You wake up feeling sick: Head hurting, stomach squirrely, very tired, and thirsty. You know you shouldn’t have done it but you did anyway. You pop some pain killers, drink a gallon of water, eat some carrots and swear you won’t ever do it again. But you will – in less than a month. And once more you will feel awful. What did you do? Overindulge with food – and suffering the proverbial “binge hangover.”

Holiday Hell

The Holiday season is starting again, and with it comes the constant parties, gatherings, and family get-togethers. Everywhere we look there is food, food, and more food. Most people have a hard time resisting the temptation, but for those of us with food issues the Holidays are the equivalent of hell.

No one would bring an alcoholic to a bar and tell him that just one drink won’t hurt. No one would leave a prescription drug addict alone in a pharmacy and encourage them to use whatever drugs they want “just for today.” Yet – how many people encourage you to eat at Holiday gatherings, telling you that “one day won’t hurt,” “you can start tomorrow,” or “don’t be so rigid?”

One day will hurt.

And tomorrow you may feel so bad about yourself and your lack of control that you won’t regain it, pushing your “fresh start” further out of reach.  That is the scary truth.

Losing the Battle with Food

As someone who lost 82 pounds five years ago (and regained 22 of them over the last two years), I can testify to the negative powers of Holiday pressure. Just three short years ago I could eat here and there throughout the Holidays and not overindulge. Food was just food and a cookie was just a cookie. Then the stress of life started to get to me and I gave in, reverting back to some of my old habits, where one yummy cookie became an entire tray of stress-relieving happiness. I had once again lost the battle with food, and given up my ability to say “no.”

But I’ve already blown it…

Learning to control Holiday eating is a common problem. Aidalyn Soliman Myers of Murrieta lost 60 pounds in the last two years and expresses a sentiment shared by many. “My biggest thing is eating something early in the day and thinking to myself, ‘Well, I already ruined it, so I’m going to go all out today and pig out!’” Myers, who recently became a certified Spinning® instructor and teaches other group fitness classes, had to alter her mindset to keep her weight at bay. “Now, I changed my way of thinking and try to eat healthful after that and tell myself that every bit counts, so eating healthy even after falling off the wagon will definitely count!”

Alana Estrada Clarke, a Murrieta personal trainer, Spinning and Pilates instructor with legs that turn even women’s heads, uses her brain instead of her feelings to get through Holiday meals. “I don’t skip breakfast or lunch on the ‘big day’ with anticipation of a large meal,” she says. “When you do that, you end up consuming more calories by being starved, and your metabolism will slow down in response to the lack of food.” (Read Clarke’s other Holiday eating tips.)

It’s you – and only you – for the Holidays

As a trainer, Spinning instructor and motivational coach I should know better. But, like many people, I am human, sometimes weak – and easily led to the “dark side” of eating. The moment of joy, of relief, of sensory pleasure as the brownie hits my lips is indescribably wonderful and almost worth the price. But only almost. With my pants tight and “muffin top” once again part of my life, this Holiday season I am taking control back. Starting today. And tomorrow, which happens to be Thanksgiving.

What are you going to do this Holiday season? Let food control you or will you control your food? The choice is always up to you.

The answer is no, at least according to a Time Magazine article published last week, Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin. In fact, it is their thought that exercise might even make it harder for you to lose that excess weight.

Could this possibly be true?

As someone who has lost 80 pounds and gone from a size 20 to a size 4 by exercising and making moderate changes to her diet, I can confidently state “not very likely.”

Why would Time Magazine makes those claims if they are not accurate? Because study results are always open to interpretation – and because we are talking about that very article right now. Buzz is good for business. That’s why.

When I first read the article on why exercise will not help with weight loss, I did so with an open mind. I analyzed the studies presented, examined the facts, and listened to the experts. Putting my own bias about the many obvious benefits of exercise aside, I found the article itself had many biases against exercise.

Dr. Timothy Church, chair in Health Wisdom at LSU, and quoted in the Time article, has since stated, via the American College  of Sports Medicine, that his “professional opinions were misrepresented,” and adds, “Exercise and diet go together. Weight management is most successful when careful attention is given to both physical activity and proper nutrition (ACSM, 2009).” ACSM has also released their own opinion on the subject in a press release dated August 7, 2009.

Your Self-Control Is Getting Weaker…

Despite article claims that exercise increases hunger (which it can, for a bit), or that people feel justified to eat more if they’ve exercised (it certainly happens), the oddest assertion is that your self control weakens the more you use it. In essence, the author seems to be telling us that if we use our self-control to make ourselves exercise, we won’t have any will power left later to control what we put in our mouths.

The Examiner looked at that statement, and the underlying study, and found that [the author] “…mistakenly misinterprets two psychologists who claim that “self-control operates like a muscle or strength… [a] limited resource that is depleted afterward (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000).  Cloud states that “will power, like a muscle, weakens each day after you use it.”  First, muscle actually gets stronger after continual use, which is a basic, fundamental concept in exercise physiology.   Cloud also misrepresents Muraven and Baumeister’s will-power model.  Although the authors say that self-control is reduced under stress, Cloud interprets this as after a person goes for a run, s/he will eat a pizza rather than a salad.  However, once again, he fails to see the bigger picture. In their review, Muraven and Baumeister recognize  that “not only does self-control show short-term fatigue effects like a muscle does, it also shows long-term improvement, just as a muscle gets stronger through exercise.  In other words, there is a long-term effect of gaining strength with practice.”

In other words, when you first start using your self control, it may be weak. But with continued and regular use, it will grow in strength. Sounds just like a muscle, huh?

The Flip Side

To learn some positives about exercise and how it can improve your life and health, Fitness has put together 10 benefits of exercise for you to review. Don’t cancel that gym membership quite yet…

The electronic version of my “Living the Fit Life” is here. >Download your copy now. It’s free! (Courtesy of LA’s the Place.com.)

Post any comments you might have about it. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Five years ago I was so overweight I could not fit into a ride at Legoland. I had a bad back, sore feet, constant fatigue and no dreams. Since then I have LOST 80 POUNDS, become a certified personal trainer, Spinning® instructor and writer.

So…how did I do it? By taking simple, consistent (and free – yes, free) steps to improve myself. Follow the blog, sign up for my free e-zine. And I’d love to hear your comments about posts, or questions you might have (chat through my Facebook page, too). Carry on – today really is the first day in the rest of your life.}