No matter what your fitness goal is, stick with it all week, including the weekend. Whether you want to lose weight, develop a sleep schedule, quit smoking, or get fit, sticking with your goal is vital. Otherwise, your weekend behavior will sabotage all the hard work you did all week, and you’ll have to start again on Monday. If exercising and getting fit is your goal, you don’t have to work out at the gym. You can bike ride with the family and have fun while sticking with your goal.
Are you trying to lose weight?
If you’ve stuck with your weight loss efforts all week and then spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday eating junk food, you could wipe out all the progress you made. How do you avoid that problem? Meal planning not only helps you stick with a healthy diet on the weekend, but it also helps you meet your goals during the week.
Don’t cancel your weekend plans.
If you have plans for the weekend, you don’t have to cancel them to meet your goals. Use some tricks and tips, like drinking a glass of water before your meal and eating a large salad as your first course. Remember when your mother told you not to spoil your dinner by snacking? That’s just what you need to do. Make it a healthy snack of fresh fruit or a handful of nuts half an hour before you leave. Avoid fried foods and opt for grilled, baked, or steamed. Eat slowly and chew your food until it’s liquid. You’ll fill up faster and have half your meal to take home to eat the next day.
Stick with your sleep schedule, even on the weekend.
Lack of sleep can cause you to gain weight. Your body creates more ghrelin—the hunger hormone—and less leptin—the hormone that makes you feel full. Having a sleep schedule helps. When you go to bed and arise at the same time each day, it improves your circulation rhythm. Dehydration can also cause you to eat. Your body sometimes confuses thirst for hunger. Sipping on water throughout the day keeps you on track.
- Get the kids involved with your exercise program. Do your exercise at home and make it family time. You can also do an intense workout early on Saturday and recovery exercise, like walking, on Sunday.
- Avoid alcoholic beverages. They make you hungrier and cause weight gain. The body burns the alcohol calories first. The others go to fat. Try drinking water, or if you drink, limit it to one.
- Choose vinegar and oil, a vinaigrette as your dressing, or opt for dressing on the side. You can limit the amount you use that way.
- Don’t lay around all day. Use your time wisely and make your weekend active. If you go out, make it active, such as going dancing, hiking, or going to an amusement park. Steer clear of the elephant ears and other tasty treats there.
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