Weekends. Help!

well, for me, I allow myself 2 cheat meals a week. Meaning, I dont watch calorie intake for those 2 meals. I will have a huge dessert and any amount of wine I desire, plus a calorie filled entree, lol. I eat within my goals every other day of the week, so the 2 "cheat" meals really dont make a difference. Perhaps you could do the same for date night and Saturday night with the kids. Lets face it, this is life, is it really worth not enjoying a weekend? Nah.
***Just remember its two cheat meals, not days. 2 full days can make a difference (well, for me anyway)

MFPs "goal calculator" has not been accurate for me. Through trial and error, I've determined my goal maintenance, give or take a few hundred calories. I also weight train 4 days a week, and focus more on my macro nutrients (protein, carbs, fats) than I do my number of calories, so I don't get bent out of shape when I'm "off goal." While I do weigh myself every month or so, I rely more on measuring my body parts, and the good ol "eye test" than I do the number on the scale. For example, take 2 identical individuals that weigh 200lbs. Now consider that one is 50% body fat, and the other is 5% body fat. Even though the scale says that they're both "200lbs," the difference between them is night and day. It's just that the scale is too dumb to know that. The same goes for BMI: if they were the same height, according to the BMI calculator, they would both be overweight/obese/whatever, because BMI doesn't consider body composition. That said, try to keep your calories as consistent as possible, and weigh yourself once a week, on the same day each week, under the same conditions ie naked, having had just used the bathroom etc. Do this for 4-6 weeks, and you should have a decent baseline as to:

"I've been eating x-amount of calories a day, and I gain/lose/remain at this much weight each week."

After about 4 to 6 weeks, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not you are at maintenance, in a caloric deficit, or a caloric surplus. You can then adjust accordingly. Keep in mind though, you have to be consistent. Don't weigh yourself one week while you were on vacation, and then compare it to the week that you tried out that 5 day free gym membership, and was on the elliptical 2 hours a day. You need to keep your nutrition and activity level consistent in order to have accurate results. Once you have that, you can start to play with your calories a bit:

"2000 calories was my maintenance, but I wasn't exercising during that time. Now that I'm exercising, I can take in a few more calories and still be at maintenance."

Weekends are bad for me as well. I'm fortunate enough to work monday to friday, so the structure of being at work helps me to stay on track. On the weekends, just being around the house, I find myself "grazing" on things that I shouldn't be, or being sabotaged by family and their meals - when everyone in the house is saying "Who wants pizza?" you end up in a heck of a bind. To make matters worse, when everyone wants to go to get pizza, you end up looking like an uptight, stick in the mud when you refuse to eat, or you simply order a salad. It sucks. You don't wanna be "that person" that "takes it so seriously" that you can't even allow yourself one scoop of ice cream, or whatever. Whether they do it on purpose or not, friends and family can end up being your biggest saboteurs by singling you out/drawing attention to your eating habits. It's easier for me because I'm a guy, and I can "playfully" say something like "You need to calm the hell down and let me do me. Eat what you wanna eat, I'll eat what I wanna eat," and everyone kinda takes it on the chin. I can see it not going over quite as well if a woman were to say something like that. It might come across as "she's only being that way because this diet is driving her crazy."

Leave as little as you can to chance. I keep protein bars, fiber bars, and other healthy options in my pantry. No, I don't always choose them - the past 2 saturdays, I ate an entire pizza by myself. But hey! It was "thin crust" and "no cheese." My way of justifying it. Mostly because I had been the "Debbie Downer" the previous weekend that opted for something "healthy" when everyone else was gorging on Taco Bell. I keep whole apples, fat free cottage cheese, bananas, raisins, peanuts, and wheat bread on hand in addition to my protein bars. They're not calorie dense, and they fill me up. When it comes to going out with family, I do my best to steer the group toward a place with even somewhat healthy options. Or, I pack protein bars and while everyone is getting fast food, I eat it. Most sitdown restaurants have somewhat "lighter" options, so try to convince yourself to eat those. Also, try to get a little pre-emptive. If you're with a group that's going to bring attention to what you are, or are not, eating, try to play it off by saying something like:

"I was bad earlier in the week, so I'm trying to compensate for it now."

That doesn't have to be true, but I've found that people are more likely to leave me be if they believe that I'm "eating good" NOW in order to make up for "eating bad" earlier. It makes me seem more "human," I guess. "Well, he doesn't eat like that ALL of the time, he's just eating healthy right now because he went off his diet earlier." It seems to pacify the "come on! Let yourself live a little" in people, if that makes sense.

Weekends are always hard for me also-partly because there aren't any set times for meals like we have on the weekdays. This will be my first weekend taking this seriously, and I'm already nervous about it. I'm planning on tracking still, even if I get a little distracted from the healthy eating. I think it'll help with future weekends. I also like to plan my meals the day before, so I think that will help! And drinking lots of water, as well as carrying an apple or carrot sticks or something for when I'm out, so I don't get tempted to grab a take-out snack. Good luck!