How To Ditch Weekend Overeating
The weekend’s coming to an end and I’m sure you enjoyed a lot of extra servings of ‘something something’ that might have you feeling slightly slower than usual on a Sunday evening. Whether it was brunch today or pizza for dinner last night, we’ve all been there. Weekend’s are often reserved for overeating because we tend to save “healthy eating” for Monday to Friday and go ham Saturday and Sunday.
This needs to stop and here’s a few strategies that can help you stop checking out at 5 p.m. come Friday:
1. Rules are meant to be broken (sometimes)
There are so many ‘food rules’ out there that include when to eat and not to eat, what to have and what to avoid; how much food is too much or too little. Let these rules go. Listen to your body … are you hungry? Do you really want to a late-night pizza or a loaded burrito via uber eats? Tune into your physical hunger cues and let that be your guide instead. You will realize there is a lot of extra eating that won’t take place just on Saturday and Sunday.
2. Perfection isn’t everything
There’s something that happens when you try and follow your meal plan perfectly all week long … you basically hit a wall when the weekend comes and all you can think about is booze and carbs. This week try not to think about being perfect, but instead do your best – take PERFECT out of your vocab and you’ll realize by the weekend you’ll still have the willpower to say yes to salad on Saturday because you might have had fries on Thursday. And on that note, you will be completely okay having those fluffy pancakes during Sunday brunch because you can trust that your next meal won't be poutine and pasta.
3. Cheat days, Shmeat days
There is no need to make M-F food purgatory and the weekend a time to pig out on anything and everything. Let cheat days go. Change your mindset and it won’t feel like you’re depriving yourself all week long. If you listen to your body and are generally eating meals that are balanced and whole regardless of what day of the week it is, you might not feel like you’re depriving yourself.
Empower yourself to make good decisions and don’t let the weekend be a way to rationalize your food binge. And if you should decide to eat the whole tub of ice cream, then that is your choice. It happens to the best of us! I’ve been there, done that. Ultimately you decide whatever it is you want to eat or drink in excess on the weekends. Just remember that every decision has a different outcome. From my experience, I know I don’t exactly feel like a million bucks after chowing down on one too many slabs of cheese and slices of bread (plus wine on the side). Just saying.
There is no ideal day to ‘eat right’ … not Monday, Sunday or Wednesday. All you can do is do your best every single day. Rejig your perspective with the three strategies listed above and if you do find you fall off on Friday evening just pick yourself back up and start again. Do your best. This is an up and down journey and it’s all about progress.
If you need a little help in this department, ask a friend to keep you accountable or even use me. Seriously, feel free to check in with via email and let me know how your journey is going!
My 4-Week Kick-Start Challenge is also a great way to keep yourself accountable and have a step-by-step program to follow. Either way, if you’re ready to make a change, you will do it and I can be here to help support you along the way!
