Blowing it on the weekends

L

lmmonk

Active Member
Help! I cannot seem to stay focused on my goals on the weekends. I believe my exercise regime is good, but it is my eating that is causing me problems. I have always been like this. However, I recently learned what "clean" eating is and have been doing very well during the week, when my schedule is clear cut. However, during the weekends home with my 3 kids, I want to eat junk. And that desire is stronger at that point, than my goals of losing 10-15 pounds. I even ask myself before I eat something (cookies, high fat crackers) whether I want to eat or lose weight. And honestly at that point, I WANT TO EAT! I even tried giving myself more calories during the weekend (1600 during the week, and 2200-2300 during the weekend since I weigh 158), but I still can't meet my goals. Has anyone ever conquered this? By the time I go to bed Sunday night, I feel horrible about myself for having no control while I constantly desire to lose weight.

:-(
 
I know a lot of people have this problem, along with "evening over-eating". I used to do it 20 years ago, but haven't done it for years. I think the solutions are many and numerous and depend on your personality and lifestyle, but these are some of the things that work for me.

Do things where you're too busy to think about or have your hands in food: shower, exercise, dog-walking, trip to library, make play-doh animals with kids, do mending, iron, go to a bookstore, gardening, conversations at a coffee shop (no eating the sweets).

Don't keep too much crap in the house: so easy for me since I live alone, but harder for people with significant junk-eating adults in the house with them I know. Do what you can here. At least get rid of the stuff that you bought and you could just not buy.

When you decide you are going to eat, have several things planned that you can eat without doing major damage: fruit, toast instead of a cookie, popcorn instead of chips.

When you eat something truly "evil", it's nice to arrange it so that you couldn't have any more if you wanted any. I sometimes share a piece of Key Lime Pie with my daughter at a restaurant. Then it's gone. Oh well! No more pie!

Drink a lot of water to keep hands, mouth and stomach busy. Flavor it with innocuous things like Vitamin C powder, herbal tea, decaf tea or coffee, a slice of lime or lemon.

It really is just a question of two things: Planning and Intent. If you don't want to eat, no one can make you do it. If it were easy, everyone would look great, but it can be done. Eventually, bad habits can be replaced by good habits.
 
Just say no! I know I can eat absolutely anything I want but most of the time I don't. I just don't eat the high fat junk even though my kids eat alot of it! I know I can have it if I wat it but if I skip it and get into the habit of eating clean, I lose my desire for it and only eat it when I eat out. When we go out--infrequently-- I eat anything I want. It's funny but often by the time desert arrives, I have no desire to indulge!
Chicks's Rule! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Bobbi
 
Why not just give yourself permission to "blow it" one weekend day per week. It's very hard to give up junk food on a permanent basis, so allow yourself a cheat day. I find I can manage my weight very well with one cheat day, but not with two. So pick your day, and go for it.

I DO follow the hint about not keeping my real bad trigger foods around the house. I love ice cream, and find it hard to stay out of it on my non-cheat days, so I get just enough to eat on my cheat day, and buy it ON the cheat day.
 
Hi:

maybe you can psyche yourself out of this before it becomes a rut.

Sometimes we crave most those things we have told ourselves are forbidden. When I am about to eat a whole chocolate bar having just finished a whole packet of cookies, I stop and ask myself why I am eating as if it were going out of fashion? I tell myself that I don't need to eat it all now, it will still be there for me the next day, or next week, or there's plenty more of it in the shops, it's readily available so I don't need to eat it all now as if this were my last day on earth in which to eat such foods. It works for me.


On the other hand, sometimes also our bodies crave the high fat, high sugar stuff because there's a dearth of it in our regular diet. You say you try to eat clean during the week when you have more of a structure, but are you eliminating fat from your week-day diet completely? This may be setting you up for the can't-deprove-myself-anymore weekend rebound. A healthy diet includes some fat and naturally occurring sugars such as those found in fruits and vegetables.

Without knowing more about your diet and your emotions, it's hard to tell what might work for you.

Perhaps you could start to think about what sends you over the edge on the weekends: stress, tiredness, emotional eating? If you can pin-point a reason, perhaps you can work on eliminating it at source rather than drowning it in sugar?

I hope this may be of help to you

Clare
 
Thanks for all the wonderful replies. I will try to think of my weekend binges as a bad habit that I have developed over many year. And while bad habits are hard to break, they are not impossible either. If I have the inner strength to get up at 5am to work out 5 days per week, I surely have the strength to beat this bad habit. Thanks for telling me what I already knew in my heart, but not my head.

Lisa
 
Something that works for me on weekends is "banking" my treats. I eat healthy but sparingly during the days (hi-fibre cereal, fruits and veggies, etc) and save my selected treats 'til after dinnertime for TV watching. I love that feeling of anticipation, addicted to it really! I'm a muffin junkie and I save that particular treat until the last moment before I hit the sack (I'm SO SAD when my muffin's finished but I know that there's always next weekend!) Knowing that I can have my favorite treats later in the day and looking forward to it really helps me not eat junk food during the day. It also prevents binge eating.

Another thing that really helps is not wasting the calories on junk foods that I don't really, really, really want. Why buy a ticket to New Jersey when you really want to go to Paris?

Patricia
 
Hi Lisa! I just wanted to add that maybe you would consider working out on the weekends if you already don't do that! Just to shift the pressure off of your weekend bad eating to focus more on the positve aspect of your fitness goals! This may help you be more concious of what goes into your mouth knowing all that hard work you just did! (Just a suggestion) I wish you luck on evaluating what has to be done! Take care;) http://www.fitnessvideofanatics.com/trainers/franci/physvsemoeating.fit
 
Hey, let's not forget who's in New Jersey!!!

:eek:

On another note, another thing that works for me, although I am rather cerebral so some people think this is an insane idea: I know what fig bars, cookies, ice cream, etc. taste like already. So, when offered something I really shouldn't eat, I just say no thank you, and vividly remember what it tastes like. Sometimes, I just smell the evil substance (peanut butter comes to mind). This has much sensory joy and no calories.

After all, it only takes seconds to eat it, then it's just a memory anyway, a memory on it's way to my BUTT! Why not just skip the eating part and just go straight to the memory?

Like I said, this method is not for everyone, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
 
That's so true about trigger foods. My trigger food is pizza, once I start I CANNOT STOP!!! So, on the days when I have pizza I make sure to order by the slice or just get a small or medium and share it. No more LARGE or EXTRA LARGE!

I'm even weaker when it comes to potato chips so I really have to stay away from them all together.

Also, when I have the urge for sweets at night especially, I force myself to go for a spoonful of reduced fat peanut butter. This usually satisfies me!

Danielle

;-)
 
>
>After all, it only takes seconds to eat it, then it's just a
>memory anyway, a memory on it's way to my BUTT!


THAT IS HILARIOUS!!!

Danielle :7
 
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