I hear it all the time where people do well with their nutrition habits Monday-Friday and then the weekend comes. They booze and eat foods that don’t nourish their bodies. This is a problem for anyone who is trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle!
So here are some things that you can do if you have a tendency to “cheat” a lot on the weekends!
1)Don’t Shoot For Perfection
-If you are out to eat and there aren’t many healthy options people who “cheat” on the weekends will be like screw it and get something like a bacon cheeseburger with fries. In this situation, you could simply ask for a side salad instead of the fries. You will be more successful if you have the mindset of doing the best you can instead of just shooting for perfection.
2)No Food Rules
-A great example of this are people that go through phases of no drinking at all and or phases of binge drinking. People with this mindset often hold out for a while but then eventually they come back to it and they have maybe 1..2…3…4 drinks because they aren’t able to control themselves and they think since they had 1 drink that they “blew there diet anyway”. It’s OK to have drinks in moderation.
3)Stop Making Excuses
-No excuses for eating something that is considered unhealthy. You won’t be able to come up with the actual reason why you are overeating in the first place. Excuses such as “it was a holiday… My friend pressured me… I was stressed…” and the list goes on. When you are in that moment to make the decision of eating something unhealthy or not, take a step back and reflect why you have the temptation. You might find your answer instead of making blanket excuses.
4)Take Responsibility In Your Decisions
-People often associate food with a moral decision. There is no good or bad when it comes to making a food decision. What happens when you make food choices based on morals is that you have the boomerang effect in which you offset a good decision with a bad decision. Example of this is you eat healthy on Friday night and then Saturday night comes around and you eat a tub of ice cream to balance it out. Take responsibility for your decision and move on whether it’s good or bad.
I hope this helps those that struggle with eating on the weekends and if you need more ideas on how to become a happier and healthier you, feel free to reach out!
Coach Evan