You're Not a Hamster...
Why Exercising to “Earn” Your Food Is Keeping You Stuck
You had the Freddo.
You don’t need to pace the kitchen all evening trying to make peace with it.
You’re not broken because you can’t “burn off” a pizza with exercise.
You’re just missing a plan that actually allows for pizza—big difference.
Exercise Isn’t Punishment
Most people still treat exercise like it’s a punishment.
A challenging workout might burn 200 calories.
Fish and chips with a side of curry sauce?
1,200–1,500 calories.
You’re not balancing anything.
You’re just knackered, fed up, and still not making progress.
Still trying to earn your food by sweating buckets.
Still thinking every hard session puts you back in credit.
Still entering every weekend with your head in the sand.
You’re not a dog.
You don’t need a treat for showing up.
You’re not a hamster.
You don’t need to spin on a wheel every time you eat a slice of pizza.
When Food and Exercise Get Tied Together
Your physical and mental health usually go hand in hand.
The tricky part is stopping one from dragging the other down.
You feel rubbish mentally, so you skip the gym.
You skip the gym, so you feel worse physically.
Round and round you go.
If your goal is fat loss, look at your eating habits and environment.
If your goal is to be stronger, train for it.
If your goal is not to hate both, stop tying them together.
Exercise should give you more energy to deal with life, not drain the little you’ve got left.
What Continuing Actually Looks Like
Here’s what continuing looks like after a “bad” meal:
- Load up on veg at dinner
- Get an extra 500–1,000 steps in
- Resist the urge to slam the f*ck-it button because of one meal
Hit Your Laughables
If fat loss is the goal, slightly reducing calories on non-training days can help.
This is why a weekly calorie target often works better than trying to hit the same number every day.
The more you treat movement like punishment, the longer you’ll rely on fleeting motivation to get it done.
So no…
You don’t need to “work off” the Freddo.
You’re not failing.
You’ve just never had a plan that allows for life.
On the next one: Riding the wave of hunger and why throwing in the towel too quickly is costing you results.
30 Days To Sample The Goods – £99
4x personal training sessions. Start with just one 45-minute session a week to avoid overwhelm.
30 days of nutrition, habit and lifestyle support. Short, sharp daily content to help drown out the endless diet and exercise misinformation.
Regular check-ins. To keep you motivated outside of the gym as you adapt to your new routine.
Money back guaranteed. And if you end up hating it (or me), I’ll give you your money back.