Tips for Enjoying Treats This Holiday Season
Written by Fritz Nugent
I recently had a client ask (aka Irish-guilted himself into telling) me about how he wanted to be able to do little things like, “Why not have one pumpkin scone a week since it is fall.?” Little things like that. And you know what, that’s ok and totally normal to want because you don’t want to live a totally rigid life. But on the other side of things – if you’re working toward a body composition goal – it’s a balancing act.
I will say that one pumpkin scone a week is better than none for a few months and then you binge eat a bunch and then fall off the nutritional wagon completely. The way you eat must have “scones” worked in (sub any food in here that you “shouldn’t” eat, the point is the same) for your nutritional changes to make it the long haul.
To make a scone fit, look at what the macros within that scone. For example, the Starbucks pumpkin scone is 500 calories, 78 grams of carbs, 17 grams of fat , and 6 grams of protein. Of those 78 grams of carbohydrates, 43 grams are from sugar. Now that you know what is within the scone, you can swap out foods from your life that you would normally eat that day to balance your total calorie equation.
For example, if your lunch has 1000 calories, then you could eat half your lunch that day. That’s how many calories are in that scone – half of a 1000 calorie lunch.
There is always a lot to consider when making nutritional changes, so ensure that the way you choose to eat aligns well with how you live your best life. With a goal to shed some body fat, you must be willing to do some things differently for the rest of your life, and also keep a semblance of balance so that you can stay on the program.
