AH 'SHER IT'S OK IT'S SATURDAY

Have you ever found yourself eating too much, drinking too much or even sitting too much only to hear yourself say, "ah sher it's ok its Saturday", or "its ok it's Christmas" or "it's ok it's my birthday" or "it's ok the sun is shining"...

I've found myself using that sentence a lot lately.  I've been giving myslef any excuse possible to over indulge.

I finished work early last Saturday so myself and Liam took advantage of the extra time and had a lovely lunch together at home and headed to the cinema for the matinee show of Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (which was really great). 

As we were driving past Dunphy’s shop Liam said do we need to stop and get something for the cinema? 

EH YE!!!!  IT’S SATURDAY 'SHER

Now you all know what Dunphy's shop is like!!  It's like being transported to Willy Wonkas chocolate factory. 

We picked up a heap of chocolates, crisps and sweets even though we were both still full after our lunch and headed on our merry way.  We munched our way through the entire film.  Each sweet I ate was going to be my last until I found they were all gone!!

I can’t even say I enjoyed it!  Physically I felt uncomfortable and bloated.  Mentally I felt guilty and regretful and angry at myself for doing the same thing once again. 

I felt absolutely rotten walking out the door and it got me thinking about the psychology behind the binge.

I had been to the cinema on a weeknight the previous week and it was a totally different story.  I was content to sit there with a coffee and some fruit and I enjoyed the movie just as much.

  

So what is it that made me think I needed junk just because it was the weekend?  It’s like a switch in my brain is flicked that says yippee it’s the weekend!!!!  You’ve been so good all week so now you can eat anything you want.

I always talk about finding a healthy balance.  A healthy lifestyle shouldn’t leave you feeling deprived or restricted.  We all know about the 80/20 rule and we sing about being good 80% of the time so that we can be bad 20% of the time, guilt free.  What I have found recently is that the 80/20 rule can very easily slip into a 60/40 rule and that’s not so good.

My main problem, and I’m sure lots of you will be in the same boat, is that my “20%” starts on Friday afternoon and goes right through to Sunday night.  With nights out on the town, breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners, movies and big family get together s, weekends are filled with plenty of eating and drinking.

Weekends are great fun.  We all need a bit of a switch off and some down time after a hard week BUT a weekend of socialising and partying can lead to a few extra lbs and this is something that none of us wants!!

We all use the same mantra...

“I’ll start again on Monday” 

We train hard and eat clean all week.  We struggle to lose the weight we put on at the weekend only to instantly put it on again over the following weekend, and so our weight goes up or if we’re really lucky it stays the same.

It’s like a vicious circle.

So what can we do to get ourselves off this merry-go-round???

I've been thinking about this a lot and here are my two biggest downfalls when it comes to weekend overeating and how I plan to gain some semblance of control over the weekend.

KEEP TRACKING

I’m guilty of not tracking my nutrition at the weekend.  I might put in my healthy bowl of porridge on Saturday morning but that’s where it ends.  If using Myfitnesspal keeps me on track from Monday to Friday why do I stop at the weekend?  

It's simple!!!  

It's because I don't want to know how much over my calorie allowance I'm going.  Knowing will make me feel bad BUT over eating makes me feel even worse 😕 

So, if I want to avoid weekend binges, the golden rule is to make sure I track even if I'm over my allowance.

AVOID USING FOOD REWARDS

When you think about it we develop an unhealthy relationship with food from a very young age.

Food is always at the centre of social events, from christenings to funerals. 

We have it when we're happy and we have it when we're sad.  

Chocolate or ice cream never fail to make us feel better after a tough day.

A bag of jellies will always stop a child from crying when they cut their knee.

  

FACT

Using food as a reward is the absolute last thing we need to do if we are trying to lose weight.

Food is not a reward. Food is fuel.

The next time I find myself about to reward myself with food I'm going to stop and think about it.  

My plan is to reward myself with experiences rather than food. 

A manicure, a massage or a walk on the beach would be far better, calorie-free ways to treat myself that will leave me feeling great.

As always I'd love your feedback.

Do you find yourself going way OTT at the weekend only to feel awful afterwards?

Let me know what you think 😀