Ah yes, Candace Cantloseweight. Our favourite. Under eating during the week, overeating on the weekends. This is a classic situation we see far too often. Now you’re probably thinking a few things- the first one is “Yeah ok I enjoy myself on the weekends but there’s NO WAY I eat 5000 calories!” Think again.
You’ve starved yourself during the week and your brain knows that. Your brain also has a funny way of living in denial, purposefully, so it can get it’s re-feed before you starve it again. You will likely not even realize how much you’re consuming as your body goes into primitive mode, protecting you from the next week of famine. Wanna know what 5000 calories looks like? 5000 calories is EASILY a brunch with coffee, a restaurant salad for lunch with two beer or ciders, an afternoon smoothie from the shops, pasta/Chinese/Thai/pizza dinner at night with dessert and a bottle of wine. In fact that is more like 6-7000 calories. While doing NO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY all day.
With a day like that, there’s no binging or erratic behaviour, in fact it’s kind of “normal”- there’s nothing there that automatically leaves you feeling awful and guilty. When you look back you probably think “I actually did quite well besides my dinner and dessert and a couple drinks! Yay!” Think again, Candace. There’s a reason why you’re not losing weight.
Now the second thing you’re probably thinking is “Well ok I do that SOMETIMES, but like maybe every second weekend. I exercise so hard!!”. The hard truth is yes, you probably do, but average that caloric output over 7 days and exercise is only about 200 calories of your day. Your incidental activity is probably only 150 calories per day. And by the way, because you’re eating 1200 calories a day, you’ve likely slowed down your basal metabolic rate, and your incidental and exercise output naturally decrease because you don’t have energy. Fact of the matter is, doing this every SECOND week might not make you gain noticeable weight quickly, but you most definitely will stay the same weight and wonder why the scale isn’t moving. The frustration begins. You start living in denial and think that you have a “bad metabolism” or a hormonal imbalance. Well yes, your metabolism does slow down when you lose weight but not enough to make a massive difference. In fact, it’s minimal. Hormonal imbalance? Yup, it happens. But it’s the worst excuse in the book as balancing your hormones is EASILY managed by a CONSISTENT and BALANCED diet. And Candace, don’t even try the “that time of month” excuse. You’re a big girl, take responsibility for your actions.
On top of ALL that is a horrible habit you’ve created. This is the yo-yo cycle you often hear us talk about. It becomes a habit and as time goes on, it is very difficult to overcome.
Our advice: eat a bit more during the week and you are less likely to overdo it on the weekends. Create consistency with your diet so your brain doesn’t live in a constant state of fear. You would be surprised how well this works, and how much better you will feel. Try to limit your indulgence to ONE meal or snack. Avoid eating out as much as possible- a salad, a smoothie and brunch in general have so many hidden calories it would absolutely startle you.