I suck at dieting every.single.weekend.

GetLean_In2013
GetLean_In2013 Posts: 5
in Motivation and Support
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Ok, I exaggerated. But this is how I feel every weekend since I've started. I don't know why, but I just go insane on the weekends. I don't know if it's because I socialize and nobody else is counting calories (example: yesterday at a birthday party the food options were pizza, chips, and cupcakes. The end.), or if I just have very little self-discipline. Anyone have tried and true tips or tricks for me? Maybe I need to start exercising to offset how bad I do? I'm only 5'2, so my calories are set to 1,200 per day. I haven't started exercising yet.

Replies

  • wendyapple
    wendyapple Posts: 323 Member
    you're definitely not alone in this. when you first start making serious considerations about your food choices and trying to eat more nutritiously on a whole, you see the empty calories everywhere. some people find themselves withdrawing from social food events for a little while, until they feel more confident negotiating the balance. what works for me is to never ever go to parties hungry. fill up beforehand on salad with lean protein and healthy fats. cover your bases. when you arrive at the party, set limits for yourself. you can have one of the options, your pick, pizza, chips or a cupcake. a lot of people will do extra cardio on a party day to offset the additional cals they might consume from food and drinks. personally, i have willpower issues and have a really hard time not binging on sweets at parties, so i find it best to show up late so everything good is gone, keep a glass of water in my hand and keep a piece of gum in my mouth at all times.
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  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    Work on your weekend routine.

    I love the weekend, because I hit the gym early get back home and get to use the blender to make a really good protein shake (no blender at work). We don't buy any rubbish, so it's quite hard to eat badly at home.

    One thing you can do before eating party food is log it on your mobile first. Look at the calories, and macro breakdown then at how many calories you have left for the day. You then need to make an informed decision. You'll need willpower tho ;)
  • AfreezeAdventure
    AfreezeAdventure Posts: 23 Member
    Sometimes it's very hard to say no. You just have to work extra hard in the gym. There are what 270 calories in a cupcake? That is like 15 minutes on an elliptical with interval training. Or like 10 minutes doing a vigorous calisthetic workout. I would suggest, if you know something is coming up, burn a few extra calories in the gym.

    edit: another suggestion is throughout the day eat low calorie meals isagenix shake or something. so you can save calories for the evening.
  • LernRach
    LernRach Posts: 286 Member
    i have this issue too. I plan in my head what other food I am going to eat that day, write it all down at the beginning including the cheat.... If I end up going over, I tell myself I have to go over at the gym, its as simple as that... You can do it... it takes time, will power and effort... also, once you see it coming off, it may spur u on...

    Good luck,

    Rachel
    x
  • Dourpussdora
    Dourpussdora Posts: 48 Member
    you arent alone im exactly the same, my husband does deliveries for an indian restaurant on a sat nite and he comes home with free curries, rice, nan, samosas, poppadums and it hard to resistcos i hate seeing stuff go to waste!!!, im an angel all week!
  • appleseeds
    appleseeds Posts: 212 Member
    I had a bit of a break counting calories over christmas and its been 3 weeks now trying to get back on track but I'm going crazy on weekends. As in eating over maintenance, by alot. All I can attribute it to is having a 1000cal deficit every day during the week. This week I'm going to aim for 750cal daily deficit and see if that doesnt leave me binging like a maniac on the weekends. Maybe you should try the same?
  • sharonmunday90
    sharonmunday90 Posts: 129 Member
    I had the issue today as my brother bought us kfc!!!! Rather than not have any and be grumpy i put it into mybdiary beforehnd so i knew how much i could have. then i just worked the rest of my day around it x
  • AngieD2203
    AngieD2203 Posts: 53 Member
    For me it's not so much food, but alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I am no alcoholic or binge drinker, but since before Christmas, every weekend has had something on. Now I know I can drink less, but I am a very sociable person and I can actually control what I'm drinking, but I workout hard all week and this is my down time. If you can balance it, work hard play hard is my motto!!!
  • maaandyxoxo
    maaandyxoxo Posts: 86
    i was the same way... on weekends my boyfriend wants to go out to eat and i would go with him get a burger and fries and be like ok only for the weekend... then just never stop from there... now though when we go out i fight the temptation and get a chicken salad or something healthier than french fries and greasy burgers... (which i love) and i might steal a fry off of my boyfriends plate but eating there and leaving there with a smile on my face because i fought the urge that one time, pushed me to do it each and every time i go out to eat.
  • atrebor18
    atrebor18 Posts: 235 Member
    I completely understand because I spend most of weekends at either my parent's house or my bf's house where healthy options aren't readily available. I've taken to packing a bag of food and my protein shakes to take with me. Obviously that be rude/weird to do at a friend's house so if I go to a friends or something I make sure to eat something filling and healthy beforehand and only have small portions at their house. I make sure to log everything because that keeps me accountable.
  • Skinny_minny_mo
    Skinny_minny_mo Posts: 1,272 Member
    ditto!!

    wkds are getting tougher and tougher.
  • taliesyn_
    taliesyn_ Posts: 219 Member
    I empathise over the issue, as many others here... but just wanted to say I love the tracker image! I have never seen that one with that much red in ;-)


    Edited to say "tracker", not "ticker".
  • Ral263
    Ral263 Posts: 318 Member
    For me it's not so much food, but alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I am no alcoholic or binge drinker, but since before Christmas, every weekend has had something on. Now I know I can drink less, but I am a very sociable person and I can actually control what I'm drinking, but I workout hard all week and this is my down time. If you can balance it, work hard play hard is my motto!!!


    ITA with all said here. I never have an issue with food on the weekends-- I always eat very healthy simply because that is the way that I like to eat-- but alcohol is the one thing on the weekend that I have to watch out for, for the same reasons as above. I'm young, so it's a part of every social event that I go to.

    I didn't gain a single pound in college despite drinking every weekend because I would be more disciplined during the week, knowing that I would need to "break even." So lets so you are going to have 5 drinks on Saturday night-- let's say 5 vodka sodas, 100 calories each. That means you'll either need to cut 100 calories per day from each day during the week, or burn an extra 100 calories each day at the gym, in order to "break even."

    Make sense?

    Yeah, it'll require willpower, but if you really want to lose weight, you'll make it happen. These days I find that I work so hard in the gym and am so diligent about my diet that if I really want to have a drink, I can sip one throughout the night slowly and leave it at that---otherwise I feel like I'm totally undoing all my work from the week. I'm totally fine being at parties and with my friends without having to throw back several drinks--it takes awhile to separate the practice of socializing with drinking/eating, but I promise it can be done.
  • TheDarlingOne
    TheDarlingOne Posts: 255 Member
    Something that I've found helpful, I try to call them "casual days" - instead of "OMG i just went off the handle so this is a mad bender to the next start over day" kind of days lol....

    That way in my mind it works like - so, going out with the friends tonight - since this is a "casual day" - i'll have a few extra bits off the appetizer plate we share....but then....what's say I keep my dinner in the healthy menu 500 cal or less section for that restaurant? And yeah, we can have 1 regular coke - but what's say we go ahead and drink water for the rest of the chill session?

    that way my brain's not going like - so, going out with the friends tonight - man i know i can't handle this - they'll be eating all that good stuff and I can't have a single thing - i hate myself and i hate my life lol

    sort of a mind over matter thing - change the way you approach it and maybe that'll help.

    instead of - man weekend with my friends again i know i'm going to jack this up (aka setting yourself up to fail)

    try - WOOHOO weekend out with the girls - let's show them how to get it done (aka setting yourself up to soar! woohoo)

    :)
  • Fragilebird24
    Fragilebird24 Posts: 202 Member
    I have the same issue. My mom made brownies on Friday and there are Cheez Its in the house. Needless to say, I want over my calories every day this weekend.
  • MysticMaiden22
    MysticMaiden22 Posts: 324 Member
    Doing some intense cardio on the weekends has helped me out. I usually run on the treadmill or use the elliptical machine. I'll burn about 800-1000 extra calories and it leaves more room to eat what I desire. Plus, the exercise suppresses the appetite!
  • rsjohnb
    rsjohnb Posts: 215 Member
    Snap! Mon-fri I'm not going to say easy but no real problem but Friday night just kicks it off and it's down hill from there. One thing that did seem to work is making sure you don't slip on Friday then try and carry it through the weekend .
  • Cherp18
    Cherp18 Posts: 224 Member
    I like your style ... "casual day"
    Sounds good to me +++ some gym/outdoor time :)

    I'm up 4 lbs since the holidays but it's ok. This is my life, not a diet, and these things are going to happen. Have to work (again) to get it off and that's just how we roll (now)!

    Good Luck! You CAN do it!
  • trishwitch
    trishwitch Posts: 22
    I'm actually the opposite. When I work during the week I go out to lunch each day and the calories add up quick. On the weekends I eat at home more and am more physically active/busy so have less time to eat!
  • tumblindice
    tumblindice Posts: 39 Member
    Me too!
    Can't seem to get motivated on the weekends.
    HELP!
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    Pretty much everybody here has or had some problem time they had to work through. Mine were/are late afternoons. I've gotten a lot better at keeping myself out of the refrigerator and cabinets, but PM is still a difficult time of day for me. We all just have to figure out what we want more, make a plan, and stick to the plan. Good luck!
  • Nikiki
    Nikiki Posts: 993
    two things, first off what are you loss per week goals? 1200 calories is pretty low each day unless you are very sedentary. I'm 5'2" also started at 189 and am down to 156 in less than a year and I eat a lot more than that! everyone is different but it may help to relax your goals a little. I used to set mine to 2lbs lost a week and just like you I'd do good during the week but any time there's an event or meal out I'd go on a bender and wind up throwing in the towel. I now have mine set to 1/2 a pound lost each week and I've been on track for most of the last year (started back in mid February of last year and took about a month off over the holidays where I gained back 5 lbs due partly to holiday non-dieting and partly to a foot injury that kept me out of the gym) I finally came to the conclusion that I'd rather lose a little slower and keep my sanity!

    secondly: I know that there will be 1-2 days a week that I'm going to have more to eat, like a meal out with friends or cupcakes for a coworkers birthday ect... I plan my meals so that most days I'll have a little extra room leftover on my food diary to store up for my big meals. For example my husband and I went out for sushi last night and I wound up being over my calorie goal by about 300-ish calories, but the rest of the week I was under by 100-300 calories each day so I know I'm still good for the week. Having the knowledge before hand that you're going to eat more than you're allotted and its ok will make it much easier to be rational about what extras you choose to eat. Because I knew it was ok that I was going over and I wasn't "cheating" made it easier to pick sushi vs a double cheeseburger with bacon & extra fries and helped me choose water to drink instead of pop and skip dessert.


    oh and one final note: exercise!!!!! I spent an hour and a half at the gym this morning to make sure I had plenty of room for whatever I wind up having today. even 30 minutes of exercise can add back in 200-400 calories to give you cushion for treats. Thats a slice of pizza right there :)
  • anifani4
    anifani4 Posts: 457 Member
    Something that I've found helpful, I try to call them "casual days" - instead of "OMG i just went off the handle so this is a mad bender to the next start over day" kind of days lol....

    That way in my mind it works like - so, going out with the friends tonight - since this is a "casual day" - i'll have a few extra bits off the appetizer plate we share....but then....what's say I keep my dinner in the healthy menu 500 cal or less section for that restaurant? And yeah, we can have 1 regular coke - but what's say we go ahead and drink water for the rest of the chill session?

    that way my brain's not going like - so, going out with the friends tonight - man i know i can't handle this - they'll be eating all that good stuff and I can't have a single thing - i hate myself and i hate my life lol

    sort of a mind over matter thing - change the way you approach it and maybe that'll help.

    instead of - man weekend with my friends again i know i'm going to jack this up (aka setting yourself up to fail)

    try - WOOHOO weekend out with the girls - let's show them how to get it done (aka setting yourself up to soar! woohoo)

    :)

    This is awesome. Excellent strategy. I'm going to borrow "casual day" if you don't mind. "Cheat Day", "Free Day", They just don't fit my mind set about this aspect of healthy eating. Mind over matter and attitude is crucial for success.
  • kalley1229
    kalley1229 Posts: 11
    i.binge.every.single.****ing.weekend.!!!!!

    AND WORSE OF ALL - 5 days of angels = 2 days of binge eating = NO WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL.

    im gonna listen to the suggestion above about weighing in on monday..

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