Weekends?

kirstengeffen

So I'm super during the week, but weekends see me binge drinking and eating.
I've been doing it so long that i cant remember what I used to do on weekends before...

How do you stay on track but still enjoy your weekends???

Hannahwalksfar

Find a new activity that doesn’t involve food and drink. It’s all about self control and if you’re busy doing something else that can help. Create new habits

tinkerbellang83

Agree, doing things that get you out and about rather than eating our/heading to a bar.

I try to do a lot of hiking or rowing on weekends.

I'll often drink soft drinks when I go out now or just get something I can sip like a nice malt whiskey, which takes me forever to drink.

Perhaps do something a little different to socialise, like a comedy night or a movie.

As I got older the hangovers got worse even when I don't drink as much, so if it's a choice between a 2 day hangover or waking up fresh as a daisy, it's an easy choice.

lapesadilla

My husband and I decided to work on acquiring a taste for whiskeys and scotches (and occasionally tequilas/mezcals) so we can go out and get buzzed and enjoy the atmosphere of a bar without all the extra sugar from cocktails and it's been great. Really beats trying to drink skinny ritas or vodka sodas all night or whatever. And I feel like the lower sugar plus the pleasant "burn" in your stomach cuts down on drunchies too.

Keeping the calories low when eating out with people is hard but you can always save up calories for a planned outing (for example, eating 120 calories less for 5 days leaves you 600 extra calories for saturday night. That's a tradeoff of a small snack a day for about 3 cocktails or 5 glasses of wine or whatever combo of drinks/bites of the shared queso fundido app you'd like to have. This is assuming you're not already on 1200 calories or less a day.

I don't think it's such a bad thing to have one or two planned higher calorie days in a week if you can make your overall energy balance work with it.

concordancia

Try out new physical activities. Most of our weekends are so active that we barely have time to eat. Invite your friends for a hike and picnic. Try kayaking. Volleyball. Dancing.

Or try out activities that use your hands. You can't eat while making pottery!

LivingtheLeanDream

I bank calories, eat at a little bit more deficit on weekdays so I can eat slightly above maintenance calories at the weekend - it all evens out.

LyndaBSS

I treat every day of the week the same when it comes to my food intake.

Maybe you could fit in a new activity on weekends that's not based around food or alcohol?

nighthawk584

Hannahwalksfar wrote: »

Find a new activity that doesn’t involve food and drink. It’s all about self control and if you’re busy doing something else that can help. Create new habits

This ☝ ...since quitting alcohol when I started my WLJ, I learned that I don't need it to have fun. Plus, it has so many horrible effects on your body

sardelsa

I save extra calories for the weekends, which allows me flexibility to eat and drink more for nights out and functions on the weekend.

tdnursey

I also wanted to add that stealth drinking has helped me. we live in a pub community a lot of our friends are younger and heartier drinkers...we have two run clubs which end at bars or breweries! I will grab a club soda with lime/splash of cranberry at least every other drink to fly under the radar while cutting back.

Unfortunately once one binge drinks for too long it can lead to a host of other issues which are more challenging to curb. Good luck!!!

steveko89

I see the most success when I treat weekends and holidays with the same vigilance as any other day. Granted, I'm not one for nightlife so I never had a "going out" habit I needed to break. If I know there's something planned I'll adjust accordingly for that day and days before and after but I still try to make choices that lead to the least caloric damage. I've all but stopped drinking too, though will occasionally have a glass of scotch.

deannalfisher

maybe your super-strictness during the week is influencing the binges on the weekends....

ahoy_m8

deannalfisher wrote: »

maybe your super-strictness during the week is influencing the binges on the weekends....

Good insight above^^

Also, as one who tends towards binges, it is worthwhile to examine what is going on with the binge drinking. If you can decode that, a lot of other habits fall into place without a huge effort.

For me, one part of it is just brain chemistry.... the dopamine response of anticipation is real. And then the dynorphins kick in when the first drink wears off which makes me want another to gig it back up again. After two drinks it's like a toboggan ride down an icy hill -- I just want to go faster and faster. I've heard the neurotransmitter response to alcohol described with a loan shark analogy: yeah, you do get a quick infusion of pleasure, but you always end lower than you started.

The other part of it for me is emotional. I learned early to numb myself with alcohol. As a teenager when I really didn't like myself, the numbing was just to avoid myself entirely. As I grew into self acceptance, I still found myself numbing to avoid emotions I'm not vert good at processing, like anger (which is really about hurt pride most of the time for me). I hate it when I realize that my IDGAF attitude towards drinking is grounded in anger or resentment towards something. It is the textbook case of eating rat poison and expecting the rats to die.

Good luck, OP. Behaviors take time and effort to modify, but 100% you absolutely can change behaviors. Totally doable.