You are going to make it. Even though 95 percent of dieters fail and gain all their weight back in within five years, we believe in you. You will be one of the top five percent.
When you’ve got big weight goals, sticking to a clean eating and exercise regimen is key to success. But no one can expect you to be on track 100 percent of the time.
How do you stick to a diet when there’s never one cheat day? That’s where your weekend diet comes in.
It’s time for you to enjoy your weekends, while not setting yourself back too much. Between football season, holidays, and birthday parties or nights out with your gal (or guy) pals — no one expects you to completely avoid overeating.
But we’ve got 10 tips for helping to keep up with your weight loss goals with your weekend diet. What have you got to lose — besides weight?
1. Pick Your Poison
You can’t have a Bloody Mary, bottomless mimosas, waffles, and dessert. But you can have one — sometimes even two — of those things. There’s no need to give up your brunch plans, just make sure to make healthy choices.
One splurge is OK. Five isn’t.
2. Skip the Buffet
Again, with the brunch! If your friends or family are proposing places to meet up, try to have them avoid buffet brunches. Especially if you’re prone to overeating, let them know that you’d much prefer a place with menu service.
You don’t have to mention your weekend diet if you don’t want to, but that leads us to number three…
3. Enlist Your Friends
Tell your friends and family that you’re working hard to keep up with your goals on the weekends. Everyone loves to be an accountability buddy, and you’ll often find that you have more support if you’re honest.
Whether it’s limiting sugary drinks at the bar, desserts on a date, or finding a friend to be a workout buddy — you can ask a loved one to cheer you on. You don’t have to be anti-social just because you’re trying to drop a few pounds, but make sure you ask people that will hold you to your commitments, and honor theirs to you.
4. Get App-y
And we don’t mean eat a bunch of appetizers — although that can be a decent weekend diet strategy!
Download an app like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt on your smartphone or tablet, and log your food and activities as much as you can. Be honest: If you overeat or over-enjoy your weekend, log it in your app.
You’d be surprised what good logging your food and activity can do for you. Just this year, Kaiser Permanente released a study that proves that food diarists lose twice the weight.
5. Plan Your Meals for the Week
Healthy snacking on the weekend can keep you on track, but meal planning has an even larger plethora of health benefits. And there’s an economic bonus, too: Meal planning can make you leaner, while keeping your wallet fatter, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Planning your meals for the week makes weekend shopping quicker, calorie planning simpler, and can save you lots of money. It eliminates last-minute decision-making, which can decrease food costs and calorie consumption.
6. Sneak In Long Workouts
If you do 30 minutes in the gym during the week, try for 45 at least once on the weekends. If you fully intend on enjoying your weekend calorically, then make sure you’re increasing your activity levels. One of the best ways to combat bulge is through aerobic exercise.
You can enlist friends like above, but weekends are also good times for yoga classes with the girls or an extra nine holes of golf with the boys. There are plenty of ways to stay active on the weekend, whether you’re staying on track with your eating or not.
7. Fasting as a Weekend Diet
Although it can be controversial in some circles, medicine is coming around more and more to the idea of intermittent fasting. With scientific studies to back up its health benefits, some people take two days off from eating per week.
…Sounds perfect for a weekend diet, doesn’t it?
If you’re not into taking off large swaths of time, try intermittent fasting for maybe 12 to 16 hours at a time. Weekends are a good time to try this, as you may have more control over your schedule.
8. Stay Homemade
Restaurants frequently add butter and salt to foods you wouldn’t overseason at home, and a homecooked meal typically has fewer calories than its restaurant counterpart.
If you’re looking for ways to cut back on the weekends, insist on eating at home. You can still go to bars or restaurants with friends but stick to liquids or side salads if you have to.
This might put a slight damper on your social life, but it will certainly save you money…and calories!
9. Try A Healthy Dessert
If you’re looking for clean eating recipes, we’ve got ’em. Try to keep your weekend diet on track by making healthy desserts you can share. From fruit and yogurt parfaits to clean eating custards, there’s so much more you can have than just cheesecake and full-fat ice cream.
Indulging your sweet tooth in a healthy way on the weekends will help keep your diet on track, but also make you feel like you’ve had a treat!
10. Sleep It Off
One of the best ways to reset your body and decrease your appetite is getting enough sleep. Midday naps on the weekends might be a little out of reach, but hitting the hay early on Friday or Sunday night can help get your ready for healthy days ahead.
Make sure you don’t eat a huge or heavy meal before bed, as it can interrupt your sleep and potentially slow your metabolism.
Weekend Diet, Weekday Diet
Whether you’re trying to get fit all week or all weekend, your health is a full-time job.
If you’re looking for more weight loss tips and tricks, please check out our many resources. We have blog posts and articles that will help keep your health on track, including workout routines and clean eating recipes.
