Need better weekend habits

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rbiss
rbiss Posts: 422 Member
in Getting Started
My weight has yo yo'ed most of my life. I used to be an athlete and worked out all the time and ate whatever I wanted. This was okay until about 23. Around 27 I had a wake up call and got really into triathlons, lost 60 pounds, felt great, and now it's all back and then some. I started again about 2 weeks ago and have a completely different life now than from my early 20's. House, job stress, etc. I find now that weekdays I am having no problems working out, sticking with my planned meals and not feeling deprived at all. Working out is probably the easiest part because I really do love that feeling. The problem is come Friday night, I want to crack a bottle of wine, eat whatever is in the house and watch movies. I know I can eat anything in moderation, but I am not a moderation sort of person. If the wine is there, I will drink it! I am trying to think of some better habits for weekends that can replace the eating I used to do in my downtime. I hike on Saturdays and Sundays, but as soon as I come home, the desire to veg out is so strong. Any suggestions?

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  • SarahNicoleW94
    SarahNicoleW94 Posts: 62
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    Weekends are my weakness. Finishing work on Friday and resisting a huge glass of wine is just too much! I can be a saint all week and then lose it at weekends! Nightmare xx (ps sorry no help at all haha)
  • rak173
    rak173 Posts: 105 Member
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    I completely understand! I am going through the same struggle. My weeks have been rocking, but the weekends are a different story. I think everyone deals with this completely differently, for me I have been taking Friday nights off. What I mean by that is, I have a couple drinks (cocktails or wine) and have a "cheat" meal. I try to log the meal and I try to make it reasonable. What I have noticed is that I can no longer eat as much food, I get so full. Saturdays can also be a struggle and are sometimes the same as Fridays. When this happens, I make sure to get a really good workout in on Saturday and Sunday.

    What has helped me is logging all my food and drinks. When going out these are often estimates, but they have helped me a lot. Instead of going over by 1000+ calories, I generally stay closer to 500. I also try to keep lower calories treats around. I made some "cheesecake tarts", greek yogurt, egg, vanilla wafer. Popcorn is great. Frozen yogurt is a treat! In the evenings I also drink a lot of tea, that prevents me from hardcore snacking. With patience, you will figure this out!
  • jr235
    jr235 Posts: 201 Member
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    I love to eat and watch TV on the weekends too. ;)

    The last week or so I've been doing a modified fasting a tad. Not big time because I'm pregnant, but for a meal I'll do a green smoothie and a ton of water for a meal. I did this two nights for dinner before the weekend.

    What about having grazing safe snacks?

    Lime with cucumbers, salt and chili powder are a great bet. Fruit smoothies are another. A big pitcher of water with sliced lemons and chopped mint gives me something flavored. Hummus or some other sort of bean dip and chopped veggies. Air popped popcorn.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I drink wine every weekend. Most or all of a bottle a day. I don't eat anything and everything in the house, but I do eat a lot.

    I don't really want to change that, so I just try to eat pretty low calories during the week and workout daily to make up for it.

    Weight loss is slow this way, though. Like about 1 lb per month slow. But I'm okay with that. I'm not gaining, I'm healthy and I'm having the weekends I enjoy.
  • doctorsookie
    doctorsookie Posts: 1,084 Member
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    I try to stick with my regular eating schedule on weekends as best I can. Sometimes it doesn't happen but I've gotten better at it. It helps me stay on track. The only variance is I have more time to snack so I fill that time with exercising or spending time away from the house to stay out of the kitchen. Good luck, you got this.:flowerforyou:
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    What is your TDEE? One strategy would be to set a goal for Mon-Fri to consume TDEE-700 calories, then TDEE on Sat/Sun. That gives you 700 extra calories 2 days a week. Enough to fit in wine, extra snacking, but keep it to a reasonable level.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    You already mentioned that you hike Sat/Sun, and that's along the lines of what I was going to suggest. My husband and I are both on MFP and log every single bite (and drink) that goes into our mouths, 24/7. But for us it has not been too challenging to stick with it on weekends, because we plan ahead.

    We almost ALWAYS get a lot more activity on weekends whether it is a serious hike or bike ride, or just many hours of walking while sight-seeing, running errands, etc. That way we don't have an issue with indulging for one meal each day...usually for us that means a restaurant meal and something "treatlike" such as chocolate or ice cream. We can "afford" it in our calories due to the extra exercise.

    Also, I mentioned planning ahead and that has worked well for us on weekends just as it does during the week (and it sounds like you are already great with the weekday meals). When we head out on Saturdays to do whatever we're doing, we have already had a low calorie nutritious breakfast so we're ahead of the game with that and less likely to grab fast food or go out to a restaurant and have an indulgent meal first thing. It sets the tone for the rest of the day.

    Planning ahead for Friday nights is good, too. Tonight we're having crab nachos at home and splitting a big bottle of champagne for our 6 month wedding anniversary. It's already logged and accounted for so we won't be eating more food after that. I know that can be easier said than done, but it works well for us. Good luck!
  • Strawberry8626
    Strawberry8626 Posts: 9 Member
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    If your watching tv, do little things when commercials come on (jump jacks, push ups, squats, lunges, running man, etc...). My weakness on the weekends is when I go out and get the munchies or if im bored I eat. Just make sure you eat before you go out and if your bored like me, grab some music and go for a walk/jog. Also give yourself a pedicure so you definately cant eat anything for a while.
  • Gemini61454
    Gemini61454 Posts: 85 Member
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    I too have this same thing going on. I do really well at work Monday through Friday. I do try to eat under 600 calories two days per week to make up for the weekend. I switched off the wine bottle (same thing here, I would end up drinking more than I wanted to). I started hard cider beer. When you open them one at a time, you consume less. I echo others "plan ahead". That works. Good luck to you.
  • rbiss
    rbiss Posts: 422 Member
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    Thanks everyone, these are some really great ideas. I know I like to veg out and it's okay, but keeping it under control is hard. I can definitely do healthier snacks and I like making the little healthy indulgences like cheesecake bites. I might also try and plan a workout to know how many calories I have to stop at. Its nice to see this is common problem. I feel like I have very little self control on weekends, but these are great ideas to mitigate the "damage".
  • AlliSteff
    AlliSteff Posts: 211 Member
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    I need to re-*kitten* my weekly calories (like, stay under 100 each day) in order to accomodate my weekend takeout/wine
  • mereditheve
    mereditheve Posts: 142 Member
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    I am exactly the opposite - my weekdays are the worst but weekends are when I get back into gear and have the time for working out, hiking, etc.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I am exactly the opposite - my weekdays are the worst but weekends are when I get back into gear and have the time for working out, hiking, etc.

    I am like this with exercise for sure. Weekdays I struggle to fit in more than a walk and weekends I'm very active.
  • rbiss
    rbiss Posts: 422 Member
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    I've been going to the gym at 6:00am on the weekdays cause it's the only time I get it done. All of March I tried night workouts and it was very sporadic. I have to swim tonight and I am dreading it because its so late and I am completely worthless after 5:30pm.

    I think that's probably why I don't want to get out of bed until 9am on Saturday but I have dogs, and they are the only reason I am forced to move my @ss. Thank god for the dogs!
  • bethcondon
    bethcondon Posts: 12 Member
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    I hear ya on the weekend thing. I agree with the other posters - try some moderation (have you tried cutting white wine with club soda? very refreshing), plus some planning ahead.

    I'm an evening grazer. For some reason, I'm always hungrier at night (probably because I'm tired and sitting around). So I've been trying to eat fewer calories during the day, to plan ahead for my (planned, logged, not overly crazy) evening munchies. On the days I work out in the morning, I'm not that hungry after working out, and can usually have a salad for lunch and healthy snacks, leaving about 1/2 my calories for dinner & snacks. Snacks are still reasonable, like popcorn or toast/apple w/peanut butter, after-dinner treats like a skinny cow ice cream sandwich.

    Our family's routine is to have pizza on Friday nights and watch a movie. We have done this forever, and if I try to do something else, my kids have a fit! I love pizza and have trouble just eating one slice when it's around. So I just try to eat very little the rest of the day Friday, go ahead and enjoy the pizza (logging everything), then work out a lot all weekend. Some weeks I do better than others. :)

    Good luck!
  • AlliSteff
    AlliSteff Posts: 211 Member
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    I guess my wierd thing on weekends is that I don't really have breakfast/lunch...I leave for the gym by 8:45 (usually) both days- so I may have a Quest Bar or PB before I go, and a protein shake when I come hom. But usually, that isn't until about 11/11:30...so then I have kind of a half a$$ed lunch. I can usually cover takeout and 1-2 glasses of wine, but not much more
  • lindahope549
    lindahope549 Posts: 9 Member
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    Recipe for those cheesecake tarts please?
  • Lauriegirl530
    Lauriegirl530 Posts: 4
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    You guys just inspired me to plan my week end ahead and I did. Too bad it is Easter and I am hosting the family. But I'll do my best!!
    I am making these huge egg stratas which we have done for several years and everyone loves them. One will be the usual and the other will be a healthier, leaned down version with more veggies in it than the usual one has.

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