Weekend Weight Loss Sabotage

Posted on Mar 16th 2011 11:00AM by Ashley Wisniewski

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Tipping the Scales

Woman eating Getty

Does this sound familiar? All week you plan your meals and make healthy choices. You work out four times. You even have your best weigh-in to date.

Then, the weekend happens. You fall back into old habits and you negate all of your hard work and even gain weight.

It happened to me -- again. I am still struggling with maintaining my weight loss through the weekends. I honestly didn't know two days could cause so much damage. I already wrote about my weekend woes, so why is it happening again, especially when I'm so close to reaching a huge milestone?

It is like I'm on auto-pilot during the week then one Saturday morning rolls around, all of my healthy habits take the weekend off. While I'm still eating mostly healthy foods because that's what I keep in my kitchen, my portion sizes are larger and I'm adding too many snacks throughout the day.

If I want to reach my goal of being less than 200 pounds by the end of March, I need to make some serious changes, starting with my weekends. First, I need to make sure I wake up at a reasonable time. I don't sleep in too much later on the weekend, but it would be helpful to make sure I'm waking up somewhere within an hour of my regular weekday rising time.

Also, I need to be mindful of my time on the weekend mornings. Often, I will go to the grocery store early Saturday or Sunday morning and return at a time where breakfast doesn't sound appealing and it is still a little too early for lunch. It is often hard to figure out what to eat at these times, and truthfully, sometimes I don't eat anything which leads to me overeating the rest of the day.

Last, I plan on making sure that I do something active both Saturday and Sunday. I'm usually so tired from the preceding week, that squeezing out a workout on Saturday seems like an accomplishment; however, I should be working out on both days. I am also going to try and make one of the workouts something my husband and I can do together, such as a hike or a long walk with the dog.

Speaking of workouts, I tried another new class this week! I went to my first cycling class at the gym and three days later my rear end is still sore but I had so much fun! I will definitely be incorporating this high energy, calorie-burning class into my normal routine. I love using the stationary bike as a cross-training day once a week, but I am guilty of going to easy on myself while on the normal stationary bike. With the cycling class, I feel like I'm really pushing myself and the bike itself gives me a better workout because it is higher and harder to maneuver than a regular bike.

By incorporating the bike into my running routine, I am confident my body will continue to feel stronger. I am going to use this weekend as a change to incorporate my plan on attacking my urge to overeat and be lethargic. While it is the weekend and I am off from work, that does not mean my healthy habits get a two-day vacation. I know the saying is "old habits die hard," but just because something is hard doesn't mean it can't be changed – including my weekend habits.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sai V. 3-16-2011 @ 1:00PM

I just think of the weekend as just another weekday. Wake up as usual but instead of going to work just do whatever it is you do on the weekend. I eat my meals at the regular hours and workout as usual too.

One of my friends has a similar problem: partying too much on Fridays, which ruins his weight loss routine. I think the only solution there is self-discipline.

kathrine 3-18-2011 @ 8:42PM

I always find it hard to keep the weight off especially on the weekends. I think that there is just a shortage on fun healthy outings. Things including food are more expensive on the weekends, so I try to save with HtTP://Bit.Ly/CouponSavings plus they have some samples of healthy pick me ups too.

soedill7 3-18-2011 @ 9:16PM

the only hard part about having self discipline is that you must have self discipline to attain it.

Vicki 3-18-2011 @ 10:06PM

No way

Tim 3-18-2011 @ 8:33PM

After years of trying every product and method you ever heard of to lose weight I read about something that was based on the HCG fat burning pregnancy hormone. A friend who lost a lot of weight using sent me a link ( hTtp://bit.ly/HCGDietKit ) to read about it. I was very skeptical because nothing I ever bought to help me lose weight worked. In any case, I took a shot and the results have been life changing. I never thought I would be anything but the "fat friend" but I lost my weight and have kept it off..

alsoagood1 3-18-2011 @ 8:35PM

I weigh in on Monday mornings, so I can't afford to eat out of control all weekend - that's how I get around sabotagging myself!

lisa 3-18-2011 @ 11:25PM

absolutely right. i am able to eat what i want pretty much but i take 3-4 bites and push it away. Alot of waste, but i dont gain. I sometimes also close my eyes and make believe i am eating something very gooey and sugary and the desire leaves me
not everyone can do this. if i am eating out i eat half the meal only GOOD LUCK EVERYONE ON YOUR JOURNEY

Sameena 3-19-2011 @ 12:30AM

I just read the article "Weekend Weight Loss Sabotage". I am shocked to find myself all through this article. I have a husband who is home on the weekend, and he loves to eat, breakfast, lunch and dinner(things that are not considered healthy, but tastes so good). I always seem to find myself breaking my diet or rather change of life style, just for two days,then through the week, I am dedicated, then when Saturday comes, I am back to eating things that I should not eat! It is an ugly pattern, that I am trying to break and it is very hard! This weekend is the first weekend of my test to break my bad habit! I pray that I succeed!

Angela 3-19-2011 @ 12:45AM

I used to have a similar problem. What helped me was listening to my body and giving myself conscious permission to have a cheat day. Many people who are successful at shedding pounds and maintaining their fitness level are helped by allowing themselves a cheat day. It takes the pressure off of yourself and allows for more balance. Sometimes the reason it's hard to fight those weekends is because your body is trying to tell you something. You'll figure out through trial and error how your cheat day will work for you. And it can vary. Sometimes you might save it for a Saturday night date with your husband. Or another week it might be dinner with friends on Friday night. The point is to allow for the ebb and flow of life and your body's need to have those little cheats. Plus, if you are exercising through out the week, allow yourself to take that rest day so you don't burn out. Hope that helps.

Lassie 3-19-2011 @ 1:00AM

CHEAT DAY! What a dreary life this would be, without a 'cheat day'. I am good during the week, but comes the weekend, it's tough. Go out to brunch, go out for pizza with friends, husband picks up KFC for the family, dinner at the in-laws, mom makes lasagna...so, you're supposed to sit there munching on carrot sticks or yogurt or whatever the hell your food plan is? I just try to cut back on the breakfast and lunch so I can splurge on the dinner.

Tammy shley 3-19-2011 @ 1:10AM

If I didn't have weekends as my cheat days I wouldn't be able to follow the diet during the week. This has been very effective for me and I am keeping the weight off. 5 years this month since I lost the 130lbs.

Sue 3-19-2011 @ 2:08AM

EXACTLY! Cheat days. I went from a size 18 to a 6 in less then 10 months and my husband also dieted with me. We ate healthy during the week and for me I never at anything other then a low fat yogurt snack after 6 pm. When the weekend came we both ate whatever we wanted but by the time we got to the weekends we really didn't want that much of the pizzas and cookies. One trick that worked wonders for me since we both loved to go out and eat a favorite romantic place was to order whatever I wanted and before the dinner got to me at the table the waitress cut up half of everything and boxed it up to go and put it under my chair. Half of the soup, steak, potato, whatever. If you deprive yourself of anything yummy then you will eventually just say to heck with the diet at all and start eating bad 7 days a week.