Weekends. *sigh* I hate weekends. Minus the sleeping in and not going to work thing I really don't like them. I hate the break in routine. I hate the festival/special occasion feel of them. I hate the uncontrolled eating that derails my entire effing week. Not a fan. Now, this is not new. A lot of "lifestyle change" people dislike weekends for the very same reasons I do. Even my mom doesn't like weekends and she doesn't work, so there's not too much routine to break there. Every day's a weekend for her, lol.
I really don't know how to handle weekends. I'm starting to think I should move my WI to mid-week (it's currently Friday). Because after weighing in I do have a sort of "holiday" feeling where I think, oh I can have that cheat meal now, and that cheat meal turns into 3 days. I plan any outings with friends on Fridays, which only perpetuates the problem. I am a believer in having a splurge meal once a week. Otherwise I think you'll go crazy. And that's kinda how I start to feel by Friday...kinda tired of the grind of watching everything that goes into my mouth and wanting that "treat". But, and here's the kicker here, I can't stop it at that one meal. One meal a week is fine. But I can't stop after that one meal. It starts an avalanche that lasts all bloody weekend, and then on Monday (or Tuesday with the whole long weekend thing this past weekend), I'm back to playing catch up. My weight loss is slower as a result. I eat really well during the week. Exactly what I plan. Occasionally having to be very insistant with my in-laws who insist I eat with them during their late Ramadan meals (they use bread as a fork...no joke...fine for fasting people, but not so good for a bottom heavy carb lover at 1:00 am!) But otherwise I'm pretty good Monday-mid Friday. Then I go AWOL. I know that I'd go down faster if I could conquer this.
I really like where I'm at fitness wise. I'm making a huge concerted effort to work out and to work out hard. Spin 1-2x/week, bootcamp 2x/week, resistance/cardio 1-2x per week. That's amazing for me and I look forward to it. But all of that is moot if I don't keep my eating under control from Friday night to Sunday night. It gets all undone and it's so frustrating.
How does one create a routine on the weekend? Because if you can manage a semblance of a routine I think it would break the "holiday" feeling. Nothing kills the mood like routine, lol. With Ramadan it's been hard, cause I try to be out of the house a lot and sometimes it's hard to pack things with me. I don't know if I'd be disrespectful by openly preparing my food in the morning. I usually go to the gym for a couple hours on Saturday to get out of my house. But again, if I hit up the food court and get a poutine afterwards, what the heck's the point?? My next step is to prepare things like my protein shakes and stuff at night when it's less noticeable and freeze them for the next day. Sheesh, by the time I get a routine Ramadan will be over and I'll be back at square one!
One thing I have been doing is in my snacks. I pack very protein fibre rich snacks so that I'm not tempted into diving into the bread once I get home. I also don't snack at work on bad things, which I am quite proud of. But again, that's during the week. During the weekends I have a lot more trouble because I'm surrounded by poor options. I know that I am the one that decides what goes into my body. I'm not blaming eating poutine on anybody but myself. But what I really want is a coping mechanism for the weekends.
I think I have to take away that element of "treating" myself. I normally plan a meal or something on Friday, and I think I need to remove that expectation. I'm not sure how to do this without feeling deprived. Unless I use a scale like what has been mentioned on the WW boards. It's got to be a 10/10 on the desire scale. If I could live without it, then meh, let it go. I need to stop planning these treats. I have a "go big or go home mentality", so when I plan a cheat meal, boy am I ever cheating! I think last week it was 4 cheese fettuccini alfredo (I made it myself, but still), with garlic bread and chocolate ice cream for dessert. Anything worth doing is worth doing well eh? Take away the plan and the expectation drops. This could be the one time where not planning could aid in weight loss. It so very often goes the other way, lol. This past week was Red Lobster. Le sigh. So I am taking that expectation away and I will plan instead to make a better choice with whatever I am up against. I will also prepare as much as my food ahead of time so I can stash it in my gym bag on Saturday and Sunday.
If I can make a routine, this will go a lot easier, on myself mentally as well as my waist line!
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