Why You Eat Like a Different Person on the Weekend

The weekend: everyone's two favorite days of the week. Our chance to relax, be free, sleep in, and recuperate. And...eat more than we want to.

Perhaps that's not something you struggle with, but if it is, welcome to the club. Even us personal trainers and nutrition coaches are not immune.

Weekends are meant to be synonymous with pleasure. And good food is too, so it only makes sense that they go hand in hand. But have you ever thought to ask yourself: Does overeating or eating poorly on the weekend actually contribute to your pleasure, or is it more of a momentary gratification that makes things worse in the end?

Don't misunderstand me here; there are times when eating nutritionally void food or eating past fullness can feel damn worth it. But more often than not, it's having the opposite of the intended effect, even if you don't realize it. Maybe you feel fine and you don't even eat that much...but your weight has crept up over the years...your sleep isn't as good as it used to be...and you just don't feel as good as you used to. Weekend eating could be to blame.

Here are my tips:

• Stop labeling foods as "good" and "bad." The second you make something forbidden, your brain wants it more. This is why you eat clean all week and then go off the rails on Saturday. If you gave yourself permission to eat the foods you actually want during the week, the weekend wouldn't feel like your only chance to have them.

• Decide what you're going to eat before you're in the moment. Once you're standing at the buffet table or sitting at the restaurant with the bread basket in front of you, the pleasure takes over and your ability to think clearly goes out the window. Before you go, decide what your plate is going to look like, how much you're going to eat, and how you want to feel when you leave. You can absolutely change your mind in the moment, but start with a plan. (P.S. - I created a pre-event audit worksheet that can help you with this. Email me if you want a copy!)

• Eat enough during the day. If you undereat all day "saving up" for a dinner out or a party, your body is going to show up starving and make choices your brain can't override.

• Sit down, slow down, and actually taste your food. Most weekend overeating is mindless. You're standing around at a party, grabbing handfuls of chips while you talk, not even registering what you're eating. Put food on a plate. Sit down. Chew. Pay attention. You'll eat less and enjoy it more.

• Stop treating the weekend like a free-for-all just because the week was "perfect." If one tire is flat, you don't go slash the other three. Eating 150 calories over your target is always better than eating 500 over because you already "ruined it." There is no ruining it. There's just the next choice.

• In social situations, stop eating to fit in. You don't have to eat something just because it's there, because it's free, or because everyone else is eating it. If someone tries to guilt you into it, call it out. You're allowed to say no and you're allowed to leave when you want to.

• Remember that more food does not equal more joy. There's a pleasure cap. After a certain point, you're not even enjoying it anymore, you're just chasing a feeling that's already gone.

• Check your thoughts, not just your plate. If you're telling yourself "I deserve this" or "I'll start over Monday," those thoughts are what's driving the behavior, not the food. Flip it: is this actually what someone who values themselves would choose right now? Or is it just going to make you feel like garbage on Sunday morning?

• Do your best, not your "perfect." Traveling, eating out, going to a party... none of these require perfection. Eat mostly healthy, don't pig out, grab a high protein option when you can, and move on.

• Ask yourself: will this still feel worth it in two hours? Before you go back for seconds or order dessert, genuinely ask. Sometimes the answer is yes, and that's fine, enjoy it. But a lot of the time, the honest answer is no, and that two-second pause is all you need to make a different choice.

  
  

Whether it's the weekend, a vacation, a holiday, or a celebration, I hope these tips can help you enjoy the moment better while you're in it and after it's over.

And yes, I write every blog post myself.