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Gaaab7
Posts: 1 Member
That NO junk food is WORTH eating after putting in so much work during a workout. Prove me wrong. 🤷🏻♀️
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Replies
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Exercise is for health and fitness. The occasional treat while lacking in nutritional merit is good for the soul. The idea is to develop healthy exercise and eating habit rather than practicing asceticism.17
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Define "junk food."7
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I can't prove anything to you, in the sense of convincing you that you ought to live in some different way. That's your call.
What I can say: I've been at a healthy weight for nearly 7 years now (after around 30 previous years of overweight/obesity). All of my health markers are good (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.).
I'm athletically active, have been for a couple of decades (yes starting while still obese). I'm 66 y/o, and my Garmin fitness tracker estimates my fitness age as 27. (I think that's nutty as a literal thing, but I think still indicative that I'm not physically decrepit.) In my fitness activities, I'm regularly keeping up with people half my age, no problem.
The chocolate truffles I ate yesterday, the beer and pizza I ate on Sunday - those aren't going to cause any worrisome setbacks. I very much enjoyed them, zero qualms or guilt. I don't eat those every day, but things like that aren't vanishingly rare, either.
FWIW, my workouts are pretty fun in themselves - rowing boats (the skinny ones like in the Olympics, although mine is slower! 😆), cycling, and more . . . not arduous "work" that I'm worried about canceling out by eating something sweet, rich, salty or deep-fried once in a while.
By all means, do what works best for you. I'll be cheering from the sidelines, sincerely. Success speaks for itself, and the definition is both subjective and individual.
I'll keep doing what works for me, too - not trying to prove anything, because there's nothing to prove.15 -
Context always matters in these cases - for example, when I go for longer bike rides (2+ hours at a time), I always take sugar in one form or another to keep me going thru the ride and to make sure I make it home - usually hard candies or just simply glucose tabs. Sugar as pure as possible, is the ONLY thing that will give me a fast enough energy kick to keep up and finish the ride. So in this context, sugar is a god send and is not junk, even though most of the internet/diet guru's still try to demonize sugar considering it to be the junkiest of the junk foods.9
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I don't exercise so I can eat certain things, but I certainly thoroughly enjoy some "junk" food on occasion too - but I guess I don't see my workouts as something I'm forced to do so I can lose a little weight.
Just a different view of exercise I guess - I do it for lifetime health, to support my sport, and to feel good. It helps make some room for "junk" on occasion, and I enjoy every bite LOL - but that's not why I get up and drag myself into my workout room...3 -
You can't "prove" something that is entirely subjective.
That said, I consistently get/maintain what I consider to be extremely solid results in terms of both aesthetics and performance, while eating "junk food" (pizza & beer night this weekend!) when the mood strikes.7 -
This skates very close to my most hated weight loss "motivational" phrase - that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". It implies that exercise is for burning off calories consumed. I exercise for strength, speed, health and endorphins. I eat tasty foods, even the ones that are not nutritionally brilliant, for sustenance and enjoyment. The two are neither codependent, nor mutually exclusive.
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I, unlike the rest of the good people in here, absolutely exercise so I CAN eat "junk" food.
Or maybe it's so I'll have calories for the "healthy" foods.
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I, unlike the rest of the good people in here, absolutely exercise so I CAN eat "junk" food.
Or maybe it's so I'll have calories for the "healthy" foods.
I absolutely enjoy seeing the calorie count that I have available to splurge at the end of a workout. I spend it every single time! I have a calorie counter on my e-bike that I check in on. I had let my battery drain and forgot to charge it, so I was able to only bike 8 miles (very low milage on an ebike), but I did it so I "could" eat cake. Of course, I "can" eat cake whenever I want, but with those few extra calories, it fit in my day. Win-win!5 -
It's tradition for me to go get a cookie molcajete and a couple of margaritas at my favorite Mexican restaurant after a powerlifting meet. It is 100% absolutely worth it!
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Fries and ice cream are WORTH IT. I just count them into my daily intake. Proven.That NO junk food is WORTH eating after putting in so much work during a workout. Prove me wrong. 🤷🏻♀️
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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quiksylver296 wrote: »It's tradition for me to go get a cookie molcajete and a couple of margaritas at my favorite Mexican restaurant after a powerlifting meet. It is 100% absolutely worth it!
Yeah, now that you mention it, we usually would each get one of those giant 800+ calorie real ice-cream milkshakes with mix-ins after a regatta (i.e. rowing sprint races).
So good, after a hot summer day of racing! (No way we burned that many calories rowing, even in cases where we rowed 5-6 races in different boats.) Worth it for sure.5 -
If that's how you feel about it, then no one's going to "prove" you wrong. It's a personal preference, not a "right or wrong".
Personally, I eat a variety of foods that I like...some have more nutritional value than others, and some are just treats that I have in moderation.
I have cut out some foods that are not worth the calories to me. It has nothing to do with hard workouts or anything...I just decided that I don't want to spend my calories on something that I'm not particularly fond of.
For example....bagged factory cookies (i.e. Oreos) are not worth it to me. Homemade or bakery cookies ARE worth it to me, even if they have more calories than the pre-packaged ones.6 -
I leave enough in my calories and macros to fit in a snack whether junk food or cocktail, each day. Really satisfying to shove down a handful of cold chocolate while Im making my calorie bomb smoothie after a strenuous bike ride. No need to have a boring diet to make progress5
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I’m not a huge fan of fast food, but I do incorporate sugar into my diet. When I’m in a hard training phase and I’ve got 2.5 hrs of weightlifting, mobility and cardio I have to fuel with sugary drinks or sweets. Bananas are my fave, but it’s difficult to wear a lifting belt and brace after eating a banana, whereas a handful of jelly babies will give me energy and not cause digestive issues.
I also don’t know if you’d class bread as junk food, but I’m making a lot of sourdough at the moment and scoffing that happily!4 -
I am honestly so sick of people in my life telling me that I can't eat treats at all, that counting calories doesn't work, you shouldn't eat back exercise calories etc. Or that I can only eat treats chosen by them. I'm trying to cut back on sweets and soda and only eat things I 100% enjoy but I don't need other people weighing in, unless they are part of my health team. Ironically most of the people telling me what I can and can't do aren't exactly the picture of health.7
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sugarfreesquirrel wrote: »I am honestly so sick of people in my life telling me that I can't eat treats at all, that counting calories doesn't work, you shouldn't eat back exercise calories etc. Or that I can only eat treats chosen by them. I'm trying to cut back on sweets and soda and only eat things I 100% enjoy but I don't need other people weighing in, unless they are part of my health team. Ironically most of the people telling me what I can and can't do aren't exactly the picture of health.
^^This.
People need to mind their own business - and especially about stuff they don't know anything about.
((hug))5 -
Context always matters in these cases - for example, when I go for longer bike rides (2+ hours at a time), I always take sugar in one form or another to keep me going thru the ride and to make sure I make it home - usually hard candies or just simply glucose tabs. Sugar as pure as possible, is the ONLY thing that will give me a fast enough energy kick to keep up and finish the ride. So in this context, sugar is a god send and is not junk, even though most of the internet/diet guru's still try to demonize sugar considering it to be the junkiest of the junk foods.
Bingo!!! Well said.
For example, I'm a carb burner of the first order during endurance events. In fact, my coach had me focus on increasing my carb (simple sugar) intake to roughly 400 calories per hour during training rides of 4-6 hrs while preparing for long course triathlon events. Then - once the ride was over, I returned to consuming a fairly low carb daily allotment as prescribed by a dietician.
So context is everything!6 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Homemade or bakery cookies ARE worth it to me, even if they have more calories than the pre-packaged ones.
I baked brookies (brownie/cookies - chocolate chip cookie bottom layer, double-chocolate top layer) this morning...in this pic they were still warm & goopy outta the oven
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That NO junk food is WORTH eating after putting in so much work during a workout. Prove me wrong. 🤷🏻♀️
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm feeling like there could be a little bit of new-convert enthusiasm going on here.
If that's the case, @Gaaab7 , good for you! Don't let us bring you down. You can find the right life balance that works best for you, and it needn't look just like anyone else's.
It's certainly true that for many people, getting serious about our fitness or our sport is a thing that motivates us to routinely get better overall nutrition . . . even if our individual, personal best life balance includes still having some treat foods or junk foods in the picture.
Welcome to MFP, and don't let this thread discourage you from posting and participating more. I don't think people generally intend to be mean. Diverse perspectives and opinions are part of what makes life fun and interesting, IMO.6
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