Washington is so hung up on diet and calorie counting that a fitness guru is urging the city’s fittest to lighten up and pig out on Thanksgiving treats.
After all, said trainer Maggie Winzeler, it’s just one day of the year.
“Many Washingtonians work tirelessly six to seven days a week, putting pressure on themselves about everything from deadlines to calories. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to go off the grid and to drop dieting in order to recharge and reflect,” she told Secrets.
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“Washingtonians work extremely hard and rarely let themselves relax. Thanksgiving is about taking a break and enjoying a meal with people we care about. Food brings people together and should not be feared or over analyzed on special occasions due to calorie counting or dieting,” she added in comments also directed at other fitness purists around the nation.
Winzeler has trained 300 clients in the Washington area and now writes a fitness blog where she recommended that gym rats take the day off and enjoy Thanksgiving. And she provided some science about why a one-day gorge won’t ruin the best diet.
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“We are born with the innate ability to regulate caloric consumption for our needs. At six weeks old a baby can already do this! Many adults block or tune out their body’s internal cues and over time, lose touch with them. This can lead to eating when you’re not hungry and obviously, can cause problematic weight gain over time. This does not need to be the case! You can trust your body to do its job,” she wrote on her blog wellnesswinz.com.
“Even if you do go overboard and enter into that post-turkey food coma and even if you feel like you have [to] undo the top button of your pants after the Thanksgiving feast, you’re not likely to be at a normal level of hunger the following day. If you listen to your needs, your body will keep things in balance,” she added.
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Winzeler cited a study of French and American women, focusing on how French women can stay thin while not dieting. It seems anxiety hurts American diets.
“The areas of the French women’s brains that lit up, in response to the delicious dessert, were areas associated with pleasure. In stark contrast, the American women’s brains showed fear,” she wrote.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
