From Lisa Bullock What have cats, dogs, rain, love and fat loss to do with each other? And no, it’s not raining cats and dogs – that was just a sample of my female rambling thought processes this morning. As a woman you’ll understand that one of our major strengths is multi-tasking and being able to make HUGE intuitive leaps in our thought processes at the speed of light. Come on men, keep up! Is there anyone else out there who has these bizarre philosophical thoughts as they shower and wash their hair? Oh, just me…. 🙁
It started out as a dark and rainy early morning with my cats and dog complaining about their starvation pangs – loudly! I was in a rush to get into the gym but the persistent cries of “feed meeeeeee” “feed meeeee” followed me round the house as I scrambled under the couch for my shoes (note to self, must learn to put shoes away), found my water bottle underneath the mountain of air drying dishes, and thought about brushing my hair (nah, too hard – you can’t brush curly hair anyway, it goes frizzy. Can’t have frizzy hair when you train lol). I flung some cat food on plates for the kittens and grabbed a “tasty” out of the basket for the dog.
Wait on – a whole basket of “tasties” just for the dog! What is that all about! My husband LOVES his dog Sunny. Sunny thinks Craig is the “light of the world”. Soul mates! Everyone else outside our family loathes Sunny – she’s a certifiable nutter and can be a little aggressive. That’s me being polite. We love her heaps and she’s getting better as she gets older but she was a rescue puppy and I don’t even want to imagine how she was treated as a little one for her to be so scared of everyone to this day (scared dogs are often aggressive, just getting in first is how they see it). Anyway, back to the basket of treats. Not one packet of dog treats but TEN boxes of treats! Because that’s one of the ways Craig demonstrates his love for Sunny – by buying her food treats. Which is really cute. But not necessarily the BEST way! And even though they walk up to 3 times a day, she now has what we call “robust buttocks”!
(aren’t they cute! just wait for a moment, I have another 1,550 pics I’d love to show you…..!)
Which brings me towards the point of my convoluted thought processes. We so often equate love and comfort with food. We think that we need to “reward” ourselves for training hard or eating clean. How often are you told or think that because you’re losing weight on some deprivation diet that you deserve a reward? Which is usually food related!
How about rewarding yourself with finishing a tough workout and feeling a sense of accomplishment and strength? Isn’t the reward of looser clothes a reward in itself? Isn’t feeling fitter and healthier a reward too? I wonder that we’re so programmed to tie in an external reward for hard work when the reward is already there. Anyone who has lost a decent chunk of weight will recognise that feeling of “ease” when the weight is gone. The “ease” of bending forward to tie your shoelaces, the “ease” of completing everyday movement without struggle, the “ease” of fitting into ordinary clothes, the “ease” of working out and not having your body literally get in the way!
So start celebrating the rewards you’ve already attained and question the need to reward or pamper yourself to for doing something that has already benefited you. Like Sunny, you probably don’t need the extra “tasty”! Reward yourself instead with health and fitness and we can help you with that!
(Now rewarding cats – that’s different! They don’t call me the Crazy Cat Lady for nothing!) 
Lisa Bullock is a Personal Trainer based in Melbourne, Australia. She’s run her successful fitness business for over 15 years and has trained over a 1000 clients helping them reach their health, fitness and wellness goals. Married for 27 years and mother to a daughter (22) and son (19), she is a proud proponent of the philosophy “keep on keeping on”. She believes that consistency is key to achieving goals. Lisa loves weight training with a passion; she’s boxed for over 12 years and sees no reason to stop soon! She’s faced her own health and weight issues and come out fighting. “I believe in training for the long haul” she claims, “I fully expect to be doing handstand push ups when I’m 60!.”