be eating and indulge in something that you
‘believe’ to be ‘bad’ for you.
This makes you feel guilty for what you have done.
You believe you have betrayed yourself and this
leads to feelings of guilt.
Whilst in this negative state, temptation creeps
up and hits when you are most vulnerable.
This leads to further indulgence of something
on your ‘taboo’ list.
You then just crumble, say "sod it, I will start
again on Monday"!
And thus we travel in this vicious circle of
dieting stalemate.
What I get my guys and girls to understand is, that it
is what is achieved over the long term that matters.
Therefore, eating something ‘bad’ every so often
(90-10 rule) will not have any negative impact if
they control the portion size they are consuming.
Another thing we discuss is that they shouldn’t just
live for the weekend…
3. You have a mind-set issue
The weekend has become synonymous with
relaxing, partying, unwinding and generally
letting go of the weekday shackles.
Therefore we already have it in our minds that
the week is there to be good and strict, and we
can be liberal at the weekend.
This is the major stumbling block I face with
people.
"You have to work hard at it so you can let go at
the weekend" was a response I got from one of
my clients.
And this is repeated by most if not all of the
people that come to see me.
This in itself is a massive mind-set issue.
You see, to be successful long term, you need to
shift your mind-set to thinking over the period of a
month, rather than a week and then over a year,
rather than a month.
Your body doesn’t reset itself at the end of each day,
week, month . . . the calories we consume carry over
The Grapevine
to the next day and so on. Therefore if you over
indulge excessively at the weekend, you are very
likely to undo all the good work during the week -
you are even likely to go over your weekly intake,
meaning you put on weight!
What I work on with our members is to learn to fall
off the wagon, whenever this may be (Tuesday
morning, Wednesday lunchtime, Thursday evening
and maybe even at the weekends), and how to get
straight back on the wagon and remain focused for
another 3 to 5 days before they feel the need to fall
off again.
That way they are in control and don’t feel as though
they have to battle to the weekend.
But how can YOU solve/minimise this problem so
it has an instant effect on YOUR situation?
Here are my top tips to avoid weekend bingeing or
to at least minimise the damage:
1. Exercise at the weekend
I don’t normally like to give this one as advice as
you can never out-train a bad diet and this is
very much in the damage limitation category.
Earn your indulgence with an intense workout.
At least this way, your body will be primed to
handle the extra calories more effectively.
2. Eat regularly
This will programme your stomach to accept
that food will be coming at regular intervals and
thus it will not release signals to the brain that it
is hungry all the time.
It will also add routine to your weekend and will
stop you from eating big, as you can tell yourself
that the next meal is not too far away.
3. If you are going out, adjust your food intake
to accommodate the indulgence
If you are going out for a meal, then adjust what
you eat during that day BEFORE the meal. Stick
to a few portions of protein and lots of vegetables.
Stay clear of sugary foods and starchy products.
Basically, you are leaving room beforehand for
the extra calories that are coming your way.
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