How do I cope with the weekend???

[tubby2]

Well here I am at day six, I started again on Monday after a really up and down journey. I have decided to move myself so have walked to and from work at 30 mins a walk and joined a belly dancing class which was great fun. As I've made an effort to excersis I feel less inclined to eat rubbish. I don't have a problem doing this during the week but come the weekend????. How do you manage your weekends? I would appreciate some tips as there are some great weight losses out there so any advice would be really helpful. Xx

[tubby2]

Oops, I should have put the above in the questions section, anyway, while I'm here I thought I would explain that in the past I have had problems with weekend, if I go overboard with my calories I find it difficult to get back in the zone on Mondays as my head says " we'll I've blown it all now.

[ThinLizzie]

Well done for the activity you have done this week. I myself have been a lazy bum (apart from a bit of running when I taught pe on wed). Weekends are always hard aren't they? The routines we get into during the week go out the window as soon as a little lie in or leisurely breakfast occur. Where do you fall down at the weekends? Is it food or drink? Is there a pattern to when you fall down? I weigh in on Saturday mornings, so the hard work from the week shows, that way if the weekend is a bit naughty I have all week to get back into the groove and lose some more lb's by the next weekend. We also shop on a Wednesday, so I make sure all weekend meals are planned in advance to avoid the Saturday night take out! If your out shopping, subway is a great place to go. Their salad bowls are delicious, and very low in cals, and the OH still thinks he's onto winner as he can have his massive steak n cheese!!. I think if you can see where your pit falls are, you may be able to plan some strategies to avoid such a big weekend downer. And remember Mondays are a great place to start again!!

Have a fabulous weekend! Hope this is of some use?

[tubby2]

Hi ThinLizzie, thanks for the response, weighing yourself on a Saturday seems to make more sense and planning in advance is the only way to avoid the "oh there's nothing in the house I will have a biscuit or three". My big problem is alcohol, I can leave it alone for weeks and not think about it but once I have a glass of wine my resolve goes out of the window.

I think I need to decide what I'm going to drink, make sure I have enough spare calories and STOP when they are used up, perhaps I should give up altogether as I really don't need it to have a good night out but it's a bit like smoking (which I gave up 5 years ago) if you sit with people who are smoking you will want one or feel deprived, it's the same with alcohol, if others are having wine I feel deprived if I don't have some too (pathetic isn't it!).

Anyway, I'm off to the shops to get my food for the week, wish me luck and I hope you have a great week too x

[suzybenj]

I hear where you are coming from - the weekends are my big downfall. and i enjoy a drink. I tried giving up alcohol in march - and it had zero effect.- so i felt deprived and no weight loss. I too have recently started again - having singulary failed lose a jot of weight since xmas.

So April new resolve - pretty disiplined in the week- and if i do have a drink - it is slimline and something - but i try really hard not to - and have massive stock of fizzy low cal drinks - which fill me up as well providing taste. (lilt my current favourite as well as ginger beer). the weekends - good planning and trying not to over indulge (although I do) so today - holding in the reins - tomorrow - roast beef with all the trimmings - so taking myself out on a run tomorrow morning to earn extra calories . It will knock my weight loss attempts back - but the general trend is a slowly downwards.

Then back on track monday and I will be very focussed and count every mouthful - as long as I overall lose a pound a week - then I am losing and still enjoying life.

Really best of luck - if you can just curb some of the intake at weekends - particularly what you eat - you shouldn't undo all the hard work

[Hidden]

Hi tubby2,

So ask yourself this - really and truly, why does it go wrong at the weekend?

My guess is that you'll come back with a couple of answers. One may be alcohol. Unfortunately, when we've had a drink or two, we become disinhibited, so any discipline we had about what we eat or don't eat is likely to go straight out the window.

But there are things you can do, ranging from cutting down, diluting it (glass of wine becomes a spritzer), interspersing with other drinks (but not high calories ones).

Those are pretty good things to do anyhow as alcoholic drinks can easily add up to some high calorie intakes. Furthermore, as has been said on these blogs many time, alcohol inhibits fat burn.

Perhaps you could put the alcohol on hold, or significantly cut back, until you reach your target weight?

The other one is about lack of structure, usually because your free from the constraints of work. That makes it harder to hang your framework of healthy meals and snacks onto something and usually leisure means not really thinking hard about much.

And, of course, when you're not really thinking about much, it's easy to just go on munching away and not really notice just how much you've eaten.

Perhaps, you could find a way to keep better control of your eating over the weekend period? If you're going out for a meal, plan to pay back the extra calories both before and after. Use the various strategies like sharing a desert, having a starter-sized main course, eating slowly and avoiding calorie-laden sauces and toppings to try to damage-limit. And keep a check on your alcohol intake.

If it's takeaways, then there are strategies for those too.

Quite a lot of these things are covered on the NHS live well lose weight pages.

But don't let it knock you off course. In fact, the more you work out where and how it goes wrong for you, the more empowered you are to put it right.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.

[tubby2]

Hi Doikosp,

I think putting alcohol on hold is the way forward for me at the moment because I know if I have just one it will weaken my resolve, I wouldn't mind but I always enjoy the first glass of wine but not really the ones that follow, the other downside to drinking is that it makes me tired and therefore less inclined to do any excercise. My other weakness is crisps and I'm definitely cutting them out altogether, I have bought a crisp maker so I can make a healthy portion using a potato but no fat (result).

I have had a really good week so feeling positive that I can get through this weekend without too much trouble.

Thanks v much for your support and good luck with your weight loss to you too x

[Mazhar1]

Hi, Before I do anything else on a Saturday morning I go for a walk without putting it off until later.

On Sunday mornings its even nicer - it seems people always more friendly in the morning and reply to my 'good morning' with a smile. After that my day is pretty much set with a positive start.