Weekend Weight

Don't let the weekend throw you off track!

With the weekend fast approaching (yey) this is the time when a lot of people fall off the health/fitness wagon (boo).

Why? Often it's because they spend so long being 'good' during the week that the weekend turns into a bingefest on all the 'bad' things they can't have. Sound familiar anyone?

You work hard all week to stay healthy, to eat the right foods, to get your training in and then at the weekend the wheels fall off. The weekend is the time when you get together with friends and family, there are more opportunities to go out for drinks, dinner, to indulge 'because you deserve it', also time is  less structured so your workout regime often gets put off in favour of something more exciting e.g. brunch! Monday rolls around again and you feel bad about all the things you've been treating yourself to, you feel guilty and punish yourself by being even more stringent with your food and more aggressive with your workouts. By the time 5pm on Friday arrives again, you're done and you dive back into those weekend habits, piling on the weekend weight. The cycle continues...

So how do we change it?

Well, first of all, we need to be a little kinder to ourselves! I work on the 80/20 principle (not just in terms of diet and training, but I'll go into that in a separate post). 80% of the time I eat healthily, mindfully and train hard, keeping in line with my goals, 20% of the time I give myself a break!

Why?

Because if I drive myself mad during the week, denying myself all the things I like, training like a beast, and saving up my 'treats' until the weekend then of course I'm going to over-indulge when the time comes around.

Isn't it better to spread the wealth and allow yourself a little bit of lee-way in your diet (by diet I mean daily eating habits not fads), so you don't feel so hard done by that you go off the deep end just because it's a day beginning with 'S'?!

Now, I'm not saying that we should all be indulging in everything that we want throughout the week - that doesn't work with the 80/20 principle either. It's all about balance - that magical # that you see all over Instagram!  The idea is that if our behaviour is in line with our objectives 80% of the time, then the other 20% isn't going to have a significant negative effect.

This may not work for everyone. For most people there's a lot of trial and error when it comes to finding what your mind and body responds to best. But I can say that - for me - this principle helps to keep me on track; if I don't feel like I'm constantly depriving myself or training my body into the ground, then I'm less likely to skip out on a workout or reach for the cake come Saturday.

Here are a few more tips to stay on track this weekend:
- Schedule a class or training session in your diary, block this time out in black and white and work your social events around it, not the other way round.
- Instead of meeting friends at the pub, why not suggest trying a fitness class together - HIIT/Pilates/Yoga/Boxing there are so many options out there, add in a post-workout brunch and you're all set.
- Keep in mind all the hard work you've been putting in over the past week/month/year and then ask yourself if you really want that second helping of double-chocolate chip ice cream. The answer may still be yes(!), but at least you're being mindful and making an active decision.
- Allow yourself some non-judgemental fun! Is Saturday night going to be a Netflix marathon of 'The Good Wife'? (I think I may have just given away more about my life than intended!) Okay then, that's fine, just know that on Sunday you'll need to go out for that run/walk/class to balance it out.

What works for you to stay on track with your goals? Shout about it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime, have a great weekend guys and girls!