I’m sure we can all agree that weekend overeating is somewhat common, and many people struggle with it.
You might eat well from Monday to Friday, but it feels like a switch flips inside your brain, leading you to ruin your week’s progress over the weekend.
Luckily, there are many ways to eradicate destructive behaviours. To that end, we’ve put together a list of five simple and oh-so-smart strategies to stop binge eating on the weekend.
1. Stop Trying to Justify Your Decision
Here is something you might not know about human psychology:
We often make decisions based on emotion and justify them through logic (1). For example, you want the newest iPhone because of how the device makes you feel. You enjoy the design, the phone’s interface, and its feel when you’re holding it. You then come up with logical reasons for why you should buy it to make it seem like a sound financial decision. “Oh, I’m going to need it because I have to run a demanding app for my job. Plus, the camera is better, and we’ll use it to take lots of photos on our family vacations.”
The same goes for our eating behaviours. We might eat something that makes us feel good and try to justify the decision once we are finished. “I shouldn’t have had all of these carbs over the weekend, but that extra energy is surely going to help me train harder and recover better.”
Here is the thing, though. You might justify your decisions all you want, but doing so won’t benefit you in any way. You will only lie to yourself and never reach your goals.
A much better approach is to stop justifying decisions and accept them for what they are. In the case of weekend overeating, stop thinking of good reasons why you didn’t actually mess up. The sooner you do, the sooner you can start looking at your behaviours objectively and make the necessary changes.
2. Aim For Good, Don’t Seek Perfection
Have you ever heard the saying, “Perfect is the enemy of good?” It refers to the idea that pursuing perfection is a massive roadblock to doing good work consistently. We tend to iron out every detail, check everything three times over, and ensure that we do things in the best possible way.
The problem is, setting impossible standards for ourselves contributes to a black and white mentality toward life. We shouldn’t even bother if we can’t be perfect. But here is the thing:
Most of life falls somewhere in the middle. The objective isn’t to be perfect but to do enough good work and let that define us. In the case of overeating during the weekend, you might not necessarily want to be perfect. Instead, you should strive to eat enough healthy foods and enjoy some freedom to have a few treats. That way, you won’t feel as deprived, and you will stop feeling the need to overindulge.
3. Forget About Cheat Days and Cheat Meals
Everyone remotely interested in fitness has at least entertained the idea of cheat days and cheat meals. After all, healthy eating is demanding, and cheat days provide the necessary outlet to enjoy our nutrition and feel better.
The problem with cheat days is two-fold:
1. Needing ‘cheat’ days means your nutrition is rigid and prevents you from enjoying your favourite foods under normal circumstances.
2. The cheat day itself is often counterproductive, and you need multiple days of good eating to offset the adverse effects (2). It can even lead to long-term health issues (3).
Instead of relying on cheat days, a much better approach is to allow yourself enough dietary flexibility to enjoy your nutrition. Maybe that means enjoying some ice cream after dinner on Thursday or drinking a couple of beers with your friends. Whatever it is, give yourself some freedom. As a result, the urge to have the occasional splurge will lessen, and you will feel more content. Plus, not having cheat days will save you the inevitable guilt that follows each binge episode.
4. Seek The Reason Behind The Behavior
We often focus on the behaviour itself, but few people take the time to understand the reason behind it. For example, let’s say that cookies are a huge weakness, and you end up eating a whole box on Saturday evening. That’s fair, but what is driving the behaviour? Might it be the fact that you always have a box of your favourite cookies in the kitchen, ten feet away?
We all struggle with unique issues, but there is almost always a trigger behind a behaviour. Finding what drives you to overeat is vital for taking the necessary measures to stop that specific trigger in the future. For example, if having a particular food at home makes you more likely to binge eat, get rid of it.
5. Let Hunger Be Your Guide
The last tactic I recommend might seem counterintuitive. After all, hunger is precisely what drives you to overeat, so how can you rely on it to resolve the issue?
The truth is, more often than not, cravings, not hunger, are what cause overeating. The difference is that hunger is the physical sensation you experience, driving you to consume calories (4). In contrast, cravings tend to occur because of external factors, leading to a desire to consume a specific food, often in excess (5). For example, you might see a Youtube ad for a local fast-food restaurant and feel the urge to order a couple of greasy burgers.
Unlike hunger, cravings tend to pass quickly, especially when you occupy your mind with something else. Sure, an ad might bring an appetite for a greasy burger, but the urge will likely pass if you start working on something, hit the gym, sit down to read a book and make yourself a tea.
Paying attention to your hunger might seem like a vague tactic, but learning to do so is essential if you ever hope to feel comfortable around food and maintain a healthy weight. Your alternative is to jump from one diet to the next, celebrating small wins and becoming frustrated each time you go back to square one.
Start by listening to your body when having a meal. How do you feel in response to eating, and when does satiety occur? We often distract ourselves while eating and miss the point when we should stop.
Coach Michael
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