Photo by TheCulinaryGeek
I am rushing to get this posted in time to save you! Save you from what??? YOUR WEEKEND!
Are you one of those people who is “good” all week and then let’s yourself go a bit on the weekend. Does your weekend start midday Friday? If you answered yes, you’re like most folks. You start fresh every Monday with all sorts of promises to your self regarding food and fitness. Awesome! You’re pretty on top of it until Thursday. Then you start to get into the weekend mentality:
“I was good all week, I can reward myself a bit.”
“I worked out three times this week, I don’t need to workout over the weekend.”
“I saved all my cheat days/meals/calories/points up all week so I can indulge.”
“If I’m good all week I deserve to whatever the heck I want over the weekend.”
This kind of thinking can get you into all sorts of trouble, my friend. If you cheat/indulge/fall off the wagon/stop exercising on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, you are letting go of your goals 40% of the time. 40%!!!!! That’s a huge number. Losing focus 40% of the time never gets anyone what they want. So ya gotta reign it in a bit.
Because I’m hear to save you from yourself this weekend, I’m giving you 5 tips to keep your metabolism on fire and your fat stores burning the midnight oil for the next three days:
1. GET IN 1 WEEKEND WORKOUT: You WILL workout on Saturday or Sunday. Don’t even think about it. It’s gonna happen. Why? It’ll keep you honest. If you take the weekend off from your workouts, your diet will go right down the drain too. Additionally, you will burn way less calories over the weekend. Not ok. I recommend getting your weekend workout in first thing Saturday. It will REALLY kick off your weekend with a bang. You’ll be in a fantastic mood when it’s over, ready to play and relax with your family the rest of the weekend. Note: last Saturday I wore my Body Media Fit all day Saturday and Sunday to track calories burned. On Saturday, I ran 6 miles and burned a total of 2700 cals for the day. Sunday I didn’t workout, didn’t even leave the house. I burned 1900 cals. BIG DIFFERENCE. Totally worth sweating it out on Saturday morning.
2. DRINK/DRINK/DRINK: Water, that is, not wine. Hold on, we’ll get to cocktails in a minute. . . Many of my clients are very good at incorporating water into their day all week. It’s part of their routine. When the weekend comes and schedules shift, it becomes much harder. Drinking water and staying on top of hydration will keep your metabolism burning and churning. It will also keep you more full/less hungry. BTW, dehydration can slow your metabolism down by 3%! Don’t want that happening! So, drink AT LEAST 1 ounce for every 2 pounds of weight (so a 150 pound person should drink at least 75 ounces a day.)
3. PLAY: In addition to your workout, play get in a family “workout”. I’m telling you 15-20 minutes of tag with the kiddos will have you in a full sweat. And it will wear out the kids. Double whammy! Choose some active game you can play with the whole family and be mindful that you want it to be a “mini workout” for you. So chase, chase, chase!
4. DRINK SMART: Ok, I’m not going to make all my readers abandon me by telling you not to partake in alcoholic beverages all weekend. Instead I’m going to tell you to drink smart. Did you know that many cocktails have as many calories and as much sugar as a can of pop or a serving of ice cream? Did you know tonic has as many calories as pop? Uh huh!! Here’s my favorite cocktail: vodka/club soda/fresh squeezed lime. Know why it’s my favorite? 60 calories (the lowest cal cocktail out there) and no sugar. Therefore, no guilt. Also, slow down your caloric consumption while drinking by having a glass of water between every drink.
5. PLANNED CHEATING: I allow my 6 Week Weight Loss clients to have two cheat meals a week. I tell them to plan them out at the beginning of the week. So on Monday, you already know when you’re going to cheat. You have that to look forward to. Makes it so much easier to stay motivated all week if you know when you get to indulge. The other thing about planned cheating is that there’s no guilt. If you don’t plan your cheating you feel derailed by it and let it snowball into many cheats/indulgences and you give up, thinking “I’ll just start fresh on Monday.” This typically lead so hundreds if not thousands of extra calories. AAAAAACKKKK! If you plan your cheats, there no guilt. You indulge and you love it and there’s not shame, no guilt, no falling off the wagon into weekend oblivion. So, decide now when you will indulge this weekend. One or two times ONLY! Stick to it and enjoy it. You will be so glad on Monday when you’re not in weekend recovery mode!
Ok, you got it, right?! Follow these 5 tips and you may actually lose weight this weekend. At the very least you won’t gain weight. That’s pretty awesome considering most people gain the same 1-3 pounds every weekend, spend all week trying to burn it off and then start the process all over again.
Check in here on Monday and report how it went for you. Oh, and tell us your cheats. It’s always fun to know what other people indulge in. My cheat meals this week: dinner out with family Friday and the hubs on Saturday. My workout: Treadmill sprint intervals in the hotel gym Saturday morning (I’ll be in Portland visiting my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.) Happy Friday friends!
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