How To Stop Overeating At The Weekend

You've been perfect with your diet all week.

You've trained and worked hard.

But now it's Friday, it's time to let loose and reward yourself with some delicious food and alcohol, you've earned it.

Then Friday night turns into Saturday morning and the over-consumption continues until Sunday night, but it's okay because you've told yourself that the weekend is your time to 'relax' and you've managed to rope your partner in to offset your guilt.

After scoffing your third course of the evening you're feeling bloated, uncomfortable and perhaps sick, maybe even guilty, angry or regretful as your weekend habits have derailed your health and fitness goals yet again, and I'm not talking about just the obvious stuff like the added calories. You can add joint inflammation and trouble sleeping to the evergrowing list of problems associated with your weekend binges.

Sound familiar?

I get it, I've been there and I've come out the other side, so here are my three strategies I used to beat the cycle.

Stop Trying To Be Perfect

If you're trying to stick to a 'perfect' meal plan all week that's measured to the gram, your willpower is eventually going to give in, you've only got so much of it, you're a human, not a robot, so stop trying to be perfect.

Instead, focus on 'good enough', not 'perfect'.

It doesn't have to be a choice between 'perfect' and 'blow out'

Let Hunger Be Your Guide, Not Rules

Maybe your number one rule is "NO CARBS" but it's Friday night and you're out with friends, they're ordering pizza, but you decide to abstain, take a stand, because... carbs.

Eventually, you give in and grab a slice, maybe because you feel awkward, or pressured, or maybe you're just starving.

You now start telling yourself that your one slice has blown your diet and broken your rules, so you start overeating and drinking. The problem with having rules like this is that once the rules have been broken you have nothing left to guide you and this inevitably leads to 'fuck it' mode being activated.

Do you have dieting rules?

If so, start paying attention to how you respond to them and identify when you're likely to activate 'fuck it' mode, then ask yourself what might happen if you ditched that rule and instead listened to your body and observed its hunger and fullness cues instead.

Stop Rationalising

"I've trained hard"

"I've had a tough day at work"

"I was travelling"

It's so easy to rationalise any food choice we make, but in this circumstance, it's important to understand why you're rationalising and ask you yourself "why am I really overeating?" and sometimes you'll just want to eat, that's totally normal, but more often than not, there will be a reason or a trigger.

Maybe you're bored, or happy, or sad, or hormonal.

Once you start asking yourself why you'll notice patterns and this is where your opportunity for change occurs, this is where you can address the emotions you're feeling instead of masking them with bingeing.

There's never going to be a 'perfect' time to eat better, something is always going to get in the way, but hopefully, these strategies will help to remove some barriers and help you to identify habits that may be holding you back.

If you feel like you're in need of further guidance and/or accountability then click here to apply for personalised nutrition coaching.