We all know that person who from Monday to Friday is meticulous with their diet, follows a strict routine, living life gluten-free, dairy free, soya milk, organic only, vegan and then come the weekend the wheels well and truly come off the bus and they gorge and binge on fast food and alcohol!

The first mistake the weekend warrior makes is to over restrict themselves during the week and cut everything half enjoyable out of their diet. But strict restriction is never a good idea and will always lead to binging and bad food habits.

If you love dark chocolate for example and someone says you’re not allowed to eat dark chocolate, what are you going to think about?… eating dark chocolate! 

A far better approach would be to not overly restrict in the week, but to allow foods you enjoy into your diet and just account for those calories. E.g. build into your diet 2-3 squares of dark chocolate at night before bed, this way your food craving will be satisfied and come the weekend there will be no need to binge on a whole bar because you have missed it so much during the week.

Weekend binges are so common, and are the reason many people can’t lose weight. People need to view calories consumed across a weekly basis rather than a daily basis.

Let’s talk through a working example:

Jenny is a 30-year old mum looking to drop a dress size. For Jenny, maintenance calories would be 2,100 kcals (if she ate this many calories her weight would remain the same).

Jenny is going to make the mistake a lot of people make and over restrict herself during the week by only eating 1,600 kcals Monday- Friday. Then as soon as Friday night comes along and the working week is over Jenny binges on food, consuming 3,200 kcals Saturday and 3,500 kcals Sunday!

Monday- Friday Jenny consumed: 1,600 x 5 = 8,000 kcals

But at the weekend she consumed: 3,200 + 3,500 = 6,700 kcals

Total calories across a week = 8,000 + 6,700 = 14,700 kcals

So even though Jenny was so perfect Monday to Friday and just consumed 1,600 kcals, the weekend undid all of the good work. Across the week Jenny actually consumed her maintenance calories despite restricting herself (2,100 x 7 = 14,700 kcals) meaning she wouldn’t lose any weight at all.

Let me show you how easy it is to consume over 3,000 calories in just a few common weekend treats;

A typical Saturday or Sunday for a lot of people could easily include a fry up in the morning and a take away with a bottle of wine on the night and that would easily be 2,800-3,800k calories.

A better approach for Jenny would have been:

Instead of reducing calories too low Monday – Friday (1,600kcal) she should have consumed 1,900kcal per day, included a few small little treats she enjoys, and aimed to do that for 7 days per week. The net result would have been 1,900 x 7= 13,300 calories across the week and would result in seeing the scales drop as she is in a calorie deficit.

Remember over restriction is not sustainable and will always lead to binging and over eating in the long run.

I hope this article has helped highlight a few things. First of all, got you thinking, are you a weekend warrior and undoing all of your work from Monday to Friday at the weekend. But also, secondly, don’t over restrict yourself, allow yourself little treats here and there through the week, just be sensible and account for the calories. It’s about having the discipline to say no, and being able to stop.

Everything in moderation is a great saying and very apt for this article

If you would like more help knowing how many calories you should be eating or any help at all with anything nutrition related, please email me and I would be happy to help

Thanks a lot,
Adam
#AJPerformance