Okay, not this much snow. It was an amount I wouldn't have noticed had I not been stopped at a traffic light, but it's the principle of the matter. It's rather audacious of the sky to snow on April 9, don't you think?
Confession : I did not walk in the snow.
On to other things. When asked the most difficult time for dieting, people report holidays and weekends are their biggest challenges. We've recently dealt with the holidays and don't have any others coming up soon, so let's talk about the weekend.
The reason your weekends are so difficult is that the nice organized system you've devised for workdays doesn't translate to the weekends. We sleep late, we go out for dinner, we're out and about and end up grabbing lunch from a drive thru. We entertain friends. There is always something that makes this weekend different from the last one, therefore requiring a new strategy to get through it.
PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL
This is no different than your weekdays. If you don't plan ahead, your going to be caught without healthy options. So most of us pack our cooler bags, stash some almonds in our purses and grab our big water bottle on the way out the door.
We can do the same on the weekend. The first thing we have to determine is where our challenges are going to be. So if Saturday night you are having dinner out with friends and Sunday morning you are having brunch with in-laws, you can set up your plan. The dinner out can be your "off-plan meal" for the week. Enjoy yourself within reason. Brunch doesn't have to be a free-for all. Bring a beautiful fruit salad as your donation and east fruit salad and the most reasonable options present in modest amounts.
This leaves you with 4 meals and snacks to get through for the rest of the weekend. If you're out and about shopping, bring some healthy snacks and munch on them in the car. Fruit and almonds will get you through a long stretch. Make Sunday dinner in the crockpot so it is ready when you walk in the door after a long busy day. Keep breakfast simple, sticking with your weekday options.
Figure in some time for activity. I go hiking with my girls every other weekend. It's a great, inexpensive outing that is healthy for us. Other ideas are mini golf, roller-blading, biking, playing at the park, the list is endless. If you play with your family instead of running off to the gym by yourself, your combining family time with fitness time and teaching your kids how great activity is.
Try planning your weekend the same way you do your workdays and see if it goes a little better!
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