You diligently count macros all week long, prepare meals and snacks the day before and know exactly when and what you will be eating. You go to the gym and follow your training schedule. You do this every week, Monday to Friday.
And then comes it - The WEEKEND. The long awaited two or, god forbid, three days off. And just like that, the fridge and the pantry become an all-you-can-eat buffet, a friend's house turns into an all-inclusive experience and the gym remains a vague memory of the days long gone.
Sounds familiar? If it does - you are, what I call - The Weekend Hulk, or weekend overeater.
Why doest it happen? Why do we sabotage our efforts that we worked so hard at all week in order to take two steps back? There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Some are physical and some are psychological. Let's look at the physical ones first:
1. You are under-eating throughout the week.
While keeping a moderate caloric deficit will aid with weight loss, a wrongly calculated calorie allowance will keep you hungry all week long until you feel like you have been 'good' and finally allow yourself to eat over the weekend. After severely under-eating for five days, you will inevitably overeat once given the chance.
2. You miscalculated your macros or they don't make a good fit.
If you are following your macros (protein, fat, carbohydrates) ratio and keep your calories on track, you could have miscalculated the proportions that fit you. For example, some people thrive and lose weight on a low carb diet, while others feel sad and depressed. If you are constantly unhappy with your diet - you will overeat the moment you feel you can. This is why macros need to be carefully tailored to fit you personally.
This brings us to the psychological issues:
1. You treat the weekend as a cheat time.
Although I believe that everyone should have a cheat meal once a week, the weekend overeaters tend to think of the weekend as one very long cheat meal, which, of course, causes a significant calorie intake. In order to avoid this, it is important to have one planned (!) cheat meal during the weekend and eat as normally as possible during the rest of the time.
2. You only eat 'good' foods.
If you divide foods into 'good' and 'bad' and only allow yourself the good ones throughout the week, come the weekend, you will binge on the bad ones. Why? Because while most people can micromanage their food during the work week, when the weekend comes and they are surrounded by what they consider 'bad' foods, they let themselves cheat a little, which usually turns into a lot. It is important not to think of food as good or bad, rather, than to look at it as highly nutritious or not so nutritious.
3. You feel like you have lost enough.
This is a variation of the famous yo-yoer. You don't have much to lose in the first place and over the course of the week you follow a strict diet and feel like you have reached your elusive goal. As such, during the weekend you allow yourself to fall into old unhealthy eating habits, gaining all of the lost over the week back. And this circle continues, almost always causing more weight gain than was lost in the first place.
If you saw yourself in any of the above, think about why you sabotage your efforts during the weekend and try to make small changes in your lifestyle. After all, we all deserve a cheat meal and we all deserve to succeed on our journeys, and by knowing our weaknesses we can make an effort to change for the better.
With Love,
M
And then comes it - The WEEKEND. The long awaited two or, god forbid, three days off. And just like that, the fridge and the pantry become an all-you-can-eat buffet, a friend's house turns into an all-inclusive experience and the gym remains a vague memory of the days long gone.
Sounds familiar? If it does - you are, what I call - The Weekend Hulk, or weekend overeater.
Why doest it happen? Why do we sabotage our efforts that we worked so hard at all week in order to take two steps back? There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Some are physical and some are psychological. Let's look at the physical ones first:
1. You are under-eating throughout the week.
While keeping a moderate caloric deficit will aid with weight loss, a wrongly calculated calorie allowance will keep you hungry all week long until you feel like you have been 'good' and finally allow yourself to eat over the weekend. After severely under-eating for five days, you will inevitably overeat once given the chance.
2. You miscalculated your macros or they don't make a good fit.
If you are following your macros (protein, fat, carbohydrates) ratio and keep your calories on track, you could have miscalculated the proportions that fit you. For example, some people thrive and lose weight on a low carb diet, while others feel sad and depressed. If you are constantly unhappy with your diet - you will overeat the moment you feel you can. This is why macros need to be carefully tailored to fit you personally.
This brings us to the psychological issues:
1. You treat the weekend as a cheat time.
Although I believe that everyone should have a cheat meal once a week, the weekend overeaters tend to think of the weekend as one very long cheat meal, which, of course, causes a significant calorie intake. In order to avoid this, it is important to have one planned (!) cheat meal during the weekend and eat as normally as possible during the rest of the time.
2. You only eat 'good' foods.
If you divide foods into 'good' and 'bad' and only allow yourself the good ones throughout the week, come the weekend, you will binge on the bad ones. Why? Because while most people can micromanage their food during the work week, when the weekend comes and they are surrounded by what they consider 'bad' foods, they let themselves cheat a little, which usually turns into a lot. It is important not to think of food as good or bad, rather, than to look at it as highly nutritious or not so nutritious.
3. You feel like you have lost enough.
This is a variation of the famous yo-yoer. You don't have much to lose in the first place and over the course of the week you follow a strict diet and feel like you have reached your elusive goal. As such, during the weekend you allow yourself to fall into old unhealthy eating habits, gaining all of the lost over the week back. And this circle continues, almost always causing more weight gain than was lost in the first place.
If you saw yourself in any of the above, think about why you sabotage your efforts during the weekend and try to make small changes in your lifestyle. After all, we all deserve a cheat meal and we all deserve to succeed on our journeys, and by knowing our weaknesses we can make an effort to change for the better.
With Love,
M
