It’s Monday and time to get back to work, but you feel bloated and sluggish. What happened this weekend? You did so great all week and then Saturday hit. You got busy and didn’t eat breakfast so you were really hungry at 1:00pm BUT you didn’t have anything readily available to eat sooo you grabbed some chips and salsa, oh and cheese but you were too busy to measure any of your foods. Now you’re just defeated and you have already blown it so who cares if you have pizza for dinner and a couple beers. Just like that you have consumed 1500 excess calories and you erased your entire weekly deficit of calories in a matter of 2 meals. Does this sound like a common scenario? Weekend binge eating presents differently for everyone but it can be controlled the same way for everyone. I want to give you some usable strategies to keep you on track even when the structure of the week gives way to the chaos of the weekend.
Aim for good but not perfect! If perfection is the only thing you will accept and you don’t track a meal or you have a drink DON’T let that lead to going completely off the rails. We all get in situations where we eat something we didn’t plan on or have a tasty treat someone made for us SO give yourself leniency and reset. That is the moment of forgiveness and time to focus on the next rule…
Stick to the basic principles! If you are at a social event and you can’t control the food, fill up on veggies, protein and stay away from the sauces and desserts. Don’t drink your calories and don’t let social pressure distract you from your goals. Eat slow and until you are 80% full. Enjoy some but control the quantity you enjoy.
Have a rough game plan! Don’t let the structure of the week give way to no structure on the weekend and complete chaos. You don’t have to be completely structured but have some idea of what you are going to eat and how the day is going to play out. Things are going to change on the weekend, be ready for it so you can adjust as needed.
What are your commitments to your goals? Have some non-negotiables and stick to them. This goes along with sticking to the basic principles. If you have non-negotiables you do everyday like drinking water, moving for 20-30 minutes, and eating veggies with every meal this will help with your structure and remember nutrition is a zero sum game. If you are starting with the healthy foods and habits there will simply be less room for the bad stuff!
Learn from what you do! It’s not simply good or bad. It’s not all or nothing. You have to be objective and learn from what you did that worked and didn’t work in order to grow into the healthy person you want to be. You can do this by journaling or discussing the weekend with a friend or coach. This can bring to light where things went wrong or what your mindset was when you over ate. Without awareness change is impossible so take a hard look at the weekend and see where you can improve next weekend.
Have a great weekend and stick these rules so you can stick to your nutrition plan and achieve your goals. If you need more guidance and specifics to work for your lifestyle, give us a call and see if we can help.
~Brant
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