Weekends are Hard

As the weather gets nicer and weekends get socially busier, it seems harder to stay on track. Any tips on how to deal with the weekends specifically?

 

Keep it to a minimum. Meaning if you are going to have a "cheat" day where you are still careful what you eat but go off track slightly. Keep it to one of the weekend days and go extremely low carb the day before and the day after. Just because it is the weekend doesn't mean you get to stop working at it. If you plan for it you can stay on track.

Take control, if you are going to a BBQ, offer to bring something that everyone will enjoy but you can still eat (buffalo chicken dip for example, with celery sticks). If you are going to drink that day, make sure you bring something that you can drink and stay on your plan. If you control the situation, the end result will still be in your favor.

If you are eating out, have some sort of strategy for what to eat and how to order. You should always be able to find some sort of grilled fish or steak salad (dressing on the side). If you need to special order something, try to find something on the menu that is fairly close to what you want and ask for that to be modified. Kitchens are much happier to make those changes when it is something similar to what they already have back there.

For me and my friends drinking was the big hurdle for me. If I decide I am going to drink on a weekend. I pick one day and I make sure the day before and the day after are for me to soften the blow of the drinking day. That means super hydration before and after drinking. Super Low carb the day before and the day after as well the day of drinking.

Thank you for the tip. Saturday I completely failed but Sunday I stayed completely on plan and even took my 2-year old out for some ice cream while sticking to plan. This coming weekend will be the real test as alcohol will be involved but I have a strategy all planned out. My husband i****ting the butcher's to stock up for our weekend in the Mountains.

I definitely agree Izabelle.  Once I figure it out I'll let you know.  Maybe just being stricter during the week.  And eat a healthy breakfast on the weekends before you do anything social. 

I know just what you mean. I was worried that it would be work that would make it hard to stay on plan, but the structure of work ended up helping. For me, it's the getting up later on weekends that puts everything behind, that and I drink some coffee with hubby first thing, and that sets me even further behind. Making breakfast and 30 min. later 16 oz. liquids first thing first- before I jump int the activities of the weekend has been helpful. Nothing different than weekday, just a little later. I'm discovering that weekend does not mean unstructured as far as my plan goes.

Grilled meat and veggies could become your best friend. :)  In general, if I'm invited somewhere, I take something I can eat, or I just pack something for me if that seems more appropriate.  It's tricky to socialize while in weight loss, but try to focus on the socialization rather than the food. 

I have seriously considered telling people I am "gluten free" because they will assume it is an allergy and not bug me to try carb-y things, lol!

I spent yesterday not in my safe home where I have all of my foods....and I was so glad not to freak out at what I was eating. We both are 6-most post-op. We were at an outdoor adventure park where we did zip lines and a challenge course. We brought a lunch tote with safe things in it, and stored it in a locker there in case they didn't have food we could eat. The cafe there was fine though. We shared a beef hotdog (only one bite of bun) before we started the course. After the course (2 hours), we went back to the cafe and shared a turkey sandwich (ate very little bread, which btw was made locally and just melted in my mouth). Just drank water. They had lots of good choices, it wasn't tough to find something appropriate. And it was nice to just be 'normal', eat something I normally don't eat but eat an appropriate amount of it. On the car ride home we ate a bit from our lunch box, and prepared a proper dinner when we got home. No big deal, and my biggest happy moment was realizing that I wasn't freaking out, wasn't worried I was going down a slippery slope, totally enjoyed the day at the adventure park, and feeling like I'm a human again in that I wasn't focused on food. I think bringing our lunch box with safe foods in it was the kicker.