Turns Out Weekends Aren’t for Losing Weight

At least not in my world.

Let me just start by saying… I haven’t been perfect.

This past week I’ve learned a very hard truth. Turns out, I have no willpower — especially over the weekends.

Well maybe that’s not entirely fair to say. I don’t even think I give willpower an opportunity to work its magic before I act — I behave as though I’m a college kid, one that is trapped in a 40-something-year-old body and is pissed off at the fact. It’s as though routine and discipline have no home on the weekends. They’re homeless vagabonds left to wander the streets while I run amuck ingesting whatever I want, whenever I want without remorse. It’s 20-something behavior in a 40-something body all weekend long—what the hell. (I’m completely allowing you behind my curtain, something I’m bound to regret — which I’m pretty sure I already do!)

To drive home my inability to keep it together on the weekends, I give you my trusted feedback system—a calendar, and star stickers .

The friggin’ weekends. All good intentions, poof, gone in the blink of an eye. 

But this is good, and let me explain why. This little system of mine is relaying information that perhaps I wasn’t all too aware of. A weekend here and there is not a total deal-breaker, but when you’re working toward achieving a weight loss goal and you have all these star-less weekends looking back at you, it becomes painfully obvious — weekends need a revamp. 

This is why having a measuring system set up — and obviously it doesn’t have to be a fancy one — can clear up any misgivings you may have since we all tend to think we do better than we’re actually doing. (Star stickers don’t lie.)

This is why there has been no difference in my belly circumference over the last week — yes, I’m a regular Mrs. Maisel when it comes to taking measurements, I don’t own a scale. (If you haven’t binge-watched that show yet, I highly recommend!) 

But I’m owning it and not blaming anyone else. It’s not my kids’ fault with their loud and disruptive behavior or the fact that there were birthdays and weddings last week that would bring even the most devout dieter to their knees. It’s all me… and it’s time to pay the piper.

Now here’s what’s working:

Intermittent fasting. As you may remember, I’m eating between the hours of 11:30 am and 7:30 pm. In the mornings I’m only drinking fluids until 11:30, and after 7:30 pm, the kitchen closes.

This has not been all that bad . There may have been one morning when I was ravenous as soon as I woke up and making it till 11:30 took all my mental strength , but that was just one day. So far I’ve had no real issues with this one — ugh, except for the weekends! Fine.

Other than that, it would seem that time constraints and I work well together. Especially since anything I was eating after 7:30 was obviously sweet and gooey, or salty and crunchy—like I’ve said before, no one’s pulling out the leftover broccoli at 9 pm. 

My working out has been pretty consistent, at least during the week .  On my calendar I got a star if I worked out AND ate within my time constraints. (Proof again that the weekends are total deal-breakers!)

I’ve also ditched the bread, pasta, pizza, rice and grains and I’ve stuck with that for the most part (again, damn those weekends)!

Going forward

Now that I can see what’s been working, what hasn’t been working, what needs tweaking, and what needs to change, here is my plan for this upcoming week.

Weekends :  (Thank you Captain Obvious) This is on the top of my list, I need to rein those bad boys in. This coming weekend it’s do or die. I am determined to get two stars and I will do what it takes—I’ll even pretend it’s Monday if I have to! Those star stickers will be mine.

Food :  I’m going to keep the bread, pasta, pizza and grains out, and I’m thinking I’ll add one more thing to that, and this one is going to hurt a little. For the next week, I’m willing to ditch the morning coffee since I do add in 1/2 tsp of sugar AND half-half. (I’m not an almond, oat, soy, rice, skim milk kind of girl— I like to keep it real and fatty!)

Overall feelings

Because checking in with emotions is very important. The Intermittent fasting is actually helping me to feel more in control, and it’s absolutely keeping my empty calorie count to a minimum. If I can just get my sh*t together on the weekends, I think I’m going to be making some major strides here. 

I also like that I’m working out more — for me there is something so satisfying about sweat dripping off my face after a really good Peloton ride, or being breathless after one of my 10-minute HIIT workouts — another shameless plug 😉

I’m holding off on an updated photo since I only took my “before” photo last week, you’re just going to have to hold your horses until next time for me to embarrass myself again! Honestly, I feel better than I have in weeks prior. I’m taking control over some of my habits and I’m no longer stuffing my face while lounging on the sofa. Win.

Hopefully next week I’ll begin to see some real changes, but here’s to the weekend being filled with star stickers!