[maryellenatl]

Hi all,

So like a lot of people i do relatively well staying on program 4-5 days of the week but let the weekends go and dont really count points until Sunday evening,.. This weekend I have a lot going on including dinner out and a meeting with lunch included. I want to do a better job of staying on program (WW) this weekend. Anyone have any good suggestions? I have water and two snacks for the day and I am prepared to splurge with extra points for dinner.
My downfall i9s mindless snacking at meetings where they usually have cookies and good ssnacks.


Thanks for any support you can give.
Have a great Saturday
Mary Ellen

[rockinrobin]

Originally Posted by maryellenatl

. Anyone have any good suggestions? I have water and two snacks for the day and I am prepared to splurge with extra points for dinner.
My downfall i9s mindless snacking at meetings where they usually have cookies and good ssnacks.

The best thing I would suggest is to start treating them like any other day. Why would you give yourself permission to not eat well and count your points just because it's the weekend. Without a doubt, one off day, yet alonge 2 or 3 will wipe out any hard work and deficit created during the other 4. Plan out those weekends even more so, if they're giving you issue. DECIDE that you WILL do this. Count your points. EVERY day.

If you're lucky enough to pinpoint your downfall, which I think is vital, then you're in luck. THose meetings? With the snacks and cookies - make them definite NO's. That's it. DECIDE that you will no longer indulge in them. Make it a definite, unbreakable rule. This way you never have to think about them again. It's unbelievably freeing! Once you decide once and for all to not touch them, not even a bite, it's no longer an option TO eat them. And they will stop calling your name. You don't need them. They are detrimental to your health.

You want the program to work, you've GOT to work the program. Work it. Work it. WORK IT!!!!

You CAN do this!!!

[CountingDown]

I want to echo what Robin said.
This is a lifestyle change, not a weekday change. You have to commit to it 24/7/365.

And, as for those meeting snacks - I did/do exactly what Robin suggested. A rule - an unbreakable rule. NO free food at work/meetings/etc. I bring healthy - ON PLAN - snacks with me everywhere I go. NO excuse for eating off plan that way, and I can still enjoy a snack while everyone else does

[Judy Lynn]

I used to have a probelm with doughnuts until someone recommended I start thinking of them as fat pills. Now when I walk past them in the grocery store I think "FAT PILLS", and keep walking. Take one or two 100 calorie packs with you and have them at the meeting.

[Bonnie+J]

i think robin made a great point. plan your weekend. i used to have exactly the same problem as you (still do some weeks!!!) but then i started planning. on monday i would say "right, i am meeting X for lunch on sat, we are going to Y, and i'm going to have Z" then if you wanted something special you could save up the points during the week so you arent blowing out.
or say "ok, really busy day on sunday, i know i'm gonna struggle to resist the cookies when i get home, better save some points" and then you do!

planning is everything. i really believe in the saying fail to plan, plan to fail. because life is hard, and things will trip you up, but if you try to foresee it, then it doesnt have to be something major.

i hope this helps. weekends trip up alot of people. its easy to be good when you are in the midweek routine, and you know everyday is the same. but at the weekend things tend to be all over the place!

[luvja]

I still follow plan on the weekends, just not as strict. The weekend is when I will treat myself, if I want a sub, I'll get one. If I want some beer, I'll have some, and if I want some chips, I'll have some. You get the point.
You need to make sure you don't go overboard though, which can be difficult. You need self control.
But this works for me, it has from day one and I'm doing ok.

[Windchime]

I'm a calorie counter instead of counting points, but its very similar. If I want something (like a beer), I will have it but I know I have to COUNT it. Whether or not I write it down, my body knows I ate it and those calories DO matter.

When it comes to donuts, I know those will go straight to my butt/thighs if I eat them. So when I'm tempted, I think of taking a big, greasy donut and slapping it right on my butt. I think of the huge, oily stain it would make on my pants and how heavy and gross it will feel in my stomach, and how I'll have to trade 25-30% of my daily calorie allowance away for the momentary feeling of having the fatty, sugary dough in my mouth.

So yes, I count on the weekends. My body doesn't know the difference between Monday and Saturday, and like Robin said it's very easy to wipe out a week's worth of deficit with a plateful of pizza or a bag of chip and dip. (Chip and dip, by the way, is like kryptonite to me--once I start, I will eat it until I'm literally sick. So I never, ever allow myself to touch it. Ever.)

[kiramira]

Hon, this is a day-in day-out lifetime change here, not a diet to follow 5 days a week. Because if you "slip" or "lose the edge" with respect to the "diet" those 2 days of lax behaviour become 3 and 4 and 5 and the next thing you know, you're bigger than you've ever been and back in size 22s again.

Seriously, if you aren't prepared to accept that this is a LIFESTYLE change that has NO "days off", then you're really going to struggle.

Now, this doesn't mean that you can't have fun or you can't enjoy some of the things you always have enjoyed. It doesn't mean that you have to be super restrictive all the time and cut out food groups and so on if it isn't sustainable for you (you may choose to, but you don't HAVE to!). It means that the eating plan that you have chosen has to prevail every. single. day.

I am on WW too and I plan for daily and weekly events. I can fit them in. I plan a meal out every week with DH and use my Flex points for this. BUT, and this is important, if I look ahead and note that I have a BBQ on say Tuesday night, I won't eat out that week, because I'll be spending my points there. And I only have so many points, ya know?

And you need to understand that this is what "normal weighted people" without food issues/ED's do ALL. THE. TIME. They may have a piece of birthday cake, and cut back for a day or two afterwards. They might have a few beers at a BBQ, but they'll adjust the rest of the week for it. They don't free-form eat because they understand that ALL behaviour has a consequence. They just don't think/obsess about what they are doing because it is natural behaviour for them.

So, the only advice I have is this: reflect and decide IF you want to become healthy for the rest of your life. IF the answer is YES, then you need to rethink the way you have defined your eating plan, from a 5-day a week "diet" to "this is what I have to do every day for the rest of my life". And just STICK TO IT....and your eating plan has to be sustainable and you HAVE to make it a priority IF you want to change your life.



Kira