Are Weekends Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Goals?

It is Thursday and the weekend is upon us and I am sure you are looking forward to a break from the weekday grind, right? So what does that mean for your eating habits?

• Do your weekday eating habits change on the weekend? 
• Is Friday a license to booze it up and eat whatever you want?
• Do you reward yourself for making it through the week?
• Do you wake up on Monday feeling bad and resolved to do better this week only to overeat once again the following weekend?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be time to take a closer look at your habits not only during the weekend but yes, during the week as well.

I feel you! 

As much as I know about behavior change and nutrition, I recently took a hard look at my weekend eating. I work hard during the week with work and children and am going from 6 am to 9pm non-stop.  I deserve to reward myself. Right? 

If you are like me, you can probably rationalize most anything. While I do not have a “cheat day” (which I will get to later in this article) I did find myself taking more liberty with my food choices than during the week.

So here are some reasons why you (and I) may be blowing it on the weekends and some strategies that I have found helpful with myself and my clients to break the cycle of starting over on Monday.

1. Are you trying to eat perfectly M-F?

   If this is the case, undoubtedly your will power is going to run out by Friday. For most of us, we have this “all or nothing” mentality that it has to be perfect or crap.  There is no in between. What if instead of trying to eat perfectly all week, we aimed for “good enough?”  An 80-90% or B or B+ effort.

2. Do you have a cheat day?

   I used to be a proponent of cheat meals but I think that these can be interpreted very differently.  My idea of a cheat meal is eating a few slices of pizza but eating a whole pizza may be someone else’s idea of a cheat meal. Cheat days/meals create a sense of scarcity and it is often hard to get back on track. 

3. Do you create rules around your weekend eating?

   “I will not have sugar on the weekends” or “I can only have x amount of x”. Rules set you up for failure!  Let’s say you are trying to adhere to the rule of no sugar on the weekends and by 2 pm on Saturday your will power goes out and you eat a donut. So now the common thought process is “I blew it so I’ll just start on Monday.” If you eliminate the food rules you will not feel bad or guilty. You will eat and enjoy that donut and then move on. Instead of creating rules, consider creating commitments such as “I will focus on portion sizes.”  Having 1-2 slices of pizza is okay but not 3-4. Just make sure you do not put a rule on it.

4.  Are your weekends filled with takeout? 

   During COVID many of my clients, myself included, got used to take out and as a consequence this has become a habit. It is understandable, we cook throughout the week and want a break on the weekends.

   Take out can still be an option you may, however, need to juggle or tweak portions or macros.  For instance, your protein or vegetable macros may suffer a bit on the weekends but you can still control your caloric intake. 

   Also, when getting take out, eating family style gives you multiple choices to satisfy cravings while allowing you to balance your plate with a good ratio of protein, carbs and vegetables.  For instance, if you are like me and like a small serving of pasta with your dinner but not a whole heavy plate full then family style eating is a great way to go. 

Bottomline: It is a mindset shift adjusting our eating patterns on the weekend but it can be done. Tuning into our patterns and making small adjustments will result in big change over time.

If weekends are sabotaging your goals send me an email so that we can chat about your mindset and nutrition goals.