"Of course the weekend came and I was faced with many different situations, food situations that is! By Saturday evening I fell off track. I woke on Sunday eating a great breakfast, pizza for lunch with a salad and dinner chicken kabobs with fresh fruit. I feel bloated, drained just blah. I tried to make an effort to add a vegetable or a fruit into the meal. I was conscious of what I was doing and eating but fell into my old ways until I was able to pull myself out! I am looking forward to working hard and getting back to my routine I was on. I really want the weekends to be easy like how I feel during the week. I don't feel like I'm starting over I just wish I could train my head to have the same mindset as I do for the week! It's over and done but I'm ready to look forward and learn from this weekend and try again next time. "
- SuperMom
So, as we can see through SuperMom's journaling, the weekends are her kryptonite. She is not alone here. According to a 2008 study published by Obesity, over the course of a year, participants were found to eat 36% of their weekly calories on Saturdays, and were mostly unaware that they had even done so. Physical activity was also dramatically decreased during the weekends. Lead study conductor, Susan B. Racette, Ph.D, stated, "We also were surprised by the dramatic way in which weekends continued to slow weight loss throughout the course of the study.”
Lets break it down, honestly.
Goal: Being Reached?
SuperMom wants to live a healthy lifestyle. Yes, being reached
SuperMom wants to lose weight. Maybe
I separated the two, because you don't have to lose weight to live a healthy lifestyle. I'm not interested in weight loss, but I lead a healthy lifestyle because I want to thrive. Back to SuperMom though. She is reaching her healthy lifestyle. She has more energy, feels better about herself, and is doing amazing things for her life in the long run. She also wants to lose weight, but it struggling. Why? It seems the weekends are the culprit. Now, she is losing weight, but this weekend pattern of resorting to her previously unhealthy lifestyle is going to thwart that. It's like a smoker, quitting smoking, than smoking during the weekend. We all know where that will end up going. Last week I applauded her for her attitude, and I do the same this weekend. She has a very positive attitude, and continues with her determination! She is practicing her internal motivation, but I am going to challenge her a bit because I want to see her succeed!
What do you do if you keep running into the weekend meltdown? My advice, if you can't seem to shake the meltdown, than workout Sunday morning. Not for the calorie burn, nor the strength training, but because it holds you accountable. Do a workout you know will be hard. Are you a runner? Do a good, solid run on Sundays. If you're training for a race, make that your long run day. Do you have a sport you're passionate about? Make that a hard training day! If you know that Sunday morning you have to work your ass off, you will be a lot slower to chow down on salty junk foods or drink a bunch of alcohol! If you do, you'll only do it once or twice before your brain realizes you'll feel like shit the next day when you're training! If you don't have a sport, get one. It won't take long for your brain to set you straight. Lifestyle. Lifestyle. Lifestyle. IF YOU WANT A BETTER LIFESTYLE, DESIGN IT. MAKE IT. It won't make itself. Be unconventional. I just started karate and kickboxing. LOVE IT! It's not what you normally think of, but its a blast! Two things are happening here. You're shaking the meltdown, and enhancing your quality of life with a great, new hobby! That's changing your lifestyle, not just losing weight.
So to shake the weekend meltdown, make Saturday your rest day, and workout Sunday morning.
Halvorson, R. (2008, October 1). Weekends Weaken Weightloss . . Retrieved July 20, 2014, from http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/weekends-weaken-weight-loss?
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