We’ve all been in this situation. You’ve followed through with your diet plan all week and the weekend is upon you. You might feel like it’s time to celebrate with some days off. After all, keeping up with your diet and workout routine can be exhausting. A little break couldn’t hurt, or could it? Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is exactly what leads to failure in maintaining a healthy weight. It’s important to always stay vigilant and on track. Here are some ways you can avoid a weekend blowout.
1. Distract yourself with some outdoor fun
When you’re tense from a busy work week, it can be pretty tempting to stay indoors and relax on the couch all day. Movies and snacks are an irresistible combination that draws you in and keeps you from enjoying the good outdoors.
Try to fight this temptation as much as you can. Binging movies might be comfortable, but it often leads to binging snacks too. If the weather conditions are favorable, you could visit the park with your kids. Running around and playing with them will be a workout on its own and you get to have nice, wholesome fun to boot.
2. Be your own personal junk food cook
Junk food is all around us and it can be pretty hard to avoid it sometimes. Everywhere you go you’ll be surrounded by one franchise or another. The recipes themselves might not be harmful, but the proportion of certain ingredients can make these foods extremely unhealthy. Not only do they cause weight gain, but they are also silent but tasty killers.
Luckily, you don’t have to forfeit those burgers or tasty tacos at all. You can always make them yourself. You can easily find recipes for homemade versions of the most popular kinds of fast food. The key difference is that your version will likely contain way less salt and oil. This will make it a lot healthier and you will probably take less of a hit in the wallet area.
3. Give yourself the right kind of reward
Staying on track with your diet and fitness routine is a marvelous achievement. Not everyone is capable of sustaining this kind of healthy lifestyle for longer periods of time. You are right to think that you deserve the occasional reward for this progress. Unfortunately, rewards tend to take the form of the exact things you are supposed to avoid. Cheat days and lazy Sundays aren’t the best way to reward yourself when you’ve come this far. There are far better alternatives.
Why not give yourself something that your body deserves? You would be surprised at the number of healthy things that would make you feel great. Get yourself a nice massage once a week to celebrate seven days of healthy living. A good massage can do wonders for your back and posture and it feels wonderful.
4. Make changes to those old habits
Humans are habitual creatures by nature. Sometimes it’s difficult to get away from unhealthy habits simply because they formed in the first place. If you have a tradition of eating sweets with your family when you stay in, changing that is only going to make you feel bad and crave it more. You’re associating unhealthy things with good things and getting rid of a joyful habit will be difficult.
Try being a step ahead of your own desires. If you want to have a tasty snack, make sure it’s healthy in the grand scheme of things. Having a sweet fruit smoothie won’t be so bad if you mix it with your favorite protein powder. Not only will your taste buds be satisfied, but you’ll also add more protein into your everyday diet. This way your new habit becomes a healthier alternative.
5. Always remember the big picture
Staying vigilant with your diet and habits is a constant struggle. You’re going to be fighting temptations day and night and your body will try to drag you down the path of laziness. The further you go, the more you’ll be reminded of the things you miss.
Remind yourself why you’re on this journey in the first place. Think of where you’ve come from and where you want to be. If you keep track of your progress, the feeling of pride and accomplishment will no doubt outweigh any temptations. Transforming your body and mind feels much better than binging food ever could.
Conclusion
It can be pretty tempting to overindulge on the weekend. After all, even God takes breaks on Sunday. The harsh truth is that small slip-ups often lead to the unhealthy habit of making cheat days a regular thing. The best way to stay healthy is to just push through. In order to achieve something, some small sacrifices have to be made. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be as painful as it sounds.
