Making the right choices consistently is hard on the weekend

Here's an except from a blog post a made a month or so ago. It resonated with a lot of people, so I figured it'd be worth sharing here.

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So the short of it is you need to condition yourself to bypass short-term gratification for the benefit of long-term gratification. Right? It's the choices you make in "the heat of the moment" that are conflicting with what's ultimately making you unhappy.

Interrupting the automaticity that accompanies the "right now" is easier said than done, I understand.

But start with small changes. For starters, let your boyfriend know how you feel. If he cares about you, he'll do what he can to make things easier for you in the weight control department. Inform him of what this means to you. That'll help minimize the chances of totally blowing things when you go to see him.

Rid your house and ask him to rid his of the foods you can't control. If you know temptation gets the better of you with certain foods, then strip them of their power. Unless there's a true addiction going on, your cravings won't be strong enough to drive you to bypass eating what's "on hand" and travel for your binge food.

Write out a list of your whys and read them every morning and every night. Set up reminders in conspicuous places to get your mind thinking on the right track as frequently as possible.

Ultimately, you have a choice. You either live in accordance to what it is you say you want OR you talk a big game yet do the polar opposite when life's smacking you in the face. Control is attainable, you just have to be willing to reach out and grab the reigns.

You're certainly not alone. The weekends are tough for most folks I work with. It makes sense, too. As a society, we're conditioned to let loose on the weekends. We work hard during the weeks so we can play harder during the weekends. The weeks, for most of us, contain a lot of structure and rigidity, so it's easy to couple structure and rigidity with regards to exercise and nutrition along with our schedules.

In addition to this, most people have not only been conditioned to let loose on the weekends since they were kids... they've also been conditioned to eat poorly during this time, too. Think about when you used to go out to eat with your parents. When you'd get to have sleep overs at friend's houses. When you'd have birthday parties. Weekends.

So put your game face on and decide that you're going to improve your lifestyle during the weekends. I'm not asking you to be a bore. There are ways to live loosely on the weekends without gorging yourself.

First step should be breaking the association you have with relaxation and eating. Relaxation doesn't have to accompany eating crap and lots of it.

Also, eat to live. Don't live to eat. Many people, especially Americans, plan their fun times on the weekends around food. It's amazing to me how most everyone I encounter relate eating with friends and good times. For me... hell, that's a bore. I've conditioned myself to grab food with my friends on the go so we can get to where we're heading to have fun. That might be a hike. Or fishing. Or bike riding. Or whatever that keeps me moving. LIving.

Food is simply the fuel that keeps me going.

Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy a nice meal on occasion with my wife and friends. But it's not a weekend ritual. And when I do go out and have a nice, giant meal... I don't let it turn into my entire weekend. I make healthy choices beyond that.

Which brings me to my last point. Prepare healthy choices in advance going into the weekend. Have fruit salads made, lean meats cooked, fresh veggies ready to bite into.

In my experience, it's about slowly regaining power/control of your habits on the weekends. It won't happen overnight but the more you practice it and the more habits you adopt, the more you'll override your unhealthy conditioning with your healthy conditioning. The more you'll believe that you do have it in you to make better choices.

But the fact remains that you have to want this. You can't just say it. You have to mean it. And have very good, emotionally-backed, powerful reasons backing what you mean. Without them, consistency and longevity aren't going to be a reality.