Bad Weekend

HuskerforLife

Well, I lost some of my motivation this past weekend. Saturday morning/afternoon I was OK and able to get through any cravings. Even Saturday night wasn't so bad...I did eat a hamburger (no bun), some chips, and had a glass of wine. We had people over so instead of having 0 fun, I thought I'd join in.

However, Sunday was not a good day at all! I did run out of d-fine 8 (a supplement I've been taking) but I didn't think it would really matter. Apparently, it was doing more for me than I knew. I had run out of any good breakfast choices, so I started the day with a protein bar I thought might control hunger for some time. That didn't work....I had been craving Hungry Howie's pizza for awhile, and decided it was cheat weekend. We ended up with Pizza, Garlic Bread, and Soda. It tasted so good. I started thinking it was so much easier to just eat like this and not be miserable eating healthier when I wanted something completely bad.

I'm really hoping to get myself back on track! We are going to the gym here shortly, and to pick up more of my supplement. My schedule for work recently changed so my routine is going to have to change anyway. The only problem is getting myself to go to the gym when I'm now going to be working longer hours.

How do you keep going when you've had a bad weekend?

MayaSPapaya

I never do great on the weekends. It's ok-two days out of a week will not ruin your progress. I just let myself enjoy it knowing that I will get back on track when the week begins again.

MG_Fit

It's going to happen, but I don't let it mess up my week at all.

If I'm in a funk, I just ask myself, "Do I want to be the guy I was last year at this time?" The answer is always no. That's motivation enough for me.

kelly101386

If you fall off the wagon, just get back on again. It happens, don't kick yourself for it x

mazdauk

weekends happen sometimes. Don't let them be a habit and don't make them the reason for a bad week. Rule a line and move on.

jonnythan

I keep from having a bad weekend by not absolving myself of personal responsibility by attributing my willpower to some raspberry supplement. I also keep from having a bad weekend by not deciding that I'm having a "cheat weekend." A cheat *weekend*? Seriously? Sounds like a great way to erase 2 weeks of work.

Forget the supplement. It's silly and useless snake oil. Take responsibility for your eating. Don't fall into the trap of gym = health where you start eating bad as soon as you start skipping gym days. Weight loss is calorie deficit, which means weight loss is calorie control. If you're not controlling calorie intake, you won't lose weight. The gym is basically irrelevant.

Plan ahead for indulgences and fit them into your daily goals. If you spend two weeks telling yourself that you're "on a diet" and can't have pizza, you will end up telling yourself "I'll make this a cheat weekend and have pizza" and binge on it for two days, erasing the two weeks of progress. Instead, plan ahead to leave room in your calorie goal for one day to have a few slices of pizza.

jonnythan

It's ok-two days out of a week will not ruin your progress.

I don't know about you, but I can easily erase an entire week's worth of calorie deficit in a single meal, let alone two days' worth of eating.

Think about it. We mostly run a calorie deficit of about 500 calories a day. Over 5 days that's 2500 calories worth of deficit. A single pizza and breadstick meal can easily be 2500 calories all by itself, and you can easily eat enough calories to cover your TDEE in the other meals that one day.

So, yes, two days out of a week can *destroy* your progress. A single day out of the week can destroy your progress.

That's why it's critical to plan ahead and log everything.

HuskerforLife

Thanks everyone Jonny, the weekend wasn't planned...it was my lack of willpower. Thanks for going on the attack though, you're an awesome motivator! Interesting that your last paragraph is exactly what I did this weekend....It wasn't two days of pizza, it was 2 slices.

Anyhow, thanks for all who reminded me that 2 bad days shouldn't mean I can completely give up. NO matter what anyone says, I believe the supplement is an extra tool that can help me. Am I 100% relying on it, no...but any little motivator is worth it to me.

tomich54

I keep from having a bad weekend by not absolving myself of personal responsibility by attributing my willpower to some raspberry supplement. I also keep from having a bad weekend by not deciding that I'm having a "cheat weekend." A cheat *weekend*? Seriously? Sounds like a great way to erase 2 weeks of work.

Forget the supplement. It's silly and useless snake oil. Take responsibility for your eating. Don't fall into the trap of gym = health where you start eating bad as soon as you start skipping gym days. Weight loss is calorie deficit, which means weight loss is calorie control. If you're not controlling calorie intake, you won't lose weight. The gym is basically irrelevant.

Plan ahead for indulgences and fit them into your daily goals. If you spend two weeks telling yourself that you're "on a diet" and can't have pizza, you will end up telling yourself "I'll make this a cheat weekend and have pizza" and binge on it for two days, erasing the two weeks of progress. Instead, plan ahead to leave room in your calorie goal for one day to have a few slices of pizza.

THIS!!!!!!!!

worldsbestauntie

Weekend tend to be hard for me as well. Don't know why, but they are. This past weekend wasn't that bad. Especially since I had BBQ hamburgers BOTH days (and the one on Sunday was this really delicious cheddar and bacon burger BEFORE adding the cheese and other condiments to it. It's a 400c burger) I think it was the skipping breakfast or eating somethign small for supper (as lunch both days was really filling) that allowed me to stay on track. This coming weekend especially Saturday? Highly doubt I will be able to stay on track.

jonnythan

NO matter what anyone says, I believe the supplement is an extra tool that can help me. Am I 100% relying on it, no...but any little motivator is worth it to me.

You are relying on it. You ran out, and look what happened: you had a "cheat weekend." You don't even realize how much you're not taking responsibility yourself and giving it to this magic pill.

The pill is nothing. It contains nothing useful. Take control of yourself.

HuskerforLife

NO matter what anyone says, I believe the supplement is an extra tool that can help me. Am I 100% relying on it, no...but any little motivator is worth it to me.

You are relying on it. You ran out, and look what happened: you had a "cheat weekend." You don't even realize how much you're not taking responsibility yourself and giving it to this magic pill.

The pill is nothing. It contains nothing useful. Take control of yourself.

You're right I am...but I still feel it helps. It does nothing bad for me, so what's the harm in using it to get me going and keep me going for now?

HuskerforLife

I keep from having a bad weekend by not absolving myself of personal responsibility by attributing my willpower to some raspberry supplement. I also keep from having a bad weekend by not deciding that I'm having a "cheat weekend." A cheat *weekend*? Seriously? Sounds like a great way to erase 2 weeks of work.

Forget the supplement. It's silly and useless snake oil. Take responsibility for your eating. Don't fall into the trap of gym = health where you start eating bad as soon as you start skipping gym days. Weight loss is calorie deficit, which means weight loss is calorie control. If you're not controlling calorie intake, you won't lose weight. The gym is basically irrelevant.

Plan ahead for indulgences and fit them into your daily goals. If you spend two weeks telling yourself that you're "on a diet" and can't have pizza, you will end up telling yourself "I'll make this a cheat weekend and have pizza" and binge on it for two days, erasing the two weeks of progress. Instead, plan ahead to leave room in your calorie goal for one day to have a few slices of pizza.

THIS!!!!!!!!

Can you move out to California and work with us here? I need you to kick my *kitten* for real!

jonnythan

NO matter what anyone says, I believe the supplement is an extra tool that can help me. Am I 100% relying on it, no...but any little motivator is worth it to me.

You are relying on it. You ran out, and look what happened: you had a "cheat weekend." You don't even realize how much you're not taking responsibility yourself and giving it to this magic pill.

The pill is nothing. It contains nothing useful. Take control of yourself.

You're right I am...but I still feel it helps. It does nothing bad for me, so what's the harm in using it to get me going and keep me going for now?

How do you not see the harm? You ascribe so much power to a snake oil pill than when you run out, you feel so helpless you can't stop yourself from having a "cheat weekend."

You're a slave to a magic pill that actually does nothing for you.

Throw the pills away and take responsibility for yourself. The pill makes you weak.

patsimmon88

Weekends are so hard. We had my daughters birthday party this weekend. It was SO hard, but I had indulged a little bit but not too much.

HuskerforLife

Well it's actually a powder...but yes I see what you're saying. However, I don't believe that it was merely because I ran out that I felt "helpless." It had more to do with me, and my own lack of willpower. The same thing has happened before when I wasn't taking anything. I just tend to get so far with something and completely destroy it so I can go back to my old ways. It's a habit I'm currently trying to break.

NicolePatriot

Don't beat yourself up about it too bad. We all have those days. My whole weekend was a hot mess express. So at least you aren't alone.

MelsAuntie

I keep from having a bad weekend by not absolving myself of personal responsibility by attributing my willpower to some raspberry supplement. I also keep from having a bad weekend by not deciding that I'm having a "cheat weekend." A cheat *weekend*? Seriously? Sounds like a great way to erase 2 weeks of work.

Forget the supplement. It's silly and useless snake oil. Take responsibility for your eating. Don't fall into the trap of gym = health where you start eating bad as soon as you start skipping gym days. Weight loss is calorie deficit, which means weight loss is calorie control. If you're not controlling calorie intake, you won't lose weight. The gym is basically irrelevant.

Plan ahead for indulgences and fit them into your daily goals. If you spend two weeks telling yourself that you're "on a diet" and can't have pizza, you will end up telling yourself "I'll make this a cheat weekend and have pizza" and binge on it for two days, erasing the two weeks of progress. Instead, plan ahead to leave room in your calorie goal for one day to have a few slices of pizza.
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THIS]

kristen6022

You know what's funny? Your "bad" Saturday sounds like one of my good days. Friday night my BF, and 2 friends went to a street festival. 3 16oz Beers, 2 fried fish tacos, a bowl of tortillas, guacomole, and a 1/2 an elephant ear later...I got up the next morning, took a 4 mile walk and forgot it ever happened.

You will have days where you might have chosen better foods, but all in all they all even out in the end. You can't eat perfect for the rest of your life.

MelsAuntie

I don't like the idea of "cheat days", "cheat weekends"...WTF? You are only cheating yourself. I've had both pizza and fried chicken this week, and enjoyed it, and was still under my calorie goals, and the scale is still creeping down just fine. Log everything, work out, don't make excuses. If YOU aren't in control of what you put in your mouth, who is??

lisaabenjamin

Agree wholeheartedly on the diet/"supplement" pill/powder (whatever) argument - they are an expensive waste of time! Most don't actually 'do' anything, while those that do have an effect on your weight loss just make you lose it more quickly. I'm a firm believer in the idea that the quicker you lose weight, the quicker you will put it back on - unless you're going to keep taking these supplements for the rest of your life (which will cost you a FORTUNE!), you'll just gain all the weight back when you stop. You'd be better off just getting liposuction if that's what you want. Failing surgery, healthy eating and exercise to make sure you don't eat more calories than you burn is the only way to go - I wish people would stop looking for a quick fix or a crutch!

Anyways, I was replying to this thread to say that I had a blowout weekend too. It was a friend's birthday and we went to a beer festival! All the beer + hangover food on Sunday = major calorie overload. BUT I'm over it. Today is a new day. For me, this weight loss thing is about a lifestyle change not a quick fix. As long as I don't start celebrating with food and drink every single day, a couple of days off isn't going to hurt. You fall off the horse, you just get back on the horse. No biggie.

Sjenny5891

It's going to happen, but I don't let it mess up my week at all.

If I'm in a funk, I just ask myself, "Do I want to be the guy I was last year at this time?" The answer is always no. That's motivation enough for me.

^^^WHAT HE SAID^^
My youngest had a bad night Saturday. I think we got 2 hours of sleep. Throw in a Fathers Day Lunch and I'm close to hitting my goal. I didn't get any exercise...... Then I had to work last night....
Today is a new day. I hit the gym got my morning workout in. I'm excited about Zumba tonight.

So it all evened out......
BTW I weighed 190 pounds a year ago....

RobynLB83

Write it down on a piece of paper. Look at it for 5 minutes, then crumple it up and toss it in the trash. Done.

ncl1313

I have found that I eat fewer calories during the week. There are a number of factors that go into this, but the main thing is busy schedule = meal planning is a necessity. This results in me usually eating below goal for the 5 weekdays, giving me around 500-750 extra calories for the weekend. Try focusing less on one day or one weekend and more on the big picture (i.e., a whole week or two weeks or even a month). You will have "good" days and "bad" days, but as long as you are still netting a calorie deficit overall, you will still lose.

ETA: This past weekend I had pizza, buffalo wings, a porterhouse steak, and chocolate cake. I was still 95 calories under goal for the week (3595 calories net deficit for the week). I wouldn't call my weekend a "cheat"...I had calories to spare, so I ate them.

djbrink21

How do you keep going when you've had a bad weekend?

Remember that it was just one day and you have the whole rest of your life to make good habits. One bad day is just that, ONE bad day. It doesn't mean the next has to be. Sometimes I let myself have a bad day (not a cheat day; cause everything is still logged) but one where I let myself go over because I know one day doesn't set everyday to be bad.

HuskerforLife

Thanks everyone. I need a kick in the *kitten* at times. I'm going to the gym this morning. I've had 3 personal training sessions sitting around that I plan on signing up for today.

nightengale7

Write it down on a piece of paper. Look at it for 5 minutes, then crumple it up and toss it in the trash. Done.

I would prefer to burn it, so as to symbolically "burn" the calories

H_Factor

Bad weekends happen. Bad days happen. Bad decisions happen. Don't dwell on any of it, except to reflect on why it happened and what you can do next time to limit the damage. and move on.

You indicated that eating healthy is miserable for you. That's not a good thing. there are a LOT of healthy food choices out there. Do some research to learn about all of the options you have...and spend some time in the kitchen. Cooking your own food is almost always better than eating something from a box.

Second, yeah, it is easier to make unhealthy decisions and eat whatever you want when you want. However, the easy way isn't going to get you the good health you apparently want. You have to think about why you started this journey to good health. What are the deep down, in your gut things you hate about being overweight. If you hate those things enough, you will piss in the face of easy and make more consistent healthy choices.

Another thing to think about....what sucks about bad weekends is that it generally cancels out the good choices you made for several days. If you're going to make the effort to make healthy decisions, would you rather build on that progress or destroy it? The good thing is that this is entirely within your control. When you care enough about getting healthy and you hate enough being unhealthy, you will find the motivation to make consistent healthy decisions. If you can't find that motivation, then either you're okay with your current health...or you haven't been honest enough with yourself about what you don't like about your current health.

jonnythan

Thanks everyone. I need a kick in the *kitten* at times. I'm going to the gym this morning. I've had 3 personal training sessions sitting around that I plan on signing up for today.

Let me give you another tip: no one goes to the gym day in and day out long-term to "work out" unless they have some sort of addiction. Going to a gym to work out is boring and painful. Nobody really enjoys it, and no one does things they dislike long term.

The key is to find something active you genuinely enjoy. Something you enjoy enough to set meaningful goals for. No one just loves running on a treadmill.... but some people genuinely love running enough that they set actual performance goals. They then TRAIN for the goals. They don't put on their running shoes to work out. They put on their running shoes to TRAIN for their performance level.

Find a sport you enjoy. Go play tennis, or cycle, or whatever. What's critical is that you find something you actually WANT to do long-term.

jonnythan

be miserable eating healthier

I totally missed this line.

That's now how it's supposed to be.

Yesterday I had a quarter pounder with fries and ice cream from McDonald's for dinner. I went to IHOP for breakfast. Saturday night I went to Applebee's and had a steak with shrimp and Brew Pub pretzels with cheese dip. The day before that I had Subway for lunch and made a huge homemade burrito with sour cream, chicken, guacamole, and cheese for dinner. Ice cream for dessert. Dinner on Thursday was a McDonald's (with fries and ice cream). Oh, and that day for breakfast I had a *donut sandwich*.

The point is that "eating healthier" isn't supposed to be miserable. It's critical to hit your nutrient goals to get the right amount of calories, enough protein and fat and fiber, etc. But it's not all supposed to be "diet food" or some baloney like that. You're supposed to be eating food you enjoy, but making it fit into your calorie and nutrient goals.

HuskerforLife

be miserable eating healthier

I totally missed this line.

That's now how it's supposed to be.

Yesterday I had a quarter pounder with fries and ice cream from McDonald's for dinner. I went to IHOP for breakfast. Saturday night I went to Applebee's and had a steak with shrimp and Brew Pub pretzels with cheese dip. The day before that I had Subway for lunch and made a huge homemade burrito with sour cream, chicken, guacamole, and cheese for dinner. Ice cream for dessert. Dinner on Thursday was a McDonald's (with fries and ice cream). Oh, and that day for breakfast I had a *donut sandwich*.

The point is that "eating healthier" isn't supposed to be miserable. It's critical to hit your nutrient goals to get the right amount of calories, enough protein and fat and fiber, etc. But it's not all supposed to be "diet food" or some baloney like that. You're supposed to be eating food you enjoy, but making it fit into your calorie and nutrient goals.

So then technically....aren't you always eating like a cheat day? I understand what you're saying though. I guess in my head when I eat those foods it feels like I'm cheating myself. I want to make this a lifestyle change and eat better while becoming more active. I don't plan on living at the gym, but I am going to be taking a Zumba class as that is what I enjoy.