Compensation

I did some damage at last night's buffet, and now my pants won't button...
Can you relate?  So, how do thin people stay thin?  Compensation is the key to living free of weight issues for the rest of your life.  Oh yeah, compensation also allows you to eat without restricting sugar, gluten, fat, or whatever the trending prohibition happens to be--therefore, it happens to be the most largely under-sung component in a life free of extra fat.  Compensation means more than punishing ourselves after gorging at the buffet by living on lettuce for two days.  In fact, it is the opposite of such austerity measures.  Instead, it allows for us to remain balanced each day by asking ourselves what is missing.  If I indulged in lots of zucchini brownies with chocolate ganache glaze (see recipe on p. 231 of my book: Miracle Pill), I compensate without labeling myself "bad" and merely choose the other fuel groups that I have not yet had--such as lean protein, green vegetables, fruit, and maybe dairy.  No guilt allowed. 

 
Even in the absence of any food overload we still compensate meal-to-meal to make sure within a single day our bodies get all the fuel values they require in the proportion they require.  This state is called balance and it allows our systems to function at optimal.  With consistency, a state of balance powers up our metabolisms--which means we burn fat for fuel.  Compensating day-to-day restores our bodies to balance after a day on the road or anytime we are unable to find the fuel our bodies need.  Even week-to-week we compensate after an illness, travel, or a situation that takes choice away so we simply cannot eat in balance with our needs.

Imagine if over the next 6 months you ate exactly what you needed, when you needed it, in the right amount.  What would be the result for your body?  Don't worry.  You wouldn't need to take away all pizza and ice cream.  They are part of the occasional fuel a thin person enjoys.  Click here for more about treats and their essential place in a peaceful, ideal body.  With compensation you would simply enjoy the pizza and ice cream and then choose next time the fuel groups that are absent.  Viola, no fat and no restriction either.  The magical power of compensation each meal, each day, and each week allows us to live well without restriction, and have a metabolism that rocks. 

Tres Hatch is the author of: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.