It’s so easy to skip that workout at the end of the day or have that slice of cheese cake after dinner. You deserve it. You work hard. It’s not the worst thing you could do, right? Well, that depends. I’m not proclaiming that we should never reward ourselves for a job well done or surviving an arduous day, but time and time again I have seen many valiant efforts derailed from abusing the “reward system”, be it a cheat meal or a “free” day. The purpose of this article is to make you aware that the habit of rewarding oneself involves hidden traps that can end up hurting our health and well being, and to offer some hints on how to stay on track to meet your health and fitness goals. There are several recurring themes that I see as major hurdles to keeping on track with a diet plan.

Frequency
By far the most popular error we all make in rewarding ourselves is by doing it too frequently. The main issue here boils down to the fact that you might not have done much to give yourself that day off from the gym. If you find yourself having a sweet calorie laden dessert – or a treat every single day of the week – then there’s a problem with your effort/reward paradigm. In order to benefit from a diet or exercise program, consistency is key, and that means sticking with your exercise schedule and limiting your cheat meals to once a week at most.

Try using the 80% rule. 80% of the time eat according to your diet goals, whatever they may be, and save the cheats or rewards for just 20% of the time. Rather than crunching numbers to find out how many times per week you can cheat, most people just pick one or two meals during the week in which they can eat whatever they want, with the assumption of course that the next meal is right back on track with their diet goals.

Quantity
Now that you have given yourself some leeway to fudge (pun intended) a little, you have to keep an eye out for the next hurdle. Quantity! This booby trap is almost impossible to avoid. Serving portions have been getting bigger and bigger (think “Super Size Me”). What’s especially dangerous are the large servings of simple sugars and carbohydrates being consumed in the form of soft drinks, bread, pasta and rice. Learning to moderate your serving sizes will advance you a long way towards living a healthier life. The only reward gained for “pigging out” until you have to loosen your belt is a serious case of heartburn and a larger number on the scale.

Take some time to learn the standard serving sizes on many popular foods. For example, a standard serving of pasta is 1 cup and the standard serving of steak is 5 oz. (about the size of a deck of cards).

Poor Quality
You’ve heard of the saying, “you are what you eat”. An increase in the consumption of high glycemic carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and potatoes has caused a steady increase in heart disease and autoimmune disorders. Avoiding sugar laden high glycemic foods, while increasing the consumption of fruit, vegetables and healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts, seeds and avocados, will result in bountiful health rewards. It probably goes without saying but fast food is not good quality food by anyone’s standards.

Start with baby steps. Try eliminating, or at least greatly reducing, one type of grain from your diet. Bread is a good one to start with. Over time slowly remove other starchy foods such as white potatoes and rice and replace with large amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Food
I’m sure you have seen the recurring theme of food as a “reward”. That’s because it’s arguably the number one reward we give ourselves for a job well done. From birth, we have been bombarded with gifts of food from birthday cake to celebration dinners. Maybe it’s time we started thinking about more positive substitutes for rewarding ourselves, or better yet, changing our mindset so that the achievement of greater health and wellness becomes the reward.

Try some alternative reward ideas like massage, a manicure, or a vacation. Telling others about your diet and exercise successes often leads to developing a support group of like minded individuals who encourage you and provide motivation to continue doing the right things. Finally, sometimes the best reward is the one we give ourselves. A mental pat on the back for accomplishing our goals, or sticking to the plan we have made for ourselves, is a great way to provide self recognition and re-enforce good dietary habits.

By Jerome Winters

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It’s not too late for you to start raising money for Fight Gone Bad! Sign up at FGB5.org and join Team CrossFit Capital Jiu-Jitsu. The donations that you collect or make to Fight Gone Bad will benefit the Wounded Warriors Project which provides support to soldiers who have been injured in war and their families. In addition, FGB benefits the Lance Armstrong Foundation which supports prostate cancer research and the CrossFit Foundation which provides support to military, law enforcement, and first responders and their families in times of need.

Loudoun: $3,655.00
Old Town: $1,201.50
Neutral: $50
Total: $4,906.50

When: Thursday, August 19th
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Where: Alexandria’s Blue Room
Cost: $35 (coaches and members/pay at the door)
Considerations: Muay Thai and Advanced BJJ will be moved to the black mat this day only.

Seth Petruzelli
Petruzelli started training martial arts at the age of seven and continued on training through high school, where he also played football and wrestled at Mariner High School. Petruzelli was a three-sport letterman all four years of high school. He was also all state center for football. Petruzelli was offered a scholarship to wrestle and play football in college but ended up turning pro in MMA right out of high school. He holds a 3rd degree black belt in Shitō-ryū Karate and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Petruzelli was a member of the cast of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s The Ultimate Fighter 2 as a heavyweight. He was eliminated in the semi-finals by Brad Imes after having defeated Dan Christison by unanimous decision in an elimination bout. He later had the opportunity to fight in the UFC in 2006, but was cut after losses to Matt Hamill and Wilson Gouveia.

Tom Lawlor
Thomas Joseph Lawlor (born on May 15, 1983 in Fall River, Massachusetts) is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. He was a cast member of SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.

Tom Lawlor lives in Orlando, Florida. He along with TUF alumni and K1 vet Seth Petruzelli and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Mike Lee, own and coach at The Jungle MMA and Fitness.

Tom Lawlor defeated Ryan Lopez with a rear naked choke in the elimination round to earn his spot in the house. Lawlor was selected to fight first against Ryan Bader but lost by KO in the first round.

Tom Lawlor won his UFC debut against former The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir cast mate Kyle Kingsbury. They fought on the preliminary card at the UFC: The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale. Tom was shown with a new look. After the fight with Kingsbury, Lawlor moved down in weight and now fights as a middleweight.

Tom had his second fight for the UFC, when he took on C.B. Dollaway at UFC 100. Tom won after putting Dollaway to sleep using a guillotine choke at 55 seconds in the first round and was awarded Submission of the Night.

Lawlor fought Aaron Simpson on January 11, 2010 at UFC Fight Night 20. Lawlor showed off his improved striking skills in the first round by dominating Simpson, but lost a split decision.

The annual Fight Gone Bad 5 is scheduled for September 25, 2010!

Capital has a strong tradition of blurring the lines between fitness, fun and community service. This event is MADE for this .

During Fight Gone Bad III Melissa and Jeremy put it on the line with a bet: whoever raised fewer funds would have to drink ONE Beer and eat FIVE Big Bite Hot Dogs from 7-11. During Fight Gone Bad IV Iman Achhal and Matt Tudor did the same, but it became which box raised the most funds. See BOTH videos below .

This year Casey O’Donnell from Alexandria and Iman Achhal from Loudoun will compete in this this most unholy of Capital traditions.

This event is OPEN TO ANYONE. So BJJ, Muay Thai, MMA and Yoga peeps who want to get in, awesome.

Our three Northern Virginina/Washington DC locations – Old Town Alexandria/Arlington, Loudoun County/Sterling and Takoma Park MD – draw residents from communities throughout the DC Beltway area for MMA and Fitness training, including Sterling, Chantilly, Herndon, Stoneridge, Brambleton, Falls Church, Reston, Springfield, Annandale VA, Fairfax, Burke, Bethesda, McLean, Oakton, Centreville, Springfield VA, Belle Haven, Silver Spring, Ft. Belvoir, Mt. Vernon, Arcola VA and Oak Grove VA or friendly safe and fun classes in Royce Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sean Douglas Muay Thai Kickboxing, CrossFit Elite Fitness, Kid’s MMA, Yoga, She’Safe Women’s Self-Defense and MMA. You’ll get a fun workout that surpasses any health club routine and learn the most effective martial arts in the world while you’re doing it.

Please don’t throw away all of your progress now. Try to incorporate Paleo nutrition into your lives going forward.

The overall winner (person who lost the highest percentage of his/her starting bodyfat): Jerome Winters (with a 52.8% improvement in bodyfat % from original…He dropped 12.2% bodyfat.)

A close 2nd place goes to Joe Cheadle (with a 49.4% change— he dropped 8.9%).

For ‘honorable mention’, the top female was Joanna Turpin with a 33.7% improvement.

The overall winning team (highest % average bodyfat lost): Team Cavemen (with 29.06% lost on average)

Team Forged averaged a 27.53% bodyfat loss from original.

Remember these percentages are the % lost from original bodyfat.

A few other points I wanted to mention…As a GROUP, you guys lost over 267 lbs of FAT mass! Holy cats.

A few of the higher fat losses came from: Jerome Winters (Lost 23.3lbs of Fat), Gary Haugen (Lost 22.4lbs of Fat), Joe Cheadle and Nate Gonzales both lost over 18lbs of fat.

Again — great work everyone, and stay tuned for individual emails with your specific details.