How Do I Conquer Saturdays

Hammig74
Hammig74 Posts: 28 Member
edited 5:18AM in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have been maintaining for five months and there are so many good habits I’ve created. One area I’ve consistently fallen short is my Saturdays. I eat what I want, but I don’t want to eat 2000+ calories in excess every Saturday. How do I indulge without going off the rails? Planning? Drink more water? Wire my jaws shut? What????
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Replies

  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,226 Member
    Eat slowly, masticating everything you put in your mouth and savor the delight of the flavors and textures. Take pauses between much like you rest between exercise sets. Drink plenty of water along the way. Ask yourself if you’re full and find other things besides another bite of food to cultivate your Saturday joy.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    Maybe fill out your weekend food diary ahead of time?
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,282 Member
    So many good ideas here. I have the same struggle on weekends. I find that I need to adhere to my weekday eating earlier in the day (I don't eat breakfast, I snack on veggies around 10:30, eat lunch around 1pm, more veggies, allows for a hearty dinner later.) Still, it's hard. I find sunny afternoons so conducive to finishing my work outside, showering, and then settling in with my husband and a bottle of bubbly on the grass... :)
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    I usually relax in the morning with some coffee, go for a walk maybe, push my first meal til later than usual (11 am to 1pm) and eliminate my normal afternoon snack. This means I can use my breakfast and afternoon snack calories to allow for bigger lunch, dinner, dessert, or drinks than I usually have on a regular work-day.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    I eat at a slight deficit during the week so I can eat more on weekends. That doesn't mean I can go all out on the weekends, though; it means I can have a restaurant meal or two, and maybe a treat or two.
  • Rfblanchette
    Rfblanchette Posts: 3 Member
    Read the book The Anderson Method. He recommends cutting calories during the week so you build up a surplus you can use on the weekends. You cut a few hundred calories a day during the work week and by Saturday you have 1500+ extra calories built up. Then you can indulge a bit on the weekend without worry. You have to manage your weekly calorie count to lose or maintain weight. Going over one day is fine as long as you go under on other days. Rosebarnalice is using the same method of banking calories.

    Anderson is a counselor who lost 140 pounds and has kept it off for 30 years. He knows weight loss and understands human psychology. We all tend to eat more on the weekends. I use his plan along with MyFitnessPal to do the tracking. It has worked well for me and I indulge a bit every weekend without worry. I've lost 32 pounds so far and am 15 pounds from my goal weight and do not feel deprived at all.

    One thing I do when I know I'm going to go way over is some extra exercise on Saturday morning. It's not really necessary but makes me feel better about it. I hate seeing a red calorie count even though I know I'm still okay for the week.

  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    Analyse the difference between weekdays and Saturdays/Sundays. I'm going to assume the primary difference is scheduling outside your control. If true then an answer is to schedule out your Saturdays.

    I plan out a long run/bike/swim on the weekends for training, but this also eats up time where I can't be eating. I also plan out other activities which aren't about eating. Home maintenance, DIY, hikes with the kids, etc.

    Prebudgeting and prelogging also helps your mindset so that you know what you can and cannot eat.
  • mjglantz
    mjglantz Posts: 508 Member
    Truthfully I don't really worry about it. I manage my breakfast and lunch on Saturday (and the weekend) and may go over on Saturday night. But when I look at the whole week I'm generally at or under on net calories. And I've been maintaining for over 6 years. I do exercise every day w/cardio and strength a couple times/week and regularly get over 16,000 steps.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    I eat on my fitness plan all week long and during the day on Saturday...then have drinks and dinner out Saturday night and sometimes do the same on Sunday. I did that the entire time I lost me weight and I do it now that I maintain..
  • aziz_n1
    aziz_n1 Posts: 140 Member
    Not just Saturdays but Sundays too, basically the whole weekend from Friday evening is a real challenge. Good thing is that I don’t drink alcohol and have really cut back on soft fizzy drinks, but my weakness is tasty food, good and bad, especially puddings/desserts. For me the trick is as an earlier reply said, keep the physical activity levels high over the weekend to balance out the calorie intake. Resisting temptation to eat over the weekend is very hard when do much tasty food is on offer everywhere & from everyone. Is it rude to say ‘No thanks’ especially if someone has spent a lot of time making something tasty?
    Keep up the fight though.
  • FinelyFermented
    FinelyFermented Posts: 102 Member
    I treat the weekend like a fast day and try to eat only with the family. If I have my normal shake, then oatmeal and a light lunch, my calories in go sky high after dinner and a drink or 6.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've been maintaining for over 6 years. I eat pretty well during the week...I enjoy myself on weekends, though I don't go off the rails or anything...but that's definitely when we attend social gatherings and whatnot. My maintenance calories are around 3,000...so going over by 2,000, while possible, would be a stretch...like I said, I'm not going crazy or anything, I'm just more relaxed about my diet. Sometimes if I know we'll be attending a big BBQ or something in the evening I'll do IF (sometimes not) and possibly eat a lighter lunch.

    Saturday morning is also my longer ride since I have time...so I'm getting some more calories there.

    Saturdays, and weekends in general have never impacted my weight maintenance. I never got fat in the first place because of Saturday...it was all the other 6 days of the week. But like I said, I'm not really one to just run completely off the rails...that would be a self control thing.

  • lg013
    lg013 Posts: 215 Member
    I will say I stopped drinking (I’ll have an occasional half beer after mowing the lawn), but when I was drinking, I’d make a choice on a Saturday...either a treat meal that went over my norm and drink water all night...or stick to my meal calories and have a few drinks out. I’d never really go crazy with either...

    Lately I just don’t have a desire for alcohol...I have a lot more fun enjoying a big meal and hitting the dance floor with some water...I feel great and productive the next day. Added bonuses: My bar tab is less than $10 (I usually treat my boyfriend to a beer or two with my free waters), dancing is a blast (and a workout), and I make sure everyone gets home safely being the sober driver.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Saturdays are my higher cal days too, I aim for no more than 2200.
    My TDEE is 1900-2000 so I bank calories during the week to account for that. It works a dream.
  • Dreamwa1ker
    Dreamwa1ker Posts: 196 Member
    edited July 2019
    For me it's Friday more than Saturday - Friday night we like to go out for dinner. Knowing this, I try to eat a lighter lunch (I usually have big lunches) that day, and try to get the same walking in I do the rest of the week. I also will indulge some but I try to not go past my maintenance calories for that day (I eat in deficit the rest of the week). Planning what I'm going to get ahead of time helps me find something I'm going to enjoy but also not totally go nuts. If I get a really great cheeseburger, I might split the fries with my husband, and perhaps skip the milkshake - but if I was really wanting a milkshake that day I'd go light on the main course instead - things like that. What part of the meal am I most excited for and make that be the bulk of the calories in that meal. A nice steak, but lighter sides, etc.

    I do make sure to work in some small things I really enjoy throughout the week too - a piece of chocolate here or there, a glass of wine, that kind of thing. That way weekend doesn't feel like my only chance/don't feel so deprived which can lead to overdoing it.
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    Weekends are my trial as well. I succeed the best if I treat them like weekdays with respect to PACKING MY MEALS to go when I leave the house for the day. Most of what I eat is fine at any temp, so a cooler pack is sufficient, and I just nbeed to remember the damn fork or spoon so I’m not eating with my fingers all the time.

    If I go into a supermarket on the weekend, I’m likely to buy all the quality foods that are needed for the meal prep, and then purchase a oversized portion of lesser-quality foodstuffs and eat them all on the way back home. Then, after I put away the groceries, I fall into a food coma for a few hours, rise up again in a depressive state that finds another oversized portion of ANYTHING and continue to consume food while lying to myself about how attentive I am to portions because just look at that nice freezer full of quality meals prepped and ready to heat n eat.

    We can be our own worst enemies in this battle for personal weight control!

    MFP for the winning tools for logging and community support to help out!

    Good luck to us all.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Not very helpful for most it seems but I just don't eat foods I want to overeat by thousands of calories that don't satiate on a regular/weekly basis. I save those sorts of indulgences for the holidays or a one off type of occasion.

    I do eat large, indulgent meals regularly but there's a world of difference for me between eating a 2,000 calorie ribeye dinner and a pizza. With the steak I'll be full and uninterested in food the next day or meal and just naturally eat less as a result. With the pizza that doesn't happen and I'd need to deliberately do something to offset those calories. That type of effort isn't sustainable for me.
  • weatherking2019
    weatherking2019 Posts: 943 Member
    I schedule yoga on Sat morning and OTF on Sun mornings.
    During summer, we ALWAYS have friends and family, kids and adults come to our place and ends up a potluck on weekends. So lots of food and drinks. But I only eat what I want and never stuff myself. I offer healthy stuff and it's catching on. Everyone brings vegetarian, fruits and veggies types of sides.

    Be active and eat light! That's how I do my weekends. :D
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,184 Member
    I think the problem is more the idea that it's one day. In maintenance you need to think LONGER TERM... Weeks and months vs days. And you don't want to take something away that you enjoy because it's not sustainable. Find a way to let Sat be what it will be and STILL maintain over the week or month.

    That is probably one of the hardest things to get one's head around when just starting maintenance but really it does work.
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