Earn your splurge!
I like to start my coaching sessions with a question.
One that I like to ask is, “What is something you’re looking forward to?”
One of the purposes of that question is that I want to make sure my clients have something coming up they’re looking forward to.
If they don’t have anything they’re looking forward to, then I encourage them to plan something.
I believe it’s important for us to have things we’re looking forward to.
It can help us get through the tough stuff when we know something fun is coming up.
For example, workers tend to approach their job with a better attitude if they know they have a vacation coming up.
In other words, going to work on Monday doesn’t seem so bad when you know you’ll be on a plane to Hawaii on Friday.
You might even think: “If I get all my work completed before I leave on my trip, I can just relax on the plane and feel like I really deserve this trip — I’ve earned it!”
Now, the same mindset works not only when you’re looking forward to a vacation, but it can also work when you’re living a healthy lifestyle and you’re looking forward to a “splurge” meal/food.
(By the way, if you missed my post on the difference between a “cheat” and a “splurge”, make sure you check that out here.)
I like to “splurge” on the weekend — anything from going out to a restaurant for a hearty breakfast on a Saturday morning, to experimenting with different rich pasta dishes, to enjoying a buttery croissant and latte while I read or write at a local coffee shop (by the way, the splurge is the croissant, not the latte!), to a late Friday night scoop of ice cream while I’m watching one of my favorite shows.
Those are some of my favorite treats right now and I’m sure you have some too.
When I have my splurge meals/foods, I make sure I really enjoy them because I don’t eat them that often (my weekday meals are strictly vegan).
If I splurged ALL the time, sooner or later I’d veer way off my healthy lifestyle.
It’s sort of like spending more time on vacation than working — at some point you’re going to run out of money!
Here’s the exciting truth: Healthy living doesn’t REQUIRE that you eat “perfectly” all the time… In fact, ladies, can we just remove the word “perfect” from our vocabulary altogether?
I believe you have the right to splurge, without guilt, especially if you have earned it.
It’s just like getting all your work done for the week so that you can enjoy leaving on vacation knowing that you’ve already put in the work that needed to be done.
See it as a little game you play with yourself. Or for you competitive ones (like myself), I see it as a competition with myself — the healthier I eat during the week, the more I’ll enjoy my splurges on the weekend — I’ve worked harder for them so I’m going to enjoy them more.
You might be wondering how often you can splurge.
When you can splurge depends on a few things:
- What your health goals are
- How many meals you eat a week
- How many of those meals are healthy, whole foods in an appropriate quantity
The first one is the most important — what your health goals are.
In fact, how much you should be eating, exercising, etc. ALL depends on what YOUR health goals.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer because everyone’s body is different and what they want is different too — in fact, no two clients of mine have exactly the same health goals.
Understanding that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach is liberating because you get to find out what will work for YOU.
Since there’s no one-size-fits-all answer and because I don’t know your health goals, I can’t tell you how often you should splurge without getting off track with your health.
What I can tell you is these 5 truths that are good rules of thumb to always keep in mind:
- It’s healthy (physically and mentally) to splurge from time to time.
- The fewer times your splurge, the better results you’ll get over time.
- If you plan your splurges ahead of time (like you do a vacation), you’ll have them to look forward.
- Planned splurges can help make healthy eating a fun challenge instead of a chore.
- Earning your splurges makes them taste extra delicious — make sure to savor them… slowly!
If you’d like me to help you determine how many splurges you can have a week and still work toward your healthy lifestyle, I can help.
Book a time during my Office Hours to talk with me about what your health goals are.
It’s Your Turn to Take Care of YOU,
