Put down the Hot Chocolate!

Ever wonder how you got where you are and why it's so hard to fix those little habits that hold you down? Two years ago I suffered from a serious case of depression in which I self medicated myself with LOTS of food. I didn't really start working my way through things until last February. I had a lot of self analysis and relationship analysis. I wrote about this a lot during the beginning of last year.

This one however has scientific research to back it up. For some reason women think it's ok to eat a little more if they've worked out that day. I know isn't that strange? But, there have been tons of studies that point to this.

As we've finally had out first snow storm I reflected on last years "Snowpocolypse" in which I did some funny things. When you have over 100 inches of snow in four weeks there is lots of shoveling to be had. Every time I went out to shovel I would come inside and decide that I deserved some hot chocolate and cookies. Who wouldn't? It's cold, you need some comforting treat and you just burned calories you normally wouldn't, right?

Well ladies, I'm hear to tell you don't do it. I have a caloric study going on right now that I will tell you more about letter but I have a little snipit to share.

First, when it's cold and snowy outside you are more likely to be less active inside. You want to curl up with a good book or watch a movie. You may not go out to run errands or other things that may be part of your normal activity level.

Second, you are not burning as many calories as you think shoveling that snow.
I went out and shoveled some seriously heavy snow last night. I burned 185 calories. That's not even enough to cover a cocoa and a cookie. What it's really doing is offsetting the fewer calories you're burning by laying around.

So, choose your beverages carefully and find a small piece of chocolate instead of the cookies. You're healthy body will thank you.