People often feel guilty when they eat lots of junk food or fatty foods over the weekend or skip a workout during the week so some people try to make up for this by punishing themselves with an extra long workout at the gym to compensate for missed days or junk food consumption.  There are a few problems with this though. Punishing yourself with an extra hard workout to make up for poor eating habits and missed workouts is like a consequence.  Further, remember that pushing yourself too hard and forcing an extra long, strenuous cardio workout is a great way to cause an injury or unnecessary discomfort in your joints and muscles. Rather than using negative reinforcement, try positive reinforcement (which studies show is so much more successful and beneficial).  For example, if you workout 5 consecutive days during the week, reward yourself with a small treat, shopping spree, etc during the weekend rather than punishing yourself because you ate a lot of carbohydrates all weekend and therefore need to make yourself get through an intense, two hour long workout.

Further, if you allow yourself to use exercise as a “punishment” your brain begins to associate exercise as a negative consequence for guilty or poor choices that you make.  Don’t do this!  You don’t want your brain to begin to feel as though exercise is a punishment.  Otherwise, this impacts your reality and feelings toward working out and exercise.

The solution is to try to maintain a routine and workout accordingly.  Did you slip up over the weekend and eat too much junk food, fatty foods, carbohydrates, or sweets?  Take a short walk or bike ride over the weekend mid-day or early evening to help balance it out so you don’t feel guilty or pressure to force a long workout in at the gym.  Use positive reinforcement and goals so that you can practice moderation.  Lastly, remember that exercise and fitness releases positive endorphins, improves your mood (by the end of the workout!), relieves stress, and I could go on and on.  The take all is that the benefits of exercise are astounding so don’t forget that what you gain from working out and the results you will see over time should be positives that keep you going back for more! 😉

~jj