Weekend are not special occasions

[Weekendregret]

Nope, they happen every week and I need to reign it in. Very bored of the whole loosing in the week & gaining back at the weekend thing.
Right now I'd like to loose about a stone. Would be OK with half a stone but some leeway seems sensible.

Monday through Thursday is sorted, good choices with food, some exercise, not set in stone but 18/6 kind of eating with lots of water involved. All great. Then Friday rolls around and it goes a bit pants. Still good food but way to much butter, cheese, bread, sugar & alcohol involved. Every single week.

So starting right now, yes I will still cook a pot of spaghetti & meatballs and yep wine will be opened but I can have a smaller portion and I don't have to drink my weight in wine. Never going to be a one glass person but rather than think I'm an all or nothing person, maybe I can moderate?

If anyone feels like joining me please do, otherwise I'll just use this to track my weekend choices.

I think this is where I've been going wrong for years. I've recently started a 6 week fat loss program and weigh / measure day is a Monday so I've had to make more mindful choices.

Last weekend we still went out for an Indian but I had chicken shashlik , so no sauce with salad and a small amount of boiled rice. I still enjoyed myself and didn't deprive the rest of the family from going out or sabotage my diet. For the first time on ages my weight didn't go up on a Monday!

I'm also going alcohol free for the 6 weeks just to try and boost things a bit.

Enjoy your spaghetti and meatballs. If we have a meal like this I now add a salad to half the plate then have a much smaller amount that usual. I have decided the garlic bread is too much if I want to lose weight so have given that up for now. Strangely I've not missed it and definitely don't miss the bloated feeling I'd usually get after a pasta meal.

👋 hi. I will join you (from your other thread)

I definitely struggle with this, partly because my dh is the biggest ‘but it’s the weekend…../bank holiday/sunny” guy going. I’ve been really working on my FOMO because deep down I know that i will enjoy my weight loss more than any wine, takeaway or pudding. I just find it very hard to remember that.
I have cut down a lot on alcohol this year and was really trying to cut out UPF as well, but I just found it impossible to stick to my calories while Also cutting out processed foods.

Today I have had a lovely Mediterranean tapas breakfast (tomatoes, chorizo, mozzarella pearls, salad, homemade aioli)
dinner will be gastro fish from the freezer with minty peas and maybe new potatoes.
I’ve been busy all day stripping wallpaper and we are going to go out for a run (will be short though because it’s too hot). I’ll end up on 1000 calories ish today, which is very good for me and very very good for a weekend.

This is my strategy, shift portion ratios and bulk up more on veg/ salad and reduce the carbs.
I'm not banning anything, but some things I have cut frequency on.

To be fair, my diet is decent and I'm not prone to regular decadence, but that also means there's no easy cuts without getting punitive, and I don't like punitive.

So retaining focus at the weekend is essential. I'm too short with too low a calorie burn to cope with wasting 2 days out of every 7.

Tonight I had an alcohol free gin “botanical drink” with grapefruit tonic. Very nice. And dh bought a cake and I did not have any 😇

Week #1 starting this week a little differently.

Normally post weekend blow out, I'd knuckle down and be all super strict & super miserable.
This week I'm starting by being less grumpy, more positive and going to have a plan of preparedness for the next weekend by Friday. I've always liked Gin Stevens 'delay don't deny' mantra so that will definitely feature.

I'm going to updating here on Friday with my weekend plan of action and report back on Mondays.

@Roserunner I know it's where I've been going wrong. I try to weigh everyday but must admit that whenever I skip a day it's always Monday! No more, probably the most important day for me to weigh. Chicken Shashlik sounds perfect.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I find it difficult with the DH and the "it’s the weekend…../bank holiday/sunny” guy" thing. I don't want to be the party pooper, the one to say no all the time ect but thinking about Roserunner and her family gathering, she didn't upset her family or self sabotage. I need to be more like that.
Get you with the alcohol free gin “botanical drink” with grapefruit tonic! And no cake! 💪
@BogRollBOGOF exactly this "I'm not banning anything, but some things I have cut frequency on."

I’ve just recently cut out wine at weekends and swapped it to gin and low calorie lemonade or tonic. It was making a huge difference till this morning when I’m up a pound and a half from Saturday. Forgot to pick up my lunch and now I’m miserable, heavier in weight and even after a week exhausted because I didn’t sleep last night which will have bumped my weight up!

@socks1107 but it has been working and hopefully you will get some sleep and a pound and a half is nothing in the scheme of things. I easily go up four or five pounds over a weekend!
Re slimline - I know others find those useful but to be honest when I have a g&t the tonic amount is tiny and is the least of my worries 😂quite definitely the quantity of gin and the snacks that follow is my downfall.

I had Asda non alcoholic “botanical drink” and little cans of blood orange and elderflower tonic - each drink was total about 40 calories but it was really nice and felt like a treat. To he honest it’s not the calories in the alcohol per se for me, it’s the metabolic impact of it- I smell terribly, I eat crap, I feel demotivated etc etc even if the alcohol itself is included in my calories comfortably.

I also weighed in for my diet club and I had gained nearly 3Lbs and that was on top of a gain last week as well. So I really do need to get my backside into gear! My shopping order has arrived and the fridge is looking very green and healthy.

Just rereading this- I sleep terribly, not smell 🤣

I was thinking yesterday about this thread and it dawned on me that maybe the reason why we ho so mad at the weekends is because all week we feel a bit deprived. Not so much calories wise but just enjoyment wise, so the weekend we feel we need ‘treats’. I wonder if the key to success is to make my week more exciting, and my food look/feel nicer. For example, I have started drinking my morning coffee outside in the sunshine, but previously I was just perching on the wall. I’ve now moved some furniture and bought a little table yesterday, so now I have a little coffee area , I sat there this morning and it was beautiful. Still the same black coffee, but felt like a treat.

@thenewaveragebear1983 Funnily enough I was pondering similar....perhaps with the whole super miserable & super strict Mon thing, my pendulum is off and if I just let up a little in the week, I might not go mad every weekend? Maybe. Could be a slippery slope!

Thing is, I don't feel particularly deprived in the week, I enjoy what we eat, I enjoy my exercise, sleep well, feels good and comes with the type of enjoyment that comes from achievement.

It's pretty hardwired into me ( & Dh ) that weekend enjoyment is alcohol, chocolate, cheese, treats essentially.
Sounds simple doesn't it, find other things that give enjoyment. Going to think more.

I agree, I actually really enjoy the strict week days in many ways. I think to be honest the chore of weekly meal planning is what I am rebelling from at the weekends. Meals are quite functional in the week aren’t they? At the weekend dh cooks and it’s not often he does so I tend to just have whatever he cooks. Having a big more time makes it feel a bit of a treat, hence the splurge. Then combined with a bank holiday or unexpectedly sunny weather and I think that’s why I get into party mode 🤣

Your little sunshine coffee area sounds lovely, what a nice thing to do. Have you room for a few plants?
So when dh cooks at the weekend, what happens then? I mean is it what he cooks that derails you or does it lead to raiding the fridge or something?

I'm taking baby steps.
If I can cut down at least half of the weekend splurge, I'll be happier and go from there.
The alternative seems to be that I take the weekend away from dh and I. Like the worst full time grinch ever, I just can't. But I will try to remember that I simply can't consume the same as him.
Oh but I'm starting the weekend on Saturday rather than the usual Friday afternoon! That seems reasonable.

I'm very much a creature of habit, probably why I took to 18/6 eating so well. Seems so straightforward to have a routine and I feel very much in control. The weekend excess is also a routine of sorts except I don't feel in control at all.

I’m exactly the same, the weekend had always revolved around nice food, a takeaway, a cafe and a piece of cake, an ice cream on a sunny day etc and I love it all. I don’t feel like I’ve had a proper weekend without something like that. It’s a very difficult habit to break! Following with interest!

How are you getting on @Weekendregret?

this morning I decided I was just going to have exactly what I wanted, rather than use up loads of calories on things I don’t really want. So I did decorating all morning and then I went to the supermarket and I bought : some delicious Polish rye bread, avocado, houmous, tabouleh, really posh beetroot pickle, and I made myself a very hipster sandwich with spinach picked from my own garden and cherry tomatoes. No idea how many calories but I bet the total is less than what I would have had if I’d grazed on all the stuff I don’t really want.
tonight we’re having really nice sirloin steak, I’ll probably just have brocolli with mine, and a 0% gin and I bought some nice tonic.

I wonder if this is where the secret lies? At the weekends I tend to eat what dh and the kids think of as treats but actually MY treats are different, I like those kind of rustic feeling meals and actually when I’ve indulged that, I’ve felt more satisfied.

@thenewaveragebear1983 doing OK, wasn't particularly easy but managed to keep Friday as a weekday and weekend food wise was sensible ish. Bit heavy on the wine on Saturday but better. Trying to be real with it because I'm not looking for a quick fix and I enjoy wine at the weekend.
The scales have rewarded me, showing a 2lb gain and I'm used to seeing more of a 5lb gain over the weekend.
Re " At the weekends I tend to eat what dh and the kids think of as treats but actually MY treats are different " yes, it's interesting isn't it. Totally get what you mean with food. Your hipster sandwich sounds lush btw.
@Shimmyshine193 nailed it when you say it's a habit. Honestly I think it's simply that. Not necessarily easy to break but worth the effort for the long term. Also let's not make it a big scary thing, just take baby steps to get into better choices.

@Weekendregret I weighed in 2.5lbs off this morning, no idea how but it’s interesting. I think
overall I definitely ate fewer calories this weekend by having what I really wanted, but more importantly but not having the stuff I didn’t want, just because.