Over eating on the weekend?!!

brookelittle

I don't know why but I do so good during the week. I know its bad to go under my calories but I even find it hard to reach my calorie goal Monday-Friday!!! Something about Saturday makes me just want to eat everything! I don't even move, I just lay in one spot and eat anything that I can get my hands on! I know this has to be ruining my diet, but I guess my question is, does anyone know how bad it is to "pig out" one day a week?! I don't know why I do it but its like all my inhibitions take a vacation for the day and I just wonder how bad I'm messing myself up... Thanks.

brookelittle

a little help please??? I'm loving this huge response!! lol

brookelittle

bump

christschild2

I know exactly what you are talking about. During the week, I stay within my calorie goal but there are times that I do find it hard to eat the amount of calories that I need to. On the weekends, I only take one day to eat more food but not more calories. Eat good food instead of foods that can be harmful to your efforts. I stay on track because my family and friends know that it is important for me to lose weight because I HAVE TO. If you want to eat something different, try a whole wheat, thin crust veggie pizza with little sauce. Or your can add grilled chicken or turkey if you want to eat some meat on it. There are a lot of pizzas that cater to healthy eating, so find one of those. Hot wings can be done well if you bake the wings first and then dip them in hot sauce for a lighter version of this fun food. Also, you can eat a lot of vegetables since they are low in calories and you can still get full. But if you do eat a lot on weekends and it is not ruining your goals and you are still losing weight , then maybe it is OK for you. Just don't let it get you down. If you are blessed to wake up another day, then you have another chance to get on track.

brookelittle

Thank you.. I don't know why it never crossed my mind to find healthy food to gorge on!!! Wow.. Duh! I guess it was really bad because for Valentines we had so much candy given to us and I didn't touch any until saturday when I tried to set a record by eating more chocolate than any other man had ever consumed in a 4 hr period!! I'm going to go buy lots of fruits and veggies for the weekend ahead!!

christschild2

There you go! You can do it I'm sure.

tuppance

I find it harder at the weekends to stay on track. In the week I can plan my lunches and make them ahead of time

I might 'think' I know what I am doing/eating at the weekend then something else occurs and that throws me off

I am going to make a large pan of soup friday night and keep that in the fridge so that a meal will only take moments and maybe I will prepare a bowl of chopped up carrots and celery etc - hopefully that will help?

Good luck to you

taunto

Well, I used to do that same thing. I wouldnt move, no workout, no exercise and just PIG OUT! and by pigout I mean make a butter/oil/carb/beef heavy dish enough to feed 5 people and just solo eat it! It was bad. And I used to do it every week. Plus some pudding (gotta have dessert right? I deserved it after all!). While this wasnt killing my progress or stopping it, it was seriously slowing me down. One of the reasons was that the entire week I was so "goody goody" that by the weekend, a big foody like me would crave the good food.

My solution is simple: I dont deny myself the good food during weekdays. Since I upped my workout levels and have been good about eating anything I want (no fast foods, just stuff that I cook even though it can be considered a bit unhealthy). I eat them in moderation throughout the week. I would eat a serving of carb+beef heavy item during the weekday but take my time with it, record it in MFP and see if I got enough to eat more.

Now, heres what I consider I made a breakthrough. If I do overeat (and I donot mind overeating lately because of this breakthrough). I donot just wuss out and say "oh well, i'll tackle it through the rest of the week". No sir, I am getting my *kitten* out of the door and walking my sweet @$$ till I burn those excessive calories! I love food but in order for me to love eating, I have to learn to make room for more food, the healthy way!

tl;dr: Eat whatever you want in moderation, donot let your body crave a food after denying it for long. Record everything you eat at MFP and if you go over your calories, just workout and burn them!

PS. Always have fun. Be it working out or eating. GL

HonkyTonks

I do this too. It is something I am working to overcome. Add a few beers into the mix and I usually end up eating the worst possible foods imaginable on a Friday or Saturday.

I am always going to end up eating more on the weekends, because I usually have a few drinks with colleagues, or go out for dinner or just have takeout. A couple of things that I do to mitigate the effects - save some calories for the occasion (eg. eat less throughout the week knowing I might have a bit extra on the weekend), work out extra hard on Saturday morning so I have extra calories to use.

A couple of things I am trying to or want to do - eat more on weekdays, don't deprive myself of things I want on week days, don't stress over the last digit of my 'available calories' - if I go over one day it's not the end of the world!

Some other strategies - keep busy on the weekends, don't sit around and do nothing. Boredom is a dieters worst enemy! Find something you enjoy and do it, if it's something physically active (like bush walking) then even better.

fang19423

Hey, I'm with you. Sunday is normally my pig out day, but I do try and counter act it all with a very long walk.


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools

RenaMal

I have the same problem, however trying to maintain the same type of eating schedule on the weekend that I have during the week has helped a lot. Scheduling can be hard, because of course things can happen throughout the day to throw you off. I also surround myself with a lot of healthier foods so that if I am tempted my only options include something that won’t set me back too much.

Symphony2

I think part of the reason we (note, I say 'we' because I'm sure there are plenty of us lol) binge for the weekend is because we put ourselves under so much stress during the week - and socially, in our world, we've been brought up in a mental 'cycle' that weekends are for pigging out!! The whole Sunday lunch/dinner thing .... the Friday/Saturday night dinner and pub (or even no dinner just pub???) culture ... has tuned our brains into that cycle. Just like animals hibernate and their little brains know when to wake them up again, it's the same thing with us. Our brains are wired - with environmental health, of course - to work for 5 days and then let rip for the next 2!!!! Unfortunately, that's the way our culture works, with a few exceptions here and there - and I really believe that's why we have so much trouble at weekends!

My own solution? Not to stress over it so much. I think that we stress so much that on Monday we're already thinking about what to do to make up for NEXT SATURDAY!! The binges would be a lot less if we gave ourselves PERMISSION to relax for that day. Instead of trying to think 'Oh, this is so so bad, I'm eating too much, I'm going to be paying for it all week' .... which leads automatically to 'Oh well, I've done it now so I might as well go for it bigtime and deal with it tomorrow!' ........

If we give ourselves permission to relax and not count calories for one day a week I'm willing to bet we wouldn't eat half as much!! And it would be guilt-free, too! Put a bucket of biscuits in front of a child and tell him he shouldn't eat any (but not that he can't!)...................... and he's going to go nuts in half an hour and start stuffing down as many of them as he can!! Put the same bucket in front of the child and tell him they'll be there all day and he can have as many as he wants - and chances are he'll have a couple, then go and play, come back in an hour and have another ...................

So, my long-winded rambly answer to your question comes down to this: stop feeling guilty about the weekend, stop 'dreading' the damage that hasn't yet happened but you've already convinced yourself that it will (!), give yourself a day 'off' on Saturday or Sunday - and I bet you'll eat half as much when you know you have full permission to eat anything and everything you want!

Less stressing, more living!

memega

Only way is to keep yourself busy during the weekend. Clean the house, wash cloths, grocery shopping, out at the malls etc. Plus, keep a water bottle with you and sip along all day!

shelliegirl02

Hi there, fyi, I have the same problem and I have found it's because I tell myself I'm good all week, I can eat whatever I want on the weekend. It was Friday, Sat. and Sunday but I'd feel like crap on Monday so then was just Friday and Sat. Well, I do believe this is really hindering my progress. I have seen zero progress. I have decided I need to change my mindset. My goal now is to eat well all weekend yet do enjoy an occasional treat. I truly believe it's a mind game just like most anything else and I honestly believe this is a type of eating disorder. Best of luck to you!