Weekend Woes...

piersons

What can we do to make it through the weekends? I still consider myself a newbie (my second week) and I need the advice of some veterans who have experienced success. I started strong last week. I worked out 4 days in a row, attempted to make healthy choices (on a learning curve), and was totally motivated. I invited friends and family to join me on this journey to a healthy lifestyle.... and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday happened. It was not pretty. I feel like such a failure. Now I understand the need for programs such as Weight Watchers... because I totally can't do this by myself. I need someone to tell me what to eat, when to eat, and how much. I need help!

MTDork87

Don't get discouraged!! Part of the journey is messing up. I've been at this almost six months now and I still have days that I log and look at and say "oh boy, that's not going to help the weigh in" but the way you handle it is by saying "that was one day. Tomorrow is a new day." Don't bring the set backs from the weekend into your week. It's Monday. Stay the course! Work out a little harder today and eat extra well. Take the success of today and turn it into the success of tomorrow. And if you goof up again? Who cares!? It's about you and how you feel. Just pick up and keep going. Week one as a whole you had two rough days. Week two, let yourself only have one rough day. Then week three you'll be a rock star! Just don't give up! The weekend it past, let it go! Come on, you can do it!

free1000

things will be ok ! dont stress about it to much, just get back on track on Monday stay at the gym for 15 mins longer each day, 4 days is good.:happy:

Bosslady11611362

Welcome to the site! :flowerforyou: I consider myself a newbie too, since this is my first post. I have learned what to eat and what not to eat using MFP. I also learned how and when. You will learn it quickly too. I needed to have more fiber in my diet, due to a medical condition so I Googled "foods high in fiber" and it told me what to have. Do your research and read suggestions people tell you about. I have enjoyed MFP so much and I AM losing weight.

4lafz

I use weekends to do my "mega" exercising! That way I can entertain and eat more! I also have been doing a lot of research on how to make things healthy AND yummy. My friends/family enjoy my healthy food because it is so good. There are MANY sites online with some great recipes. To name a few that I have found....

www.hungry-girl.com

www.skinnytaste.com

www.eatingwell.com

www.cookinglight.com

www.3fatchicks.com

danibabs

Yeessss bump for the awesome site suggestions!
I love to cook and am always on the lookout for new websites with healthy recipes. I rarely make one thing twice

sanrog

If you have a bad weekend just get right back to it the next day. It's ok to have bad days, you just have to tell yourself that tomorrow is a new day. I have been doing this for the last 6 weeks and it does get easier the longer you do it. I had my worst day since I started on Sunday. We went to Oktoberfest in Cincinnati and I was determined to be good and once I started I couldn't stop until last night when I ate the rest of the Strudel and German chocolate cake we brought home. I got up this morning and walked 3.5 miles and went to the fruit market and stocked up and now I am back to being good. It's a mind thing and you just have to be strong and get back on the horse. Good luck to you and don't give up.

chichi1967

I had the same problems on the weekends when my husband & I started...especially on weekends we normally went to restaurants. Plan what your going to eat everyday especially weekends. If you do go out look at their calories thru this website & figure what your going to have. I still carry my snacks on me on the weekends in baggies & their counted out of how many I have.

One tip. Olive garden - get the salad with the dressing on the side & make it the low fat dressing. If you get spagetti request tomato sauce instead of their regular.

I eat the mcdonalds bacon ranch sald w/o chicken alot - get the low fat basalmic dressing instead of ranch...this is only 180 calories.
Always plan your day...your in control...dont get discouraged...find what to you can have at restaurant that doesn't count as your whole day & stick to those same items. Do you have anyone who can help you or encourage you? My husband doesn't enter in his day on mfp - I do it for him & tell him what were having. It's time consuming but it's worth it.

Good Luck
Lynda

dbeinke

Bump for the websites.

lutzsher

I started on MFP November 2009. Each weekday I would carefully log, brown bag my lunches, and do everything "right" toward my goal . . . then the weekend would come and everything would go off the charts . . . every Monday morning I would be the exact same weight as the previous Monday because all of my weekday hard work would get undone with my weekend bad habits.

Finally in May 2010 I sat down and made a 2 week menu, including weekends and every meal or snack. This not only helped me prepare things in advance to keep me on track, but helped a lot with building my grocery list and keeping expenses down as it can get expensive throwing away all those fresh fruits and veggies when you don't actually eat them!

The first week doing this . . . because I had made a PLAN . . . I effortlessly made it through the weekend and lost 3 pounds . . . that just gave me the motivation to keep going.

It is now 4 months since I had this "ah ha" moment . . . and I've lost 35 pounds . . . a steady loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.

The best things you can do is to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN, so you never just grab something to eat out of hunger, and be completely honest with your logging . . . every little morsel. I found that I learned more about myself from my bad days, or bad choices, than anything.

This is an emotional journey, sometimes you will have a setback . . . we all do . . . you can either use it as a learning experience and get right back to it . . . or let it bother you and just stay in the same place . . . .

VeryKerri

There isn't much more that I can tell you that these ladies haven't already but I can say this. The fact that you came back on here today says a WHOLE lot! You didn't just give up and say oh well I failed.... you came back and you are making better choices today. We all have a life and we all have to LIVE. We are all here to re-learn how to eat in a better way. It has been said many times, but you didn't just wake up overweight one day, it took years (maybe a lifetime) to put the weight on. It will take a lot of time and work to take it off. Just keep going. You can do this. Take each meal at a time and if you don't eat something that is good for you this time, make a better choice next time. As you go it will get easier to make the best choice. I know it has for me. Also having great friends on this website is a HUGE help. Tell your friends to keep you accountable. Maybe a little "tough love"??? No matter what , just don't give up because you will end up feeling way worse that just a few bad days.

Just my two cents!

KarenBorter

Don't think of this as a "diet" ... because it isn't. It is a change in lifestyle and a change in eating habits. The Food Diary is designed to help you watch what you are eating and begin to teach you what portions look like. PORTION CONTROL is key here. There are so many different foods in the data base already and all you really have to do is type things in.

I will tell you how I have survived the weekends. If you don't cook, or just don't want to on the weekends, get Lean Cuisines. They are good and filling and are portioned out so you aren't blowing all your sodium, carbs etc in one meal. In fact, on Labor Day I didn't feel like cooking at all, I didn't work out at all and I had 3 lean cuisine meals and snacks and stayed below 1200 calories (just below).

Also, exercise. You get calorie point on your food diary for all the exercise that you log. If you take a walk for a 1/2 hour at a slow pace type that in the exercise tracking and you will get X amount of calories added to your food diary. These calories are to be consumed ... so if you cheat a little, you have a buffer.

DRINK YOUR WATER. Minimum 8 glasses a day. Try to stay away from caffeinated or diet drinks. BUT drink your 8 glasses if nothing else.

YOU CAN DO THIS! there are a lot of people to help you. If you want shoot me a friends request. I have my diary open to friends and it will give you a good idea of what you can snack on. Not a day goes by that I feel like I am missing anything. Trust me, you can do this without fast food which is high in sodium (even if it's a "healthier" choice).

suzie1983

Welcome...just remember its a day by day thing....some days are gonna be stronger then others....just don't dwell on the hiccups (I don't like looking at it as a failure) ...just take them as a learning experience.... and the Lean Cuisine idea is great...i look for ones that are under 300 calories...most important thing to remember is to be healthy!!!

Your doing great...time will prove it....its not going to happen overnight (i wish it did)..Just remember even the smallest change will pay off!!!!!

piersons

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support! I appreciate knowing that everyone struggles but somehow you have all found a way to make it work. You are correct. This is a lifelong journey and I shouldn't expect a miracle in my one week. I can say that exercising has already made a change in my general well being and energy level. I was feeling discouraged but I am definitely in it for the long haul and I appreciate having so many shoulders to lean on when I get weary. Thanks again MFP family!