are so many food addicted people. It's a terrible cycle so many of us are all too familiar with, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I still indulge in all the things, cookies, ice cream, candy, etc. but I limit the amount that I eat to a real serving size and I never eat them as a reward. "Food is fuel, not a reward" is my healthy eating motto (okay, yes, I just made that up... lol). My preference is to reward myself with a pedi, massage, new article of clothing, shoes, a trip, a special hike or running event, etc. A reward that I feel I enjoy and benefit from, long after a food reward digests.

    Eh, I think this whole discussion is just semantics, tbh.

    I drink my brewed cocoa beans with frothed milk for the protein content and satiety it gives me as well as the feeling of how decadent it tastes after a good run.

    I used to have this mindset, when I first started out that deriving pleasure from food was what got me in trouble in the first place, but I've moved past that. It's okay to enjoy food. The issue is really how much food you're enjoying.

    If what I'm indulging in fits in my goals, it's not a bad thing to see it as... an indulgence. Food is more than fuel. It's culture, family, celebration. It's okay to have your mindset at the beginning if it helps you to back away from overeating. It's also okay to become a little more relaxed in your thinking as you settle into healthier habits and have better behaviors and more control and restraint around food.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I've actually come around to thinking that really enjoying food, eating special things for a special occasion, so on, is the opposite of how I gained weight. My main issues were mindless eating (a lot of things I didn't really care about, overly large portions or too much oil in cooking out of carelessness and not thinking about it) and then emotional eating (not about appreciating the food, but stuffing feelings). I also tended to think whee, special occasion at a restaurant when I go out to eat weekly. When I stopped all of this, I found that really appreciating foods and making some of them special -- or having a treat like after dinner chocolate in a reasonable amount that I really took the time to appreciate (again) -- was actually what helped me not overeat.

    I look forward to and enjoy the pie at a holiday dinner or an occasional splurge at an Ethiopian family-style meal (where I always overeat) and don't think I have to (or should) do that regularly, so it's not at all counterproductive for me.

    I also went out for chicken and waffles after completing a marathon, not exactly to reward myself (although I'm not opposed to that), but since I knew I had lots of calories and had been wanting to, so it was a good opportunity.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I've actually come around to thinking that really enjoying food, eating special things for a special occasion, so on, is the opposite of how I gained weight. My main issues were mindless eating (a lot of things I didn't really care about, overly large portions or too much oil in cooking out of carelessness and not thinking about it) and then emotional eating (not about appreciating the food, but stuffing feelings). I also tended to think whee, special occasion at a restaurant when I go out to eat weekly. When I stopped all of this, I found that really appreciating foods and making some of them special -- or having a treat like after dinner chocolate in a reasonable amount that I really took the time to appreciate (again) -- was actually what helped me not overeat.

    I look forward to and enjoy the pie at a holiday dinner or an occasional splurge at an Ethiopian family-style meal (where I always overeat) and don't think I have to (or should) do that regularly, so it's not at all counterproductive for me.

    I also went out for chicken and waffles after completing a marathon, not exactly to reward myself (although I'm not opposed to that), but since I knew I had lots of calories and had been wanting to, so it was a good opportunity.

    This resonates with me, and I think this is true of me as well. I've just never put all the pieces together in this way.

    You have given me something to mull over that might be instrumental in helping me deal with my moderation problem.

    Thanks!
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    Some people seem to think that we shouldn't enjoy food. If you believe that, you won't believe in rewarding yourself with it.

    Some people have "trigger" foods. Obviously, rewarding yourself with a trigger food is a bad idea.

    It can also be a quality vs. quantity thing. For some people, a food reward must be big. Really big food rewards can be difficult to fit into maintenance calories unless you're really active. For others, a food reward can be a small portion of something they really really like and don't get to eat often. That's more manageable.

    So, really, it's all a matter of perspective and depends on what you consider a "food reward" to be.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    Gamliela wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    JamestheLiar wrote: »
    Dogs eat poo. Mic drop

    I had a friend tell me not too long ago that their dog ate cat poo from the litter box. I thought they were crazy. I've had dogs all my life and none of them has ever eaten poo.

    They don't do it when you're watching. :smiley:

    Then how would one know they were doing it?

    Uh, well, bad breath, very bad breath will be telling, for one. No poohs in the cat litter box and visible cat litter in the dogs poohs when you go to pick them up, if you're like me and do that when you walk the dog.

    Then there's that guilty dog look, you know the one where the ears are down, the neck turned away and not looking you in the eyes when you come in the room, or round the corner in some woodsy area where deer have just had the fright of their lives?

    Takes a bit of sherlock holms investigation.

  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member


    For SOME their emotions are tied to food. Good day -eat to much or Bad day- eat to much.

    I've also worked on not assigning food as anything other than fuel. Some food/fuel is super tasty but I will gas out soon after other food/fuel gases me up for much longer (pun intended:)).

    But to each their own, what ever works for them!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I don't mean to derail the thread but this dog eating poo thing is fascinating to me. I wonder if it is the litter that they makes them eat it. We live in the country and all animals poo outside. I've never seen my dogs eat poo or smelled poo on their breath. But we've never had a litter box.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    I don't mean to derail the thread but this dog eating poo thing is fascinating to me. I wonder if it is the litter that they makes them eat it. We live in the country and all animals poo outside. I've never seen my dogs eat poo or smelled poo on their breath. But we've never had a litter box.

    No, I can't say for sure its the litter. My dog's fave was actually goat poohs. They do smell a little bit like cheese.
    Dogs like deer and goat pooh, I've seen that, so, sadly we don't have the right science to prove much yet about why dogs will eat pooh.

    Sorry,

    thread derailment contributor.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    I don't mean to derail the thread but this dog eating poo thing is fascinating to me. I wonder if it is the litter that they makes them eat it. We live in the country and all animals poo outside. I've never seen my dogs eat poo or smelled poo on their breath. But we've never had a litter box.

    One of my dog used to eat the other dog's poop. So who knows.

    But yeah we had to gate the litterbox away or it's a dog buffet.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    I don't mean to derail the thread but this dog eating poo thing is fascinating to me. I wonder if it is the litter that they makes them eat it. We live in the country and all animals poo outside. I've never seen my dogs eat poo or smelled poo on their breath. But we've never had a litter box.

    One of my dog used to eat the other dog's poop. So who knows.

    But yeah we had to gate the litterbox away or it's a dog buffet.


    Coprophagia is somewhat common in dogs. My aunt is our vet and, as she puts it, "there's a poop eater in every pack." We have had dogs who never have done it and some who have relished it with great fervor. It is disgusting, though, for sure.
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