Motivation

I don't know about everyone else, but I tend to completely de-rail my diet efforts on the weekends. Why is it that on the weekends I think I "deserve" to not pay attention to what I eat?? I either go to a really good restaurant and order something completely delicious and try to not think about how bad it is for me, or I eat way too many snacks throughout the day (which add up to practically another full meal!).

It is really hard for me to make good choices on the weekend. And with the possibility of going out to a bar and having 2-3 alcoholic drinks, it's hard for me to save up those calories throughout the day so I can use them on alcohol. I feel too deprived and weekends should not be times of deprivation (maybe that sentiment is exactly my problem...)!!

How does everyone else cope with weekend dieting?? Do you have any tips for the rest of us Weekend Overeaters?

Thanks for the advice!

2-3 alcoholic beverages? I wish!

I dunno, I'm in the same boat as you, I guess. I'm ok, if I work Saturday, but usually one weekend day is a complete write-off, LOL.

I keep my calorie intake in check ON THE WEEKEND, is all.  I don't worry about the healthiness of the intake... I just worry about the calories.  Go out to eat, have fun... just when you get back, remember that you still have to log what you ate.

My problems usually stem from going to my parents' house on the weekends.  I'm in college, and sometimes I leave town to visit family or friends.  And it's THERE that I have the most trouble...

I figured I would respond because I notice I lose a couple pounds on the weekend and find it easier to watch my intake. I think it is because I stay very busy. If you snack through out the day, keep the snacks small and frequent. Like if I go to the mall, I bring a granola bar. I usually do not count my alcoholic beverages. I just write in my log that I also had 1 to 3 drinks, just so I know what my body can handle without gaining. I limit eating out to just one time on the weekend which really helps. When I go out for the meal, I stick to a salad with some kind of protein and let myself eat some bread. I am pretty much satisfied with that. Then it becomes habit. I can't imagine ordering anything else at a resteraunt (sp?)!

Thanks for the tips!

I'm trying to come up with a few tips to last me through this weekend (and if they work, I'll use them every weekend!):

1. Only eat out once per weekend (thanks lk1234).  This includes breakfasts, lunches & dinners ~ choose wisely!  This will be really hard; I'll have to go shopping and stock up on food.
2. When I do eat out, order something that sounds good to me (like leopardrayne) and not worry too much about the calories.  The catch: Get a to-go box right away so I am not tempted to eat the whole thing!
3. Start doing more things on the weekend!  I could be WAY busier if I just got off my butt and didn't read magazines & surf the internet during my free time.
4. Exercise on Saturday and/or Sunday (ideally both).  This will make me feel better if I do have a night out at a bar or eat a big meal.
5. Don't completely give up on dieting if I splurge one night ~ always remember I can get right back on track tomorrow.  I tend to get down on myself if I am not good on the weekend, which turns into a nasty downward spiral.
6. Be diligent about tracking calories on the weekend.  Normally I kind of "skip" the weekend, but to keep on track with my diet, this should be the time when I do the most tracking (since I could potentially be eating all day long if I don't pay attention to myself).  The concepts of portion sizes and feeling full evade me on weekends, so for me, this is a good option.

OK, that's enough for now.  :p  Have a good rest of the week, everyone!  Happy Valentine's Day (tomorrow)!

I find weekends easier usually, only because I'm able to control what foods I have access to. At school I'm stuck between classes and all there is is animal crackers, soda, mcds. LOL

Just try and plan out your cals. If I know I'm going out on a Saturday, I go to the gym and do my regular workout + walk an hour/90 minutes in the morning. I eat a light breakfast and lunch, then by the time the afternoon rolls around I'm fine to eat out. =)

i usually have what i want on the weekends but in moderation.i look at it as a day or two here and there isn't going to derail a years worth of work.

Girl! I am in your boat. I am cardio queen throughout the week. My week days are insanely busy between classes and teaching, and working out. I think I could potentially be losing 2 lbs a week, except I eat it right back on on Friday and Saturday. Sundays I spend feeling guilty... all day, going for a run, and pouting about how heavy and bloated I feel. Why is so hard? I think somehow because of all the hard work that I have put it.. that I really do deserve that snack, and pancakes with peanut butter at 1am ( rediculous but oh-so good) I throw my strict diet out the window and splurge in eating out and drinking. I have told myself again and again that if I make it through 2 solid weekends maintaining my diet and thinking consciously about what goes into my belly.. it will be habit, and i will feel great. My overeating weekends ruin my mood, and it usually takes me til wednesday to feel light and clean again.

I lost 20 lbs this summer, and have gained about 8 back when school started. There is nothing more depressing then feeling like your hard work went to waste. All those "fat pictures" I cringe at.. scare the crap out of me.. that I am on a slippery slope back to that image.

And so now.. I have found myself in a dangerous state of deprivation vs overeating. I deprive myself during the week to make up for my bad weekend, but reward myself on weekend for going to bed hungry each night of the week. I want to get some control of myself.

Mlilly - I am SOOOO in you're boat too! Although the last couple of years I have taken in more calories than I've burned during the week, hence the weight gain. I did however, manage to loose weight & keep it off several years ago (while still indulging on the weekends)...but I can't seem to grasp how I did it. Has my metabolism worsened that much? I'm only 27! Probably not too much, obviously I've been over-indulging!

Good tips Linzylu, LET'S GET SOME MORE PLEASE PEOPLE! THANKS!

mlilly, I completely feel the way you do: that I deserve to eat more on the weekend because of how good I was during the week. My calorie consumption is so much higher on the weekend than during the week ~ I don't think I've ever made it through the weekend tracking everything I eat because honestly there are some days where I can't remember everything I've eaten! That's sad. I'm definitely not "binging" on the weekend, but that steady stream of extra calories throughout the day really adds up. I've really got to find a way to get over this feeling that I "deserve" extra treats on the weekend because I've been "good" during the week. I know it's good to give myself a break, but give me an inch and I'll take a mile when it comes to food!

Definitely narrow it down to one "free day" or "free meal"......not a whole "FREE WEEKEND"

Allow yourself this, and you won't feel like you're "cheating", you will be able to stay on track rather then feeling like you've completely fallen off.

I'm in the same boat.  I wish that I could muster up enough will power to carry myself through the week-end.  It's only two days right.

I bust my butt Monday-Friday eating right and working out I play hockey 2 times a week go the the gym on my lunch hour and on Thursdays I play racquet ball, but when the week-end comes I also feel like I should treat myself for all the hard work that I did during the week.  I'm really glad to see I'm not the only one that falls off the wagon on week-ends. 

Now I see that I have to correct this if I want to see real results.  Thanks everybody for being honest. Now I don't feel like I'm the only one.  We can do this together.  I'm gonna follow thru this week end and see the results! :O)

Wow ~ everyone is so inspiring! Just knowing I'm not the only one who really WANTS to change their ways but finds it really challenging is making me want to DO IT ALREADY. I, too, am going to go through this weekend and really crack down on my eating. I'm going to try to follow all of the "tips" I wrote about yesterday & see how well I do. I'll keep posting updates and I hope everyone else does, too! Good luck everyone!!

Oh my goodness. I do the same thing! I watch what I eat during the week but on the weekends I let it go! I try not to go overboard and I am still concious but I don't really worry about it unless I know I've had a bad week, like this week. I love my wine and I actually sip about an ounce or 4 every night. I forget to log this though. When I'm out to eat, usually I have enough will power to avoid the bread they bring out on the table, like at Olive Garden or Texas Roadhouse. I'm usually a cardio queen too during the week so I sort of feel like I deserve to eat whatever I want within reason on the weekend too!! Good Luck to all the weekend overeaters on this Valentines Day Weekend!!

Original Post by carlisa03:

Definitely narrow it down to one "free day" or "free meal"......not a whole "FREE WEEKEND"

 Oh gosh, this has become my problem!!  About a year or so ago, I lost those "last ten pounds" for good; I did this by allowing myself Saturday to eat whatever I wanted (within reason).  Well, apparently over the last 6 months, "Saturday" has turned into "Friday night to Sunday morning" to "Friday night to Sunday night" (and "within reason" has turned into 4000 calorie days [I swear! It's disgusting!]...and I'm not a big person...), and I keep calculating, and my weekends are definitely helping me to actually GAIN weight rather than lose it!  

I really have no words of wisdom or even advice, but at the very least I can empathize and hopefully put into practice some of y'all's tips!  

What usually works for me is to have my weekly weigh-in on Sunday. That really motivates me to WANT to be good on the weekend!  Hope this helps!

I wrote a forum about this and got some good advice... do weigh ins on Sunday, plan to get out of the house during the day, print up special (healthy and new) recipes... etc.  in all reality, we just have to realize that all week we stress and works our butts off to drop a pound, why screw it up during the weekend?

There is nothing wrong with treating yourself on the weekend because you have been so good all week. How we treat ourselves is a different matter. I have the same issues on the weekend. I am trying a new strategy. I am giving my self a treat. Every weekend that I do reasonably well. To me that just means not consuming more than I burn (I'll worry about the calories deficit on the weekdays to lose weight) I'll put aside a little money treat, what ever I can afford.  Then I can treat myself to new clothes as I lose the weight. 

When you do eat out, there are a lot of restaraunts that have weight watchers menues or light menus.  Applebee's dishes are great.  Steak and shrimp skewer are my favorite with the whole meal less than four hundred calories.  You are full and satisfied when you are done.

 It's a constant struggle.  Good luck.  Weekend is coming.  Hope we can stay on track!

Because I consider Friday night to be part of the weekend, I'll provide a recap of my night last night.

I didn't do horribly, but I didn't do well, either. I had 3 Miller Chill's (beer; quite delicious!) throughout the night, which I believe to be the best drinking choice present at the get-together I attended. I also had a slice of pepperoni pizza, which could have been avoided altogether, but I had developed a slight buzz from the beer and felt like I "needed" food to counterbalance some of what I had drank. That's just a crazy rationalization I make when I've had a few drinks. Someone brought a platter of veggies & cheese & crackers, so I had 2 crackers with cheese and snacked on carrots the rest of the night. Overall, I consumed about 2500 calories yesterday, which is about 1000 more than normal.

In good news, I was playing Guitar Hero II all night (my fiance and I have played it before and I'm kinda good!), which burns more calories than sitting on a couch drinking beer. Definitely not burning 1000 of the extra calories I consumed, but it helped a little bit.

I'm not totally depressed about last night ~ there have been much worse overeating occasions ~ but I want to do better tonight for sure.

Good luck to everyone else!!!

hey ( :

I am not so much a weekend overeater anymore, but I do get really bored on the weekend.  (my sweet bf is addicted to WoW) When that happens, I try and surf cc until the urge to snack passes.  ( ;  all my usual cc girls are not around much on weekends though, so no one's saying much.

If anyone's around, let's chat.  ( ;

I too have the same problem.  Actually I am finding that I'll "start fresh" on Monday and do perfectly well until Friday.  My coworkers and I go out for lunch and then that evening it's party time! Then the rest of the weekend is out of control. 

My problem is that I'm not tracking anything on the weekends and so I have no idea how much I'm eating.  Why am I not tracking much on the weekends?  During the week I have my computer in front of me at work all day and then at night right after dinner I'm eager to log into cc because I already know I've done well and am still motivated.  Late Friday night or Saturday morning is the opposite:  I know I've done poorly, and counting alcohol calories is very tedious, and the motivation goes out the window, making it hard to to get back. 

Having voiced this just now has made me realize something - maybe on Saturday morning I should put the calories in anyway, say to myself "that was stupid" and then MOVE ON.  I can "start fresh" on Saturday morning, rather than on Monday.  This way I get one evening to splurge, and maybe after a couple of weeks I will be proactive and restrict my Friday lunchtime count.