When is a treat, not a treat?

You’ve had a hectic day, you’ve done everything you needed and you’ve earned a treat. How do you treat yourself? A biscuit? A slice of cake? A coffee? But, when does a treat stop being a treat and just start being a habit? A treat is exactly that, a little treat – a pick me up, but do we need to treat ourselves every day? And is a treat really such a treat if it leaves you feeling down about yourself?

Now, anyone who has read my blog before, will know that I’ve struggled with my weight for a while, and my over eating – “treating myself” is just a bad habit. I’ve gained 10lbs over the winter, and that has been through lack of exercise and “treats”. It’s annoying, as at the end of the summer I was revelling in how good I had started to feel putting on my jeans and them doing up without a battle. I feel rather cross with myself.

I have struggled for a while with “treating” myself, I have unfortunately fallen into the trap where each day I feel the need to treat myself, and my idea of a treat is a couple of biscuits..or a cake..or..both. The thing is these treats would be ok in isolation, but when combined with other aspects of poor diet and lack of exercise.. I can see where the 10lbs weight gain has come from!

Here’s a good example.. 2 Double stuff oreo cookies are 140calories, 30 minutes walking at a moderate speed would burn on average 140 calories. But, would I really want to walk  for 30 minutes to cancel out my 2 cookies? Probably not, I’d rather have a banana which is about 100calories and would not give me a sugar high and then the post sugar high slump..Hmm..

So, should we even “treat” ourselves using food as the reward? It’s something I’ve tried not to do with my children, but it HAS happened. They see “treat sized” and hear things like “sweets and chocolate should only be a treat”, so they already perceive treats as food based. I’m trying to change their perception, by changing my own. I don’t want them not to eat them at all, but I want them to have a healthier relationship with junk foods than I do.

Redefining a “treat” means thinking of what I REALLY love, and working out how to plan a bit of what I love into each day. The same applies for my children..now I just need to create a list of treats which aren’t food focused and can be worked into the day…ideas?!