The Trouble with Weekends

I find it's generally quite easy to eat healthy and workout during the week. Being stuck in a routine with work hours and scheduled lunch breaks makes it simpler to avoid unnecessary snacking etc. When I'm on my game I can pre-prepare food for the week, have healthy snacks on hand and generally be in control of what goes into my body. I can usually be pretty healthy and active 4-5 days out of the week which I think is pretty decent. Then the weekend begins...

I used to just treat the weekend as a bit of a free for all. No real workouts and no real counting of calories because... it's Friday night, it's Saturday, it's Sunday.. We can start fresh on Monday.. You know how it goes. But the thing I'm learning is that my body doesn't care what day of the week it is. My body isn't going to cancel out all calories consumed during a 48-72 hour period and it certainly doesn't care that I'll be good on Monday so I can just eat whatever now.

If I want results, I need to be good all of the time. OK maybe not ALL the time. Yes, a Cheat Meal occasionally.. even a Cheat Day is acceptable assuming that it doesn't turn into a Cheat Weekend. Yes, a Rest Day is actually beneficial and does give the body time to heal up and get stronger but I know how I think and I know the traps I fall into during the weekends.

So in the same way that I prepare for a healthy week, I need to do so for the weekend. I need to make sure that I'm drinking lots of water and that I have lots of healthy things in my fridge. I need to think ahead to what my plans are and what I'll be eating and make sure the calories work out, instead of just saying "forget it, I'll start counting properly again on Monday."

But the big thing is that I need to schedule workouts and stick to that plan just as diligently. I am happy that my Zumba place runs a 90 minute class on Saturday mornings. That's a perfect way to get the weekend off to a good start. And funnily enough, on the days that I workout in the morning, I have a lot more incentive to continue being healthy as the day goes on.

Sometimes I think I'm a very slow learner.. but I am learning and adopting new healthy habits so that's a good thing.  

So here's to the weekend and being just as committed to health and fitness as we are during the week!