I suck at dieting every.single.weekend.

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.

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

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

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?

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!!!

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.

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".

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)

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!

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!

Me too!
Can't seem to get motivated on the weekends.
HELP!

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

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..