Don't Let The Weekends Derail Your Progress

One of the main reasons people don’t see results is they follow a solid nutrition and exercise plan 5 days out of the week and when the weekend comes it’s time for the “reward” for all the hard work. And it’s in these two days (or even one) that blows all your hard work to pieces.

Going hog wild on the weekend will sabotage your best efforts Monday through Friday at 5pm - or whenever “happy hour” begins for the weekend. We are a society that socializes around food and drink. We tend to “reward” ourselves for being so good during the week with indulgent food that we denied ourselves the previous days. We’ve worked hard, after all, we “deserve” the treats.

Treating yourself is not the problem. The problem is often a combination of: not setting limits on your treating, living your weekends unprepared to eat properly and for many, an increase in calories consumed through alcoholic beverages. As with everything else in life, not completely sabotaging yourself on the weekends is about balance and moderation. Here are a few tips that I use in my own life and with my clients that might help you enjoy the weekends without completely derailing your progress from the previous week.

Plan your treats. I usually advise planning for just one treat MEAL during the

course of the weekend. Of course there can be exceptions with holidays, special events, birthdays, etc but for the most part, you want to stick with just one treat meal. Plan it ahead of time so you know when, where, what and with whom. If you know you will be meeting friends for social eating, plan for that to be your treat meal. It’s ONE meal, not a day, not a weekend. One meal. Make sure you plan for it to be something you really like and really want. I never waste a treat meal on food I don’t love. Just not worth it to me.

Be prepared! For many of us, weekends involve a lot of running around, errands, kids events, etc. Weekends can lack the structure of our Monday through Friday routine. You don’t necessarily have to take all your foods with you - although, I definitely recommend having some snacks handy just in case (I love those Costco Kirkland brand protein bars). At least have an idea of where you can grab a heathy, on-the-go meal. It’s a bad idea to be stuck somewhere where your choices are McDonald’s on one corner and Burger King on the other. Often sandwich shops like Subway, Panera and even Starbucks have some great choices.

Don’t go to the party hungry. Often times when we know we’re going to be at an event or party we will “save up” calories by not eating properly throughout the day. This is a terrible idea and will lead to overdoing it. Stay on track throughout the day. Eat your regularly scheduled meals and even have a little something like a protein shake, Greek yogurt or cottage cheese before you go out. This will save you from overindulging at the party or devouring the chip or bread basket at the restaurant.

Just because you’re focused on fat-loss doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself on the weekend. But you do want to set parameters and always have a plan for your treats. When you do this you will find the results of all that hard work you put in during the week will pay off much faster.