Weekend Struggles

Stacebob85

Hi all

I need some advice; my dietary intake is just falling flat on it's face over the weekend!

I'm 27, 5'7" and currently weigh 179.7lbs. I've lost 20lbs exactly so far this year, but I just know that I could've lost a whole lot more by new if I kept my weekends in check...

The struggle I have is that weekends are either spent at home (therefore I boredom eat a fair bit), or, as my hubby and I have a very active social life, more often than not we are out, meaning eating out (I try to make the best decisions possible, but even salads can be fattening from pubs and such!) and often times having the odd alcoholic beverage. The alcohol I'm not too bothered by; aside from on my own birthday, I don't drink much, even socially, as I'm not actually a huge fan of the taste of most alcohols, and diet Coke sets off my IBS symptoms so that rules out anything that I'd usually mix with Coke :P

I try to stick to my calorie goal of 1490kcal/day, but honestly I don't think I've managed to do that on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday at all this year, with the exception of that one Sunday that I was quite violently ill... With the weather being what it has (I'm not a hot weather gal and have been very headachey/dizzy the past few weeks), I haven't been exercising and I've also been hitting the ice cream van like it's going out of fashion!

Anyone else have this weekend problem, and if so, any ideas on how to counter it?

iwannabeonthebeach

I know exactly where you're coming from as I have a tendency to fall off the wagon at weekends too. But at least I KNOW that I am and my only tip is just to keep on logging. At weekends I have more time for taking long walks, gardening, going swimming with the kids etc and just being a bit more 'passively' active (ifkwim) so I log everything I do and even if I do find I'm well over I don't beat myself up over it. Neither do I publish my diary for those days

plantboy2

No doubt, weekends are hard. This is about how you approach them as "time off" I suppose. Ultimately, you are in control of what you eat/drink and everything you put in your mouth is your choice. Chances are, you have already decided come 4pm on a Friday that you are going to eat badly over the weekend, so you do. If you approach the weekend as any other day diet-wise then you'll have more success. If you are in need of a reward/release, instead of consistently eating over your goals all weekend why not give yourself a smaller reward at the end of the weekend for keeping control?

I'm no expert, I too eat fish and chips and ice cream on a weekend followed by lovely booze, but try to beat it off with exercise. Hope that helps in some way and good luck with your goals.

Stacebob85

Thanks guys!

I wouldn't say it's a conscious decision on a Friday though; in fact most weekends I find myself gearing up for being good, doing well at breakfast and lunch, then just nose-diving at the end of the day! Doesn't help that quite often, as a treat, we end up at the Hungry Horse that's at the bottom of our street, and the only meals I actually like that are under 800kcals are jacket spuds with one topping, which gets quite dull.

I think the issue, when I'm at home, is much more about boredom than anything else. I'll be sitting around watching telly and all of a sudden I realise I've polished off a bag of crisps, or several biscuits... We've stopped keeping those things in the house all the time and only buy them occasionally now, but damn do I find it hard to resist when they're there!

I started reading a book that uses CBT to approach making healthier lifestyles; one of the suggestions is to make a set of cards that each have either a goal (i.e. 'To buy a size 12 dress', 'to run a 10k event' etc) and another set that have positive memories on (i.e. 'that time Sue said I looked thinner', 'how great I felt when I dropped a dress size' etc) and to refer to these whenever you feel like you might be falling off the healthy wagon a bit. It also recommends allowing a weekend treat (either one food item, or a certain amount of calories) that you can either choose one day to have, or have over both days, so you don't feel as restricted. Gonna try these things out soon; I'm thinking an extra 200kcal over the weekend (so I can use it either all on one day, or spread over Sat & Sun) and see how I go!

LilMissDB

I'm totally the same. You can easily undo a whole week worth of hard work in a weekend if you aren't careful. I either try to get in some extra exercise, which usually helps with the boredom/home thing too or I aim to eat my maintenance calories. Sure, I would lose more if I ate to goal but if I eat to maintenance, at least I can fit some semblance of a social life in and still know I should lose weight. Definitely agree that it helps to still log, even if I'm a bit over, I don't feel like I'm losing control which helps stop binging I think. Sometimes I also eat a bit less on weekdays then even it out on the weekend so my weekly calorie goal is in check.

Stacebob85

Oh, I do log weekends, unless I'm on holiday and therefore internet connections are sparse/expensive. I just need to reign it in, methinks!

Here's a point; do any of you have any suggestions for home-based exercising? I did have an exercise bike but it broke and I can't currently afford a new one. I can't afford a gym membership either, so I need stuff that I can do (I currently jog, but obviously weather has a HUGE impact on whether or not I do it frequently) at home without disturbing the hubby too much.

lalaland82

Weekends are bad for me too esp as I like wine a little too much!

I have no tips for food but if you have a computer rather then phone, youtube have loads of free exercises - I used to do Leslie Sansome walking ones as you can choose how many miles to do depending on time and its quiet enough to not wake people, though you do need the whole room as she gets you moving about.

Now I do Jillian Michaels dvd's which are great, but obv you have the initial outlay and you need hand weights too.

karenc118

im exactly the same from saturday night and all day sunday i go totally overboard
only thing i can do is save my exercise calories all week to compensate!

Therealobi1

hiyah i do most of my exercise at home. try fitness blender.com. also lots of exercises on you tube to try out.

NoleenD

Hello, I know exactly how you feel. I try to compensate by doing my workouts on the weekend mornings to start myself off on a good footing. Sometimes this motivates me a bit more to eat less as I don't want to undo all the good work....although sometimes I still go over! I work out mostly at home and use fitnessblender.com or Jillian Michaels dvd's - 30 day shred, ripped in 30 etc. You can find her workouts on youtube as well. Good luck :-)

ChristyJade

I totally get this! My weekends are awful, mainly alcohol ruins mine!! And sometimes a sunday night takeaway/meal out... Its too hard to stay within the goals and not have fun in my eyes...

I just try to ensure I do my utmost best in the week to try and counteract any badness at the weekend! I still loose, maybe not every week, but still feel better for it and sometimes have a pound or 2 loss! It does usually depend on what kind of weekend I've had though....Like last week and this week I have been really strict on work days, but had a terrible long weekend, so lost nothing! But expected nothing...If you want to see more results I guess you have to be stricter at the weekends too. If you really want it you can do it.

I do tend to move about a lot more at the weekend, whether it be dancing, shopping, or generally walking around. So that might count for a few calories! But I dont log that kind of exercise cause I dont exert myself, I see it as everyday movement! I try to log, but dont get myself down when I go way over, you gotta live your life!

sijomial

Sounds like you need to find an activity you enjoy at the weekend to get you off your backside and out of the house to burn some calories / relieve the boredom to prevent snacking.

You don't need much equipment to walk or even jog!
Swim, dance, cycle, gardening.......

SneakyBat

I don't struggle with weekends that often, but when I do have a few days where I know I probably won't be able to stick within my targets (we've had lots of days/nights out and birthday celebrations lately) then I would usually just adjust a few days cals/macros either side accordingly, but I have a horror of losing control and undoing all the progress I've made so far, so it really doesn't happen that often... As for exercise, I totally get what you're saying about jogging in this horrible horrible heat (you're far braver than me..I wouldn't even attempt it), if you can't quite manage a run then how about a good brisk walk in the cooler evenings? I really love walking, I tend to get a bit carried away & go for miles and miles once I start though. Like others have said you can also find lots of free workout vids via Fitness Blender and You Tube.

Stacebob85

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Though to the guy who suggested swimming; ain't no way I'm getting in a swimming costume matey! But thanks for trying I've slapped a new exercise bike on my Amazon wishlist (birthday in September, so here's hoping :P) and I'm thinking of getting a couple of kettlebells and using YouTube videos with those, though I've gotta wait for next pay day for that.

Just currently dreading the next couple of weekends; twas my hubbys birthday yesterday so I'm off out today (probably end up eating out for lunch and dinner :S), next week I'm off out for my cousin's 21st (though there'll be dancing involved at that one so maybe I can burn off a lot of my dinner from that day :P) and the following weekend is my sister's 2 day hen weekend... :S

Really gonna try to make good food decisions and ease of the alcohol whilst trying to have a good time. I'll be stopping doing overtime at work after next week too (new apprentice starting; huzzah!) so I should have more time to get back to exercising. I've bought a skipping rope too, for those days I can't quite face anything mega strenuous.

I will say, I totally had my confidence knocked whilst out jogging a few weeks ago (dude stopped me in my tracks to tell me I was doing it all wrong, was going to hurt myself and am too overweight to jog anyway) and I think I need to build back up to longer runs again. Stupid dude.