Anyone else struggle staying on track on the weekend?!?

stainbackzoo

it's a real battle every weekend!!!

do I not want my ultimate goal bad enough?!?

anyone who has conquered this beast, tell me how!!!!

thanks!!!

expandingclothes

Lol I have the same problem. The weight loss train gets derailed every weekend. I even stopped logging a few weeks ago. I had a 400 day streak on MFP then lost it. I don't know off hand how to get re-motivated either!

impyimpyaj

What is your specific weekend struggle? Are you going out and having trouble sticking to your goals? Is it that you're home and bored so you snack? Or do you skip workouts on the weekends? Look at the reasons why you're struggling, and then you can figure out how to solve it. If it's snacking, try pre-logging meals and snacks so you know what to grab, and get busy with a hobby that keeps your hands and mind occupied so you don't eat mindlessly. If it's skipping workouts, don't do that. And if it's going out, I have no advice because I'm a hermit, but lots of people here go out and make it work, so I'm sure you can find advice on the forums.

Machka9

I exercise lots on weekends. During the week there are things like work getting in the way of exercise, but not on weekends!

CrystalConsults

Hi stainbackzoo, I hear you. In the past weekends have been a real struggle for me! I've only been on MFP for 29 days, so not pretending to have this conquered yet. But here's what working for me so far. When I decided to embark, yet again in this journey of stopping binge eating and getting into shape, I had to ask myself "What's different this time?"
I knew I could do anything if my why was big enough.
So, as shallow as it may sound to some, I'm doing this because of comfort, vanity and health. Yeah, in that order, and perhaps I'll be judged on my priorities there, but it's been working for me.
The point is, and apologies for the long post. This works for me because I want to be comfortable ALL the time. Every moment, not just Mon- Fri. Every single time I get up after a meal, I want to feel good.
So far, really working well.
No more food baby effect from overeating, no food hangovers, no food shame. Each day I get a great big payoff. No way am I giving that up, not even for a weekend.
Hope you find something here that helps you!

seltzermint555

Machka9 wrote: »

I exercise lots on weekends. During the week there are things like work getting in the way of exercise, but not on weekends!

This for me too. I tend to eat about 1400 calories during the work week + Sundays, and I get so much exercise on Saturdays that I'm around 2000 calories on that day.

The problem for me comes when the weather is extreme hot or cold and I wind up not getting out to do much exercise and not even going to walk indoors somewhere...then I still feel like "it's Saturday, so I need to eat all the food/go out to eat twice". Fortunately it's decent weather most of the time in my area but yeah...it can be rough.

Suzanne_the_foot_lady

I find it difficult at the weekend because I eat with my boyfriend when he cooks I have less control. I don't allow myself extra calories at the weekend, but if I do go over my allocation, which I do every day, I just make sure I work back the calories. I am determined never to the end my day with my calories I the red!

Jruzer

I eat at maintenance on the weekends.

cwolfman13

stainbackzoo wrote: »

it's a real battle every weekend!!!

do I not want my ultimate goal bad enough?!?

anyone who has conquered this beast, tell me how!!!!

thanks!!!

Couple things...I have always typically been more active on weekends as weekends are when I actually have time to get in longer rides, spend some time in the gym, hit the climbing gym, etc. More active, more calories...

Also, when I was losing weight I typically allowed maintenance on Saturdays as that's when we had social gatherings, etc...I would occasionally eat maintenance all weekend. This never really had any impact on my weight loss that I could tell.

aeloine

Jruzer wrote: »

I eat at maintenance on the weekends.

Ditto. It's really helped keep me on track all summer.

I also try to pre-log my food when I go out, or eat around going out. For example, I knew I was going out with family on Saturday, so I ate a dense breakfast of eggs and veg and took a best guess at what I'd want at dinner on MFP. I was actually quite hungry by the time we got to the restaurant, but resisted snacking because I knew I was going to have a large meal shortly.

ETA: try to look up restaurant menus before you ever leave the house. Decide what you want BEFORE you're tempted by the menu, the smells, etc.

DaisyHamilton

Someone once posted that the weekend (Friday through sunday) is half your week. So if you aren't keeping up with those days, you "wasted" half a week

mktom29

Yes, I struggle with this because my weekends never look the same and I am out of routine. I am working to get a better schedule and trying to plan ahead.

DarkWaffleLord

I struggle when I have food in my house that is outside of my diet. I have a daily food plan that I make when I wake up and I follow throughout the day. I agree with aeloine, prelogging your meals for the day will help keep you on track.

Graelwyn75

I usually have calories leftover from the weekdays so I have a nice Chinese meal or some pizza or steak on Saturday with dessert and maybe eggs on toast or a piece of cake on Sunday along with my regular healthy dinner. I also workout on Friday and Sunday so I don't really get issues from it and am maintaining anyway. Even when I decided to drop a little weight I still had one treat meal a week.

Jruzer

DaisyHamilton wrote: »

Someone once posted that the weekend (Friday through sunday) is half your week. So if you aren't keeping up with those days, you "wasted" half a week

Or, if you eat at a slightly larger deficit Monday-Friday, you can eat at maintenance without "wasting" any time. Alternately, you can consider that living your life well isn't wasting time either.

cwolfman13

DaisyHamilton wrote: »

Someone once posted that the weekend (Friday through sunday) is half your week. So if you aren't keeping up with those days, you "wasted" half a week

Depends...I usually only had Saturday at maintenance...but occasionally also Friday or Sunday...sometimes I would eat at a slightly larger deficit during the week if I knew it was going to be a big weekend...I'd forgo a couple hundred calories per day for the week and have plenty of additional calories.

Also, Saturdays are usually my 20-30 mile rides and Sundays tend to be very active as well...more active, more calories. I lost 40 Lbs pretty easily at a fairly steady rate of 1 Lb per week on average doing this and it provided for long term sustainability in regards to my overall lifestyle. 4.5 years maintenance now...

SandraNancy

I think it depends on how crazy you're going on weekends. If we're talking 5000 calories a day then that will likely derail your goals, but if you're having 500 extra calories per day, not so terrible.

I tend to eat pretty basic stuff through the work week so I have 300-400 calories "saved up" for the weekend. And unless it has been a 2+ hour work out, I don't eat back exercise calories because I find they're often overestimated. Have been doing that for the last 12 weeks and have lost about 1.25 lbs per week. So maybe if you know the weekends are your downfall, plan for it during the week. Eat less Monday-Friday, work out more, and then enjoy yourself (within reason) on Saturday and Sunday. Good luck!