How did you get rid of your "weekend eating" mentality?

I'm not sure I'm totally RID of the mentality, but I'm feeling much better about it. I am NOT going to sacrifice going out on date night with my husband, but I don't need to drink (I mean, come on, if you need to get wastyface to spend time with your spouse, that's kind of a problem, lol), and I can order intelligently. Like last Friday night, we went out for Mexican, and instead of a cheesy goopy enchilada or something, I had grilled chicken with rice - and it turned out to be delicious! It was also a huge portion, so I only ate half and saved the rest for another meal. And I only drank water!

I exercise a lot more on the weekends, too, because I have more time.

And if there is a good opportunity to eat at home, I take it. For example, hubby wanted to go to a Braves game on Sunday afternoon, so I made him promise that we would eat a healthy lunch at home first. Yes, I had two beers and a bit of ballpark food later in the day, but it was WAY less than I would have eaten/drank before MFP.

For me, as much as I want to get to my goal weight, there's no point being skinny and miserable. So, I try to find balance in everything that I do. There are good days and bad days - I try to celebrate the good and let the bad go.

Honestly, it's an ongoing struggle for me.

I am great all through the week, thanks to my routine. I pretty much just do the same thing every day: wake up early, eat a banana, work out, get ready, eat breakfast, go to work, have a snack around 10, eat lunch, have another snack around 3, go home, have a snack if I'm hungry, do a little cardio or something, eat dinner, unwind, sleep. Repeat. I tend to stick to similar meals - small, nutritious, & frequent - and I keep healthy snacks on hand at the office. For breakfast I tend to have a banana and either rolled oats or almond butter on whole grain bread; for lunch I like vegetarian chili or leftovers; and for dinner I usually have some variation of grilled chicken or fish with veggies and brown rice. I snack on greek yogurt with honey, apples, granola, and almonds. I rarely deviate from my schedule, I work out every day, and I stay around 1400 calories.

But on the weekend.. it's a different story entirely. I tend to oversleep (because I can), my fiancé tempts me with junk food (I keep telling him he can't buy it, but he does anyway!), my day isn't as busy or as regimented so I wind up grazing on snacks rather than sticking to my eating schedule. I often put off my workout because I can do it whenever, and then I either don't do it or it's late when I do.

I am really working on shaping up on the weekends! Number one priority is to try and keep myself on a similar sleep and workout schedule - maybe sleep in a little bit, but avoid way oversleeping and napping. It's really hard for me to make myself wake up when I don't have to, though, and it's hard to make myself work out first thing when I can just do it any time during the day. Number two priority is to stick to my eating schedule of small, nutritious meals and snacks so that I avoid getting hungry and engaging in mindless snacking. I would love to hear any advice you guys have about those issues.

One trouble area I HAVE gotten under control is the dreaded night out at a restaurant. I allow myself some leeway from time to time - I don't have a "free day" or a "free meal" but sometimes I just allow myself to indulge, within reason. I'll have another glass of wine, split a dessert, or have an entrée with a rich sauce. For me, the key is to let myself relax about my intake from time to time so I don't feel deprived (if you feel deprived, chances are you won't be able to sustain what you're doing and risk a relapse into bad habits) but I don't write the meal off as a free for all. I maintain the healthy habits I've developed - ordering veggies instead of fries, avoiding fried foods, skipping the bread basket - while giving myself permission to enjoy something that I really enjoy, like the aforementioned second glass of Pinot Noir.

You should figure out what "bad" food you truly love and miss - be it fried chicken, tiramisu, or pasta - and let yourself enjoy that from time to time. Just be aware of the caloric content of what you're eating, and stick to just one indulgence while keeping the rest of the meal healthy.

It helps to count your calories for these "indulgence" meals so that I keep everything in check and don't go over my maintenance calories. If you think you might have trouble with a certain restaurant, you should absolutely check out the menu in advance, decide what you'll have, and go ahead and enter in your calories. Eat frequent meals and snacks with small portion sizes so that you aren't ravenous when you go out. Consider in advance what you may want to indulge in - a certain dessert, appetizer, or wine - and go ahead and check out the calories for those things. You can indulge, but do so mindfully and with intent.

I'd love to hear what advice the rest of you have for weekend lapses!

I allow one day where I don't bother counting the calories. I'll eat my normal calories for breakfast and lunch and then have whatever I want for dinner. Allowing one cheat meal a week does wonders. Basically it comes down to allowing yourself to live a little.

Even if you are out more in the weekend, you can eat healthy without blowing the week. If you go to Mcdonalds, get the grilled chicken w/o mayo and a cheeseburger instead of the fries. The chicken isn't that bad for you and you are allowing for something a little tastier at the end.

Mentality is hard to change and I struggle with that as well. But when I'm tempted, I remind myself that the guilt and bad feeling I get from cheating makes eating the burger etc not worth it. This is coming from a guy who could eat pizza fri and sat w/o blinking. For me it was just a matter of changing habits and remembering where I want to be.

I don't usually exercise on weekends, so I have to be careful not to binge it. It can be tough, not because I want to, but because I spend weekends with my boyfriend and our friends and everyone just wants to go out all the time. If I can help it, I'll have a good filling breakfast, and then graze throughout the day and save whatever calories I can for dinner. If I can, I'll squeeze in a bit of walking to get a few extra calories. But I usually end up going over anyway. The trick is to not go over by tons. So, yeah, I'll have a cheat meal and over eat by about 200-300 calories, but in the long run, that's really not a big deal. I just make sure to stick to healthy choices (salads with dressing on the side, fish, grilled chicken, avoid or limit fried stuff, have water with my meals, etc.) and log it all.

Still working on that !!:sad: