Donuts vs Dumbbells Part 1 of Food vs Fitness
Just one piece of cake can have 1700 calories, the amount of calories a very active woman needs for the entire day! In the fun video here you can see a variety of junk food calories along with types of activities it would take to burn them off. I don’t know about you but I find this calories eaten vs. calories burned approach a bit frustrating BUT let’s get real about food for a sec...
Let’s “Real Talk” About Junk Food for A Sec
If we are brutally honest we all know that we love certain types of “bad” food or what behavior modification experts call “less desirable calories” AND most of us also know that we’re not going to give them up long term. But what if you replace some of your cheat calories with healthy versions? Could THAT work long term to help you maintain your weight easily?
We set out to find out with help from our favorite local baker TatyanaSweetSide who created stacks of mini protein donuts that one of my clients described as “a healthy version of those mini donuts you see and buy in the check out line”.
Come On Tho! Does Substituting A Healthy Option Even Work?
Yes, I questioned whether a mini protein donut could taste good and most importantly I really questioned whether it would satisfy my chocolate and pastry addiction enough to stay away from a triple chocolate macadamia cookie or a dark chocolate brownie or chocolate cupcake or a handful of dark chocolate Lindt balls.
Yes it’s true, your personal trainer has a chocolate desert addiction like you would not believe so this really wasn’t a case of “oh this is easy for her because she eats kale salads and drinks spinach banana smoothies virtually every day for years”. Most trainers are human just like you and we understand your food struggles more than you think.
So Here’s A Calorie Comparison and Our Findings
1 Triple Chocolate Macadamia Cookie *bakery size - 310 calories
1 Dark Chocolate Brownie *4” square! 264 calories *double that if you have two!
2 Pieces of Ghirardelli Chocolate or 3 Lindt Balls - 140 calories or 220 calories
3 TatyanaSweetSide Chocolate Protein Donuts = 186 calories 12g fat 40g carb 8g protein
At first glance these mini donuts are closer in calories to most cheat treats BUT as my client said when she tried Tatayna’s mini protein donuts “these are good! I can eat one and be satisfied instead of eating a whole package of processed junk carbs and still craving more”
The Trick To Making Healthy Substitutions Work
So the trick to healthy substitutions like TataynaSweetSide Donuts is quality nutrition ingredients because when you eat nutritious food you stop craving so much junk AND you’re satisfied with less which makes calorie control and weight maintenance so much easier! Here’s a sneak peek of what Tatyana is baking up for Part 2 of this food vs fitness series.
But What If You Still Want The Junk or Fast Food or Sugary Fatty Treats?
Of course the alternative to choosing unhealthy foods is that you have to train much harder in the gym every single day. In the hilarious video below you can see just how hard you would need to train to burn HALF the calories of a Chipotle Burritos, Shake Shack combo meal and other calorie bombs.
Are you willing to train this hard to burn just half the calories of your fast food? If not, are you willing to not eat much the rest of the day when you choose these meals? You always have choices and ultimately your weight loss and maintenance comes down to what you WILL do not what you say you will do.
