Continuously derailing on diet and exercise every weekend...

mcr0980
mcr0980 Posts: 30 Member
edited November 19 in Motivation and Support
So, I have goals to reach and only two months to get there before summer is over. I can do it, but I just continuously fail and get derailed and it is taking a toll on me both physically and mentally.

I aim to lift daily, but once the weekend hits I find excuses to skip and then eat like crap. Come Monday, I feel like crap and have destroyed any progress made the previous week. Does anyone else have this problem?

Replies

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Here's some ideas to try.
    Read up on all-or-nothing thinking, a common dieter's mistake. You might decide that weekends are earned time off.

    Something else you might try is make a list of reasons you might be finding it more difficult to stick to a routine on the weekend. Then pick one of those reasons and restructure your weekend to make it more achievable.

    Snacking often goes up on the weekend simply because of the easy access. It's not like I keep a refrigerator close at hand in the office. At the office, I tend to stick to what I packed for the day.

    You may also try the 80/20 dieting method. Stick to the diet 80% of the time and call yourself good.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    Common problem. It's all really up to you, though. Maybe find some active stuff to do on the weekends. Go hiking, pay for some Saturday morning fitness classes (so you actually attend), pre-log your weekends and prep some food so you're not as tempted. Sometimes I like to eat a little less during the week so I can have extra treats on the weekend. You just gotta find what works for you. Make a plan and stick to it. It gets easier once you start breaking those habits.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Maybe set your diet up to be a little more lax on the weekends. Zig-zag your calories to give yourself a weekend buffer. Also, rest days are beneficial. Rest days give your body a chance to recover, muscles may need to repair. Instead of lifting, aim to be active on the weekend. Play a sport, or take a hike. Change things up.

    You don't have to be prefect to make progress.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    If you know your behavior pattern, plan around it. Save some calories from the week for your weekend. Set up your workouts to make the most of your weekend rest days. There are tons of paths to the same goal, pick one that works for you, now that you've determined how you work.
  • haggs88
    haggs88 Posts: 37 Member
    Portion control! Lol, light breakfast and light lunch then eat a healthy dinner and try to get a 30 minute workout of some sort (walking, running, biking, etc)3x a week. That's where I've found the most success. Hope this helps.
  • Pandora_and_her_box
    Pandora_and_her_box Posts: 240 Member
    Sounds just like me! Completing a weekend without blowing all the hard work I put in throughout the week feels like winning the lottery for me!

    Lots of great suggestions already, I try to stay busy to distract myself from thinking about food. I've also started giving myself a couple of hundred extra calories, so I can still enjoy things without going completely overboard. Once I've gone over, I tend to think 'what the hell?' and go really overboard :o
  • TheRoseRoss
    TheRoseRoss Posts: 112 Member
    It was put to me like this:

    "What if someone told you that they would give you 1 million dollars if you arrived at a destination by 11am the following day. The only rule is that you cannot leave the night before, and the destination is a 10 hour drive from you. What would you do?"

    The answer would probably be along the lines of "I'd make sure my car is fully fueled, map the shortest routes, map alternate routes, buy a GPS, make sure I had a spare tire, check my headlights, weather, and traffic, buy some energy drinks and meal replacement bars, set multiple alarms, and have friends call me to wake me up, and then go to bed early so that I can wake up and be out the door at midnight on the dot."

    The point is, you would do everything that you could in order to prepare yourself as best you could for what you knew was coming, because you were determined to get that million dollars. You would do your best to not leave anything to chance in pursuit of that million dollars. Don't leave your weekends to chance.
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