How Many Calories Should You Burn to Be “Perfect?”

I have a question.

If you’re posting pictures of how many calories you burned during a workout, does that mean you are also tracking every calorie that you eat?

And if so, do you plan on doing that for the rest of your life?

Just curious….because every time I see a picture of a calorie count from a workout there is an old part of me that wants to ask, well I wonder if I burned as many calories as she did? And I wonder if I’m doing enough? Maybe I should be taking zumba and running and doing 4 rounds of the workout 5 times a week because I’m not burning enough calories to be ……. WHAT exactly?

The spin that so easily sends us down internally is one we all need to guard ourselves from. If you are using calorie tracking to figure out how to manage your eating and energy expenditure, that’s an important part of the journey and that’s not what I’m talking about here. Same goes if you like being motivated by seeing how many calories you burned in a workout. It’s not the focal point of everything you do – it’s just more information you use to keep going.

What troubles me about the numbers being the constant focal point is I keep hearing people talk about being sick – and they feel guilty for not working out – how will they possibly lose weight? Or how about feeling guilty for taking a day off from clean eating? Or that the scale doesn’t move?

When did this become a race to see how much weight you could lose?

This is about creating healthy habits, if you want to lose some weight your body is going to drop the pounds naturally based on how you balance fitness and nutrition – overdoing it is as bad as underdoing it.

Taking photos each week as you progress and stay consistent are tools that you can use anytime – during the challenge and long after it’s over. Because the truth is, no one can do the work for you. Getting motivated is great, but YOU make the choice to do the work.

The secret is that the miracle fix you are looking for is not a shiny, fancy, dressed up solution.

It is simple repetitive habits, practicing exercise regularly and consistently so you don’t burn out on it, practicing eating whole, real foods every day – with room for life to happen and some deviation occasionally when you choose it – it is accountability and taking responsibility to keep going every day and making it as much a part of your LIFESTYLE as brushing your teeth and reading your kids a bed time story.

It is going to be a unique journey for everyone. Stop comparing yourself to other people’s progress, calorie burn, body type, journey etc.

Focus on you, what you can do today, and LEARN as much as you can so you don’t get sucked in and bamboozled by all the ads and fake fitspo that will make you feel like your body isn’t good enough, perfect enough, skinny enough, fit enough and all the rest of the ways those slick pictures secretly shame us into feeling.

Stop following social media sites that post that kind of stuff – it messes with MY mind even though I feel good about myself – it’s insidious and will subtly eat away at your well-deserved self confidence.

When I say learn as much as you can I am talking about looking up the foods you are curious about on your smart phone. I am talking about seeking out blogs, books, people who have knowledge and want to share it. Don’t expect yourself to learn every single thing overnight – it took me years to learn the things that I share in the Body Fuel System and I’m still learning.

This Challenge is not about weight loss.

It is a month of support on your journey in health and fitness.

You may look at Erin and I and say “they don’t understand, they don’t feel how I do” but actually we both work every day on being healthy and fit. We are faced with the same temptations, the same opportunities to sleep in, not do the workout, drink all the drinks, eat all the cake.

We look in the mirror and can either beat ourselves up or build ourselves up. We choose each day what we do, and the more times we choose to do what makes us healthy and happy, the easier it gets. We never stop. And if you have started the journey, you shouldn’t either.

Remember: How we look and feel is a byproduct of how we treat ourselves. Which is 100% determined by our choices.

Choose your health. Be strong. You are in the right place, and you can do it.