Stop sabotaging your diet on the weekend!

January 29, 2021  “Stop sabotaging your diet on the weekend”

Are you the type of person that lives for the weekend? You wake up Friday morning screaming TGIF! You exercise so hard and eat healthy all week and once the weekend

comes your hard work all goes out the window? Well this article is just for you. After a hard week at work, most of us are keen to spend our weekend relaxing and

indulging in the things we love because we say,” I deserve this” and we seem to treat ourselves with our favorite food and snacks.

However it is no surprise that a weekend of bingeing can have disastrous effects on our attempts to lose weight. But whilst we might always ‘start again on Monday’, a weekend of

bingeing can easily provide more than enough calories to find ourselves 1-2 LBS heavier when we get on the scales at the start of the week. The result: we spend the whole week struggling to

lose those pounds, only to instantly put them on again over the weekend and so ultimately, our weight stays the same.

What sabotages us? During the weekend more people will eat fast food, eat late at night and drink more sugary products or alcoholic beverages and less water. They will exercise less and partake in the “Lazy Sunday Syndrome” where we become couch potatoes watching the games or a marathon of lifetime movies. We have our big, high fat, high calorie Sunday family meal and expect to jump right back into training Monday morning without feeling sluggish and bloated.

Next weekend will truly be a test for those who are dieting or already struggle with temptations. Super Bowl is one of the most anticipated football games of the year. Whether your favorite team is playing or if you even watch football, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest social events of the year. The average American will eat more than 6,000 calories by the end of the day. (You Preferences would need to run a marathon to burn off all of those calories off ... that’s 26.2 miles.) Will one day of hot wings, pizza, chips, cheese fries, and ranch dip ruin you for the rest of the year? If you eat relatively healthy and exercise regularly, there’s a low likelihood of nachos giving you a coronary at halftime. However, consuming high-fat and high-sodium foods will lead to temporary increases in blood pressure and flood your blood stream with artery clogging lipids.

Here are four great diet tips to help you stay on track during the weekends.

1. Exercise!

No healthy lifestyle is complete without it. Exercise will boost your mood and decrease your risk of many cancers and heart disease. Dieting without exercising will eventually bring your weight loss to a halt. You can start by walking around the block every day – just keep moving!

2. Don’t engage in “all-or-nothing” thinking.

You know what I mean – if you stay on your diet, you are “good” and if you make the slightest mistake, you’re “bad” and might as well throw everything away, so you go and eat everything in your pantry and tell yourself you’ll start tomorrow. Life doesn’t work like that. It’s not the one mistake that will do you in; it’s the giant binge that follows. Pick yourself up and keep going.

3. Stay motivated.

Whether it’s the voice of Tadda ringing in your ear screaming, “Can I Get It” or I Don’t Want No Mess” , or the idea of living to see your kids grow up, keep that in mind when you feel like you

might stray. Keep focusing on the bigger picture when you start thinking “I can’t do this...it’s too hard.” You’ll be surprised at what you’re capable of.

4. Sunday Funday

Scheduling your cheat meal or snack on a Sunday (do not binge all day) can help motivate you to stay on your diet during the week, knowing a reward is ahead. The end of the week is perfect

because the splurge is a reward after a long week of workouts, and will help you replenish your body while killing cravings. When you wake up on Monday morning, you’re back to a clean diet.

Also if possible, try having your cheat meal in the morning. This way, you will be able to use it as fuel throughout the day instead of going to bed on a (really) full stomach.

No Mess!