I love taking pics of my kids. They are only small once and I want to take the time to have lots of pictures of them at every age. A few weeks ago I took a picture of me with my daughter JJ eating ice cream. I had taken my kids to my parents in Cape Breton. We went to the beach and then went to get ice cream.
But a funny thing happened. After I posted the ice cream picture people started messaging me about it. People were amazed that I would eat ice cream. Someone even went as far as to ask if I purged after eating it.
I find it funny people believe just because I’m fit and a trainer, I can’t possibly ever cheat on my diet. In fact that’s not true.
I have my kids a week on week off, and every Friday I have them we have movie night. We have done it for over ten years and it’s our family tradition. We have pizza and they pick junk food for movie night snacks. Usually they choose chips and m&ms.
We watch the movie and eat snacks. I think this is a healthy, normal thing to do with my family. It’s time we spend together and it’s OK to have junk food. It’s our time together, just us, as a family. It’s one of my favorite things to do with my kids and I look forward to it every time I have them.
While we do this, we eat healthy the majority of the time. I believe passionately in taking care of your body. Abusing it with junk food on a regular basis isn’t smart.
But it is OK to have cheat days. Anyone telling you it’s not, is lying .
I’ve had a cheat day once a week for over ten years. It doesn’t hurt my fitness level at all. In fact it helps me be better with my diet outside of that, and the extra calories is good for recovery. If you have that cheat day, you are much more likely to eat healthy the rest of the time. If you want junk food but know in just a few days you can have it, it helps you stay on track.
I have often heard people say life is too short to give up anything. I partly agree with this. Life is too short to say you can never eat junk food or have fun. But life will be short if all you do is eat and drink garbage.
It’s all about moderation.
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Devin Sherrington was named #2 trainer in Canada 2015, is 8 time Best Personal Fitness Trainer Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He lives in Fletcher’s Lake, Nova Scoita with his children Reign and Journey.