How To Stop Weekends Ruining Your Diet

Let's face it, the weekends are making you fat, but don't worry because in this video I'm going to give you the 4 best tips that you can use heading into this weekend that can allow you to still make fat loss progress. And the first one is going to be understanding the concept of daily versus weekly calories. Now, the way I like to explain this is you spend usually less money during Monday through Thursday, right? Like you're not going out buying Gucci bags on a Tuesday afternoon. Maybe you're going out to eat here and there, maybe you gotta pay for gas here and there, but you're not spending anywhere near as much money as you probably spend on the weekends. Maybe on the weekends you go and you do splurge and buy some new clothes, you go shopping. Maybe you go out to eat at a nice restaurant. Maybe you're going out and ordering drinks with your friends and family. Like you're usually just spending more money on Friday through Sunday than you are Monday through Thursday. Your calories are the same exact thing. So let's say you use my free calorie calculator in the description of this video and you find out your daily calorie deficit is 2,000 calories per day. If you multiply that by 7 days, that's 14,000 weekly overall calories. As long as you hit 14,000 calories over the course of the 7 days, you, my friend, will be able to lose fat. So let's say you do something like this. Monday through Thursday, you're just going to work, you're packing your own lunches, like, you know, maybe here and there your kids have sports, you might eat out at whatever, but it's nothing crazy. So maybe you are going 1,700 calories Monday through Thursday. Then in order to be able to indulge a little bit on the weekends, maybe you're going out to eat, maybe you're enjoying a few extra drinks or whatever the case may be. Then from there you would just make sure you split up the calories so that you can still hit 14,000 weekly overall calories. And let me save the math for you here. That would be roughly about 2,400 calories Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That way, 2,400 times 3, 1,700 times 4 will get you to 14,000 calories for the week. Now a couple of caveats come into play here. Remember, when you're doing this, when you're doing this, right? You can't just do the oh, I'll eat 1,200 calories all day throughout the week, and then I will just absolutely binge drink and binge eat on the weekends. It's probably what you're doing now, and it's not working, is it? Okay, so stop doing that because going in the extremes is never going to work. But 200, 300 calories less, and right here there's an extra. You know, 300, 400 calories. Okay, that's within reason, but you can't and you shouldn't go to the extremes because that's just going to create an unhealthy relationship with food and you don't want that. And then especially on these days right here, and this is where for a long time I've actually refrained from like, uh, mentioning this to people because even on these days it's still very important that you hit your calorie goal. It is not just a free-for-all. You can't just go and be like, oh well, I know I ate less during the week, so I'm gonna eat more during the weekend and it's fine. I have calories to play with. It's not a big deal if I overeat. It's fine. It's not fine, and that's why you're not seeing progress right now. So I encourage you, even when you're going out to eat and you're having more food on the weekends, you still have to track it. You still have to be mindful of it, and you still got to make sure you're within your weekly overall calories. Now the second tip I'm going to give you has to do with making sure you're still making sure you're still hitting these goals when you're going out to eat or you're on the higher calorie days, which number 2 I put in the beginning, which is like fasting. Here's what most people do on the weekends when they know they might be, you know, indulging in some foods, going out to eat, going to parties. You're basically trying to eat nothing all day long and then you're trying to go into your event later that day, later that night, and you're like, well, I haven't eaten anything all day. I know like I'm gonna overeat at this meal, but it's fine because you know I haven't eaten all day. I've saved my calories for the nighttime, and I'll just use all my calories there. What usually ends up happening to you, right? If you are just eating nothing all day, that is going to lead you to overeat at the event or overeat at night because. Once you actually get to the event, you're starving. You don't— going back to the previous point, you don't care about hitting your 2,400 calories per day. You're starving. You're not gonna practice mindful eating. You're not gonna give a shit what your calories are 'cause you just need to eat something. And that hunger, that literally like that starving feeling takes over and you don't care. So you end up overeating. And then what happens after that? You're like, well, fuck this. I already overate, I already overdrank, I already ruined all my progress, might as well keep going. We'll talk about that later in the video. But what you can do in a smart way is you can strategically eat less throughout the day in order to quote unquote save calories for an event or for nighttime. But let me talk about how to do this in a, I call responsible way. Because again, this whole concept of like saving calories, sometimes it can get into this like a little bit of unhealthy relationship with food, some of this like disordered eating, because you don't want to just like save, save, save and then binge. That's what we call an unhealthy relationship with food, right? So, what you can do though is— let me give you some examples. Let's say usually at breakfast, right? I'm just gonna make things up, but let's say at breakfast you're normally having You know, 4 whole eggs and you're having oats and you're having chia seeds and you're having this big breakfast, right? Let's say this breakfast is normally 500 calories. Let's say on a Saturday, if you know you're going out to eat on the weekends, maybe what you do instead is you don't do this particular breakfast 'cause that might be a little bit higher in calories than you would like. Maybe what you do is you take away the oats and you take away the chia seeds. For For example, you take away having 4 whole eggs. Let's say you have 2 whole eggs and then 4 egg whites. Now you're getting more, even more protein for less calories. And let's say you do a bunch of like veggies. Maybe you do like, you know, spinach and peppers. That's my favorite on eggs. But let's say you do some spinach and peppers and you have this egg white omelet for breakfast that's 250 calories. Now you've eaten less calories without necessarily like starving yourself. You're still getting a ton of protein. You're still getting a ton of veggies and good nutrient-dense whole foods to keep you full. It's not like you're not eating. It's not like you're starving yourself. You're just strategically eating a little bit less calories at your meals to save calories for a meal later on. Or you could have even done the same exact breakfast there, but maybe just like Slightly decrease the portion sizes. And then let's say, for example, you usually have, um, at lunch, I don't know, you're having some sort of chicken, rice, veggie, and some fruit. And let's just say that comes out to, you know, 600 calories as a lunch. Again, I'm just making this stuff up, but hopefully you can see where I'm going with this. Maybe instead of doing this right here, maybe you swap this out for like a bass. B-A-S, big-ass salad. Maybe you swap this out for a big-ass salad with some grilled chicken instead. Let's say you use the light dressing, you don't just bathe yourself in ranch dressing, and now, for example, this lunch is only 300 calories instead of 600 calories. So now you went from 500 calories at breakfast, 600 calories at lunch, 1,100 calories for your day thus far. You then switch that to 250 calories at breakfast, 300 calories at lunch, and now you're at 550 calories for the day. But again, you've had a ton of protein, you've had a ton of veggies, you're going to be full, you're going to be satisfied, you're not going to be starving yourself. So when you go into that dinner time or, you know, the later afternoon time, you can still practice moderation, practice not overeating while still eating a tad bit more food. And then let's just say for example, maybe you're having, you know, I don't know, some sort of like Snacks later in the day, maybe before you go out to eat to your event, you're having a protein shake instead of having your regular snack, and that protein shake is 150 calories. This would be a phenomenal, you know, structure of your meals to be able to save calories for the nighttime without ending up screwing yourself, for lack of better terms, and end up overeating. I'm telling you, do not try to go through the day fasting and eating nothing. It's not going to work. I have worked with enough clients in our coaching. That is not going to work. You still gotta eat, but you can save calories in a smart way. And that way, talking about what we just mentioned in the first point, you'll still be able to hit your 2,400 calories or whatever higher calorie amount you had. You'll still be able to hit that and be mindful of that, which means your weekly calories will be hit and you will lose fat. The third tip, some people don't like hearing this, but Stick with me. Some people don't like hearing that, like you need to have rules with food, like healthy eating rules. Some people are just like, there should be no rules. You should eat whatever you want in whatever quantity you want. And that's just, in my opinion, absurd. Like I don't think you should be eating whatever you want whenever you want in whatever quantity you want. That's why most people end up 40, 50, 60, 100 pounds overweight. They have health complications. They're not confident in how they look and feel. You should be having some rules. Even when you're going out to eat. Now, you can order things that you like, but when I say eating out and having rules, I mean more— these are basically what we call like bright lines. Like, they're very clear, very concise guidelines that you give to yourself. So, for example, and these, these could be anything, but let's just say, for example, you're going out to eat this weekend. You want one of your bright lines to be you are only having 2 drinks of alcohol. when you're going out to eat. That could be a rule that you follow, a guideline, whichever one works best for you, a rule or a guideline that you follow that you're gonna stick to. It's, did you or did you not have 2 drinks? It's very simple, right? Let's say your other guideline is you have to order some protein at your main course meal. Now, this doesn't mean you can't order the pasta. It doesn't mean you can't order the potatoes. It doesn't mean you can't order whatever food that you want But you have to have a guideline of you're getting some sort of protein at your main course meal. Again, it's a yes or no. Did you or did you not do it? It's very clear. And then let's just say maybe your third one is you are either going to have the appetizer or the dessert, not both. And again, some people might get mad at that, but if you're having drinks and you're having what you want and you're having, you know, appetizer, dessert, everything, like It's gonna be hard to stick within your calories, just calling it how it is. So maybe your thing is, I'm gonna have either the appetizer or the dessert, and then from there I'm actually going to stick to one, like, plate. You know, they have those, like, you have your main course plate, but you have your appetizer plate or your dessert plate. I'm gonna stick to one plate of the appetizer or the dessert. I'm not just gonna keep grabbing the chips like I do. Um, just keep grabbing the chips out of the bowl or just keep, like, snacking and picking at the dessert. Put it on a plate, that's your portion size, and you're done. So, that's just an example. You can come up with whatever things you need to, whatever bright lines that you need to, but you need to have some sort of rules. The number one thing I have seen coaching clients over these past 8 and a half years by now, just going into the event and saying like, I'm gonna eat healthy, it is not good enough. It's not good enough for you, not good enough for me, Not good enough for anybody. You have to go into the event with very clear rules that you are going to follow. And again, I'm not— none of this is like you can't eat this or you can't eat that or you can't have this. Like, none of that. And that's where when people think like I say eating out rules, like this is not over-restricting yourself, but it is giving yourself rules and guidelines that you have to follow. So come up with those. And there's no right or wrong answer to this. Like I always tell all of our clients, like This is going to be dependent to you. Like these, honestly, I have used these specific ones with a lot of people. I think they could probably help you as well. But you know, so I'll give you three more. Hold on. You could have a rule, a bright line to eat protein and veggies first. So if let's say you have macaroni, you have barbecue meat chicken, and you have coleslaw, whatever it is, you're going to eat the chicken in the coleslaw before you go and eat the macaroni and cheese. You're going to eat your protein and veggies before. Before you eat your carbs. Why do you do this? It helps keep you more full, so you'll get full quicker, and usually if you get full quicker, you'll eat less and, you know, you'll be good. So, the next one, the one plate rule. No matter what you eat, it has to fit on one plate. There's no going back for seconds and thirds and fourths and fifths, if you're me. But the one plate rule, you stick to the one plate, because unless you're just stacking, you know, 12 pancakes high on a plate, you can only fit but so many calories on one plate. And that's what we're trying to be mindful of here is making sure we stay within our overall calories. And then number 3, just stopping eating when you're full, listening to your hunger cues, like taking your time, stopping when you're full, just not eating past the point of fullness. Again, just 3 more examples. They're endless, but have the rules. That way you can go into it with a plan and you feel in control. And number 4 is really important. Probably the most important one, your mindset. I, again, I've coached a lot of people in these past 8 and a half years. A lot of people will fall into this all or nothing mindset, kind of like what I talked about earlier where, you know, you're not able to track your calories perfectly at a restaurant. So then you think you ruined all your progress. Then you think, well, I don't know if I'm hitting my calories anyway. What's the big deal? I'm probably already off track. I might as well keep going. I might as well do double dessert now. Yeah, I'll have 3 extra drinks. Who cares? You just fall into this fuck it mode. You don't need to fall into the fuck it mode, especially because number one, if you do the three things that we talked about earlier, a lot of this comes back to you not planning. I'm not trying to be mean to you; I'm just being honest. You're not planning ahead enough. So then when you get into the Saturday afternoon, you don't have a plan for it. You haven't adjusted your calories throughout the week. You haven't worked on you know changing up your nutrition earlier in the day to make sure you can hit your calories at night. You don't have any plans going into it. So then when you get here, you're like, fuck, I'm screwed. Like there's no way I'm going to hit my goals. Right? And whether there is or is not a way you can hit your goals, you think there's not. And so you go into the, the case of the fuck-its and you just say, screw it. So do the work beforehand. That will make you feel more in control. We as humans love to be in control. If we're not, it's bad news bears and you just, Say screw it, right? So that is a big point as well. But then also just please remember, and a lot of people get this, especially with counting calories, like I will get this all the time. Eric, how do I go out to eat and still track my calories? Should I bring my food scale? I'm like, are you a fucking psycho? I'm like, no, you don't have to bring your food scale going out to eat, eating out. But this is why weighing your food and tracking your calories Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for, you know, weeks and months You'll be able to guesstimate to the best of your ability. You'll be able to guesstimate, which again, the whole point of, especially when we talk about tracking calories, it's not about being perfect. It's just about being in the, in the ballpark range, making sure you're still being mindful, making sure you're trying to stay within your weekly overall calories. If you're a little bit off, you're a little bit off, right? Like overestimate if it makes you feel better. Like if you think it was 800 calories, put 1,000 calories just to make sure. But the point is, you guesstimating 800 calories and it actually being 1,000 calories— okay, this will probably resonate with you— you guesstimating you're eating 1,000 calories but it actually was 1,000 calories— I'm sorry, 800 calories to 1,000— is way better than you not guesstimating at all, saying fuck it, and eating 2,500 calories. Right? Because if you just say fuck it, you're going to end up way blowing things out of the water. When you just like guesstimate to the best of your ability, you're still going to be within the range and you're going to be mindful. You want to make mindful decisions. A lot of times during the weekends, it's mindless decisions. And a lot of times because you think you already screwed something up. You didn't screw anything up. You've changed your calories during the week. You've changed your nutrition during the day. You've You have your plan in place. You're good. You are on track. Even if you got to eat, even if you have a, uh, even if you're slightly over in the calories, it's okay. It's already worked into the plan. You're good. Don't fall into this. All right. I really hope this video helped you. And seriously, this is what we do every single week with our one-on-one coaching clients. If you're interested in getting coached by myself and the team one-on-one, drop the link here below. We will set weekend plans for you every single week. We will help you through your journey. We'll be there to hold you accountable. We would love to get the opportunity to work with you. So click the link in the description of this video below. Other than that, hope you have a great day and we'll chat soon.