I read something from a well-known coach that I found quite interesting.
He said that his number 1 piece of advice, above all else, for making progress towards your fat loss goals is this …
Make your weekends EXACTLY like your weekdays.
While I understand his point … I, respectfully, disagree.
Here’s why…
Well, first let’s address what would make him say something like that.
Often times, when trying to lose fat, we find ourselves being very consistent during the week and then being wildly inconsistent over the weekend.
That’s why the whole “diet starts Monday” concept became a thing. It’s a common trend so it makes sense that if you tighten up the weekends, then you’ll make more progress.
I can even pull from personal anecdote and tell you that I was the KING of this pattern. I would be 100% on point from Monday to Thursday (and even some Friday’s) but once the weekend hit … let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.
After feeling like I was spinning my wheels for a long time, I actually thought the very same thing … I just need to get my shit together on the weekends!
Here’s where weekend binges come from …
In my experience, the weekend debauchery is a symptom of a larger problem … not the problem itself.
Therefore, when I decided to “tighten up my weekends,” I found myself quite unhappy.
I was turning down invitations to hang out with friends. I was saying no to date nights. I was avoiding family gatherings.
All for the sake of “keeping my weekends exactly like my weekdays.”
It worked in the sense that I made progress but the COST wasn’t worth it. I missed out on life for the sake of dropping a few extra pounds but guess what?
When I wanted my life back … the weight came back. For me, being 100% dialed in on the weekends was not sustainable.
Ahhh yes … sustainability. This was the aha moment for me.
It was actually the weekdays that were unsustainable and the manifestation of that problem was weekend binges.
What do I mean by that?
Well, by trying to restrict myself, be too perfect, and eat really low calories every week … I was draining my willpower and creating the perfect scenario for over indulging every weekend.
In my experience, this is the most frequent cause of weekend binges. Trying to be too perfect every week and restricting calories too low means your body is craving energy and your brain is tired of fighting and avoiding certain foods.
Eventually, you crack. All it takes is a little nudge from a friend or family member when your willpower battery is on empty and the floodgates open.
It doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human.
The solution of making your weekends just like your weekdays often leads to even more restriction and deprivation. It also leads to having no life. And, that hardly seems like a viable solution.
Now, you may be thinking … what about people who have really poor nutritional habits? Wouldn’t they benefit from tightening up the weekends?
Well … yes. But, in those cases, it’s hardly the weekend that’s the problem. It’s typically an overall lifestyle adjustment that’s needed and not specially a weekend adjustment.
More often than not, those that struggle with weekend binges are often setting themselves up for failure by the way they approach the weekdays.
Which means the solution is found in adjusting the weekdays and overall approach vs. zeroing in on the weekends. And besides, the weekends ARE different than weekdays for most of us. So, it doesn’t make sense that we’d approach them exactly the same.
For me, I love more freedom and flexibility on my weekends and we’ve found that most of our clients feel the same.
Let’s look at how to fix the root of the problem vs. trying to put a band aide on the symptom.
For starters, we want to make sure you’re eating enough calories overall so that your body is NOT constantly in a state of energy deprivation. A stressed body is a hangry body.
Then, we want to make sure that you’re not relying on willpower to get you through the week. That means no foods are off limits. You have unconditional permission to eat anything at anytime.
From there, we can distribute your weekly targets in terms of calories and macros and align them with your lifestyle. Once you’re eating enough overall to support your metabolism and don’t have to white knuckle your way through it …
You can enjoy yourself in a way that allows for freedom and flexibility when it makes the most sense for you. This is where personal preferences are key but it allows us to account for date nights, social events, alcohol, vacations, etc.
By prioritizing weekly averages and accounting for your lifestyle and the things you enjoy … the process will be way more fun, which means way more sustainable.
It’s always funny how mind blown our clients get when they realize that by eating more and eating more of the foods they enjoy, that their body actually responds faster.
Less stress and more sustainability are always a recipe for success.
At this point, we make some minor adjustments to macronutrient ratios to ensure the body composition results you desire AND to accommodate for your preferred training style.
This means looking better naked and fueling/recovering more efficiently for your workouts.
Another key to the process is selecting the right foods for your brain chemistry based on your personality type. This contributes to being in a better mood, feeling more like yourself, and putting less stress on your body.
Once again, that leads to more consistency and quicker results.
Last but not least, we make sure your body is responding exactly how we want by monitoring biofeedback markers like hunger, cravings, energy, mood, sleep, stress, digestion, etc.
This allows us to prioritize internal health and set you up for long term success. It ensures that your metabolism will function well so that you can continue to make progress well beyond your short term goals.
When we go through this process with our 1:1 clients, it takes about 6 months to get them the physical results they want (which is usually about 20-30 lbs. down and looking leaner/more toned), and completely remove any anxiety around food.
It’s ideal for women who have struggled with weekend indulgences due to trying to be perfect and strict with their diets and want to finally find a sustainable solution.
If that’s you and you want to see if our program is the right fit, simply click the button below and PM me on Facebook and we’ll discuss your goals to see if we can help!
Much love,
Coach Mike
