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Arete Warriors – spirit, mind, body strong
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Are you ruining your Monday through Thursday effort?
There are 7 days in a week. If we eat healthy for 4 of them, and go off the deep end for the other 3, that’s 57%.
That’s an F. Failing.
Even if we eat OK on Friday, that’s 5 out of 7 days. That’s a LOW C at 71%.
I’m all for some splurging. When I go on vacation, I GO, in ALL the luxurious directions, then clean it up when I get home.
But if we’re doing this every weekend, we are not going to improve.
Depending on the severity of our debauchery, a low C is not going to carry us forward toward our goals. An F will set us back.
You can play the game 2 ways. Sticking with our grading system, you can go for an A+ week, then back off to a B- on the weekends… or, you can keep your average around a B+ all the time… it’s up to you!
The severity of an A+ game rewards us with fast results, which can be motivating. But it can also be so unrealistic to maintain that people fall off the cliff when they decide to “splurge” in the least.
You do you, but here are some tips to limit the damage on the weekends.
Let’s Prepare – the warm up
During the week, we follow a routine. We get up at __ AM and go to bed around __ PM.
When we wake up we go through a series of habits, in a particular order, including what (and when) we eat for breakfast.
If we start by going to bed later on Friday night, we likely either
A. wake up later on Saturday morning, or we
B. DON’T, so we are sleep deprived to start it all off.
Even if you sleep in, research is showing more and more that our sleep consistency (keeping our bedtimes and wake up times similar) is almost more important than how many hours we get!
Our sleep schedule could be to blame for some of our “bad decisions” on the weekends.
Our morning routine is also important. During the week, we are on a mission from the time we get up. Getting kids, husband and ourselves off in all the directions, maybe you workout, pack a lunch…. whatever that routine is, if it is different on the weekends, this could also be affecting your decision making.
A protein-filled, low-sugar breakfast is always my recommendation.
Keeping your blood sugar stable will maintain your energy and limit your cravings.
The other reason we tend to over-eat is boredom.
Your weekdays are probably packed with activities that keep your mind engaged and your hands busy. That also likely limits your excessive snacking.
Plan your days on the weekend.
It doesn’t mean (it SHOULDN’T mean) you have no downtime! Just schedule it.
Ideally, away from the kitchen.
And lace in some opportunities to get some things done. That feeling of accomplishment elevates your mood and keeps you from slumping into the couch with a bowl of HoHos.
I told you last week how a year or more ago I purged and organized my house… and in doing so I lost 10 lbs. I think some of that had to do with decreasing the clutter, but I also think having a purpose I was excited about, feeling productive, improved my mood.
Decide in advance how many and what “treats” you are going to allow yourself.
If you have dinner plans, go ahead and have that cocktail or glass of wine OR the dessert. Or maybe BOTH if you’ve planned for it.
Remember, resolve dissolves in alcohol. So if you’re going to drink, your decision making after that drink is going to be suspect. 😜
I have noticed for me, the drinks negatively affect my sleep and therefore my next day as well.
I still drink! Just a lot more selectively than I used to. It’s just my priority to FEEL GOOD, and alcohol gets in the way of that too much.
Let’s Work – the exercise
Do you agree with this? Can you see that your going to bed later on Friday makes you start your weekend off tired, and that may be causing some of your splurging?
Can you also see how a routine, organizing your time and feeling productive, would elicit more self-control?
If your weekends are more hectic than your weekdays (like mine) you might want to invest in a bit of food prep to make eating on the run easier.
I went to Nadia’s first diving meet this week. It was easy to pack a salad with meat & berries on the side because I had all the ingredients already in the fridge.
I often have cut up carrots and cucumbers ready for dipping in the hummus. (Yummmm.) I keep the single serving cups from Costco in my fridge and use them as “ice cubes”. They melt perfectly in time for lunch. (I do the same with their guacamole cups.)
Another hack: I love savory and crunchy so I will sometimes sprinkle Tajin on my cucumbers. It is hard to overeat cucumbers. 😉
Costco also sells individual grab and go packs of chicken or beef. Even Nadia will eat the steak ones! (She’s picky.)
Carbs are easy to find. It’s the protein and vegetables that we need to plan ahead for.
We are also using a lot of the single serving Skinny Pop bags (from Costco) this summer. One bag is 10 g of carbs.
You deserve a little effort to make your life easier. So do your kids. Invest in some food, and maybe carrying containers, that will make your life easier this summer (and every weekend from here on out).
