Weekend, vacation, and holiday eating

Do you overeat on weekends? Do you enjoy pizza and beer on Friday nights, or on weekends do you get together with family and friends for pot-lucks and barbecues, and overeat, so that all of your mindful eating during the week goes by the wayside?  Do you eat buttered popcorn at the movies and hotdogs at the ballpark and funnel cakes at the fair and then feel awful on Monday morning when you have again gained weight?  

Weekends, holidays, vacations – anything out of our routine - are often used as an excuse to overeat and to disregard our eating plans.  When we go out to eat at a restaurant, rather than looking at the menu ahead of time and deciding what we are going to eat, we often order based on what everyone else is ordering or what we feel like eating in the moment.  If we are also drinking alcohol, our inhibitions may be lower than usual, and we are more likely to make poor choices as to what to eat.

But it is possible to enjoy yourself on weekends and holidays and vacations and still maintain or lose weight.  However, it does take a plan.  Your plan does not have to be extremely specific; but you should decide ahead of time the amount of alcohol that you are planning to drink, the amount of dessert you are planning to eat, and the amount of food in different food groups (such as proteins, fruit, bread, vegetables, hors d’oeuvres) that you are planning to eat.  You can decide to eat to enough - instead of deciding on an exact amount.  Are you going to eat any bread?  With butter or oil?  How much?  Decisions made ahead of time, are decisions that ultimately will help you to reach your goals.

You can use other strategies as well such as:

1.  Eat a small snack before you leave home so you are not extremely hungry when you arrive.

2. Eat slowly and pay attention to your food.

3. Try not to stand near the food tables if you are at a pot-luck or buffet.

4. Decide to only take one plate of food and one small dessert plate at a buffet.

5. Drink a glass of water between each glass of alcohol.

6. Take three bites of several desserts then stop eating.

7. Share a dessert or an appetizer, rather than eating the entire thing yourself.

8. Decide to have alcohol, or a dessert, or an appetizer - rather than having all 3.

These are all strategies that help some people to not overeat.  Learning to maintain or lose weight in a way that fits your lifestyle consists of experimentation.  Some strategies will work better for you than others.  It's all trial and error.  You'll either succeed - or you'll learn (or both).

Some people do well taking three bites of several desserts.  Some do better having one larger dessert.  And some are better off staying away from dessert entirely.  It’s all research.  Can you talk to friends when at a party and not eat if you are not hungry?  How difficult is it to do?  Is it easier if you first review your health and weight loss goals?  When you return home, or the next day, review what worked – and what didn’t.  And make a plan for the next time. 

If people are coming to your home for a meal, be kind to yourself yourself and serve foods that are on your plan. Make sure that the foods you love are included on your eating plan and remind yourself how you will feel when you are at your ideal weight.

And then enjoy your weekends, parties, and vacations, in your light, energetic body.  

To make sure you don't miss any of my posts, subscribe at https://drbarbaralkatzcoaching.mykajabi.com.  And if you're really ready to lose that weight for good, while enjoying parties, vacations, and holidays, take a chance and schedule a mini-session to learn how coaching can change your life (and your weight). Contact me at [email protected] or click on the link on my website.  The mini-session is free and there is no obligation, and no pressure. Coaching could be the solution you need to finally get control of your eating.

Share this blog post with a friend and contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions.