Personal trainer Emmet Rushe says that if you feel as though you went off plan and overindulged on Easter eggs this weekend - you're not to worry.

This is going to be short and sweet today. After all, it is a Bank Holiday and most of you are probably still in bed.

I am pre-empting an early morning strike by my 6-year-old which will scupper any chance of a lie in, but I usually get up at 5am, so 7am will be a bonus.

Over the last few days, in the build up to Easter, the fitness community started their usual nonsense.

Memes were being posted daily, telling people about the amount of calories that will be in the Easter eggs they might be thinking of consuming.

The memes, usually state the item, the calories involved and the amount of exercise you would have to do in order to burn off whatever you were planning to eat.

Way to take the fun out of Easter ‘Fitness community’… Way to go.

Easter isn’t the time to be worrying about the amount of calories, carbs, and sugar that is in chocolate.

You have had all year to figure that out, and if you haven’t let it bother you up until now, there is no point in worrying about it over the one time of year where Creme Eggs are available and chocolate eggs and rabbits are plentiful.

We all know that over indulging in chocolate isn’t a good thing.

We all know that if you eat an inordinate amount of Easter eggs over a 12-hour period, chances are, we will have a week’s worth of calories to get rid of.

With the amount of free information that is on the internet, I would hazard a guess that none of you reading this didn’t eat your Easter eggs and think that you were sin, points or calorie free.

So why do these memes still clutter our news feeds any time we have a commercial holiday that revolves around eating?

It’s because some people think that they will make a difference.

I’m here to tell you that they won’t.

Not
One
Bit!

There are two ways that it will go if you are a gym, trainer, I.G ‘celebrity’ or fitness ‘motivator’ and you are trying to get your people to abstain from Easter. (This is excluding people prepping for competitions)

1. Your followers will ignore you and eat the eggs anyway.
2. Your followers will abstain, only to crack a few days later and gorge themselves in a binge and then have guilt related feelings after.
3. Your followers will agree with you and like and comment on your posts and eat the damn eggs anyways.

We have all year to stick to the plan and watch what we eat.

One day won’t mess things up.

Breeding guilt related feelings around food will however push you into a binge and purge type of eating pattern, which is worse for everyone.

The take home message here for everyone is this;

Think about what you eat and the amounts that you are eating on all the other days of the year.

Have a diet that is sustainable, isn’t overly restrictive and allows for social occasions that you can enjoy with your family when they arise.

This might take a bit longer, but it will breed better habits and better relationships with food.

You will also get to enjoy occasions like Christmas and Easter without worrying about how many burpees you will have to do in order to burn off a crème egg.

Where’s the fun in that?

#TrainSmart
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