Battling the Weekend

You basically have to change your mindset about what a weekend is. It is time off from work, not time off from everything else.

I know I like to eat out on Fridays, so I tend to write that day off as maintenance. Is there a reason you can't plan and prep for the weekend like you do the week? Pre-logging helps me a lot any day, but can be especially beneficial on the weekend. You could exercise more on the weekends to earn a few more calories. I know some people find it easier to eat at maintenance on the weekends. This will slow down your weight loss but won't undo the work from the week.

The thing that keeps me on track is using my calories as a weekly allowance rather then a daily goal to hit. Inevitably no matter how much I try to plan ahead, something happens at least a couple times a week that puts me over my daily goal. Usually it involves going out to a resturaunt. So I basically "bank" and "borrow" to be able to hit weekly goal. If i know The weekend will be high calorie, I'll eat a bit less, or work out a bit more or something leading up to it. If a wednesday night dinner out comes up suddenly, I'll eat a bit less the days after.

It sounds like your weekend derailment has been happening for a few weekends (?) and if so, then you have some data to work with. Going out with friends in the evening? Pre-plan your daytime eating. Weekend eat-breakfast- out routine? Preplan what you are going to order and how it will fit in to the rest of your day. Does your weekend "last" three days? Could Friday or Sunday be like a regular week-day in terms of your normal food/drink routine?

Is there something about the weekend that makes it especially with regards to food/eating? My typically strategy has been to treat the weekend, food wise, like any other day. If I eat out I treat it the same way I would as if it wasn't a day I wasn't working/at school and/or choose places that I know don't have meals that are especially calorie dense (or at least not any more so than what I would make at home). One of my favorite places to get take out after my Sunday rehearsal is a chicken and rice place (khao man gai). As in, poached chicken and steamed rice = that easily fits into my calorie goal for the day but it's also really tasty and I don't have to do any cooking or cleaning. There are I also tend to do my usual pre-planning.

I know that a lot of people also seem to like calorie banking which seems to make sense. I personally am not really good at intentionally doing that over the course of a week but it sounds good in theory. I will sometimes do it day to day - so if I know that I'm having something like fried chicken, I'll eat a light lunch and/or skip breakfast (if I wake up late I won't typically eat breakfast anyways). I've found that that works well for me, but I also don't do it on a regular basis - once or twice a month at the most. This also assumes, that I am not working out that day - skipping meals on a day that isn't a rest day doesn't end well for me.

janejellyroll wrote: »

aokoye wrote: »

Is there something about the weekend that makes it especially with regards to food/eating? My typically strategy has been to treat the weekend, food wise, like any other day. If I eat out I treat it the same way I would as if it wasn't a day I wasn't working/at school and/or choose places that I know don't have meals that are especially calorie dense (or at least not any more so than what I would make at home). One of my favorite places to get take out after my Sunday rehearsal is a chicken and rice place (khao man gai). As in, poached chicken and steamed rice = that easily fits into my calorie goal for the day but it's also really tasty and I don't have to do any cooking or cleaning. There are I also tend to do my usual pre-planning.

I know that a lot of people also seem to like calorie banking which seems to make sense. I personally am not really good at intentionally doing that over the course of a week but it sounds good in theory. I will sometimes do it day to day - so if I know that I'm having something like fried chicken, I'll eat a light lunch and/or skip breakfast (if I wake up late I won't typically eat breakfast anyways). I've found that that works well for me, but I also don't do it on a regular basis - once or twice a month at the most. This also assumes, that I am not working out that day - skipping meals on a day that isn't a rest day doesn't end well for me.

Yeah, I will go out for a meal on Friday or Saturday night but other than that I do my best to make my weekends pretty much like my weekdays (when it comes to meal planning). And since we do go out every weekend, I don't treat those dinners like a special occasion each time. I still usually choose things that fit into my calorie goals.

Yeah lately brunch on Sunday is starting to become a thing I do (for my own sanity - it's not so much about the food so much is it's about eating in a pleasant location and winding down - but the food is good). Typically that's the one day I wake up late so it's fairly easy for me to make brunch actually brunch and not lunch. That said, yesterday was a day when I needed to eat breakfast, so all that meant was that I planned brunch accordingly. Oatmeal with apples and a tbsp of brown sugar (give or take, I didn't have a measuring spoon, but they put it on the side) and a side breakfast potatoes instead of two eggs, sausage, a two slices of bread, and breakfast potatoes.

From everything I've ever seen, MFP has the most comprehensive database of food anywhere online - and that includes some pretty obscure restaurants in my area (and probably yours too). It's easy to pre-plan what you might eat when you go out. Even if you can't find THAT place you can probably find something similar. I love tacos and I might go to a place that isn't in MFP but will find some shredded pork taco elsewhere that is close enough for me to be comfortable with.

Like now, I have already pre-planned to order the asian lettuce wrap tacos from Cheesecake Factory this Friday because I know that's my plan, it is in the bank now and as a result of that and the mushrooms appetizer I'll have with it I'm going to cut the peanut butter from my afternoon shake (fat) and add some chicken to my lunch salad (protein) so at the end of the day everything works itself out.

Additionally if I want to be more spur-of-the-moment, then I pull up MFP while in the restaurant as I look at the menu to see if what I'm about to order fits in and if not then I have the data to change my mind right there and then.

OMG...those weekends... to even hope for win, I should:
- pre-plan all meals and even concrete hours for each meal
- incl. weekly cheat meal
- gum: I have chewing gum in kitchen in very visible place on my way to fridge. So I have constant blockage and possible reminder to take gum instead of snacks
- pickles: they are low in calories, salty, not too hard/crunchy and if gum didn't help and I do snack them, I don't have cravings for soft+hot food as I do in case I have carrots/apples etc for snacks

These 4 steps usually help

If you use the app go to your food diary, scroll to the bottom and click nutrition.

Then click net calories and change the drop down box to weekly. Scroll down past the graph to where it says calories under weekly goal.
I split that amount between my Friday and Saturday night.

I don't. I just make up for it during the week. If you count calories, you can go lower during the week and higher onthe weekend

I stay really busy on weekends doing chores, exercising and other unplanned activities. I try not to settle in at home until after 4 pm.