You know what’s pretty damn freeing? Choosing to eat a burger and fries on a Tuesday afternoon for lunch. Not a Friday or Saturday night, because it’s the weekend. No, but because it was lunchtime, and I wanted one, and Tuesday is just a day. Eating this burger and fries means nothing to me, which really means everything.

Burger and fries

I used to be a Monday – Friday clean eater and then a weekend binge-y eater. Let’s face it. It was more like Monday morning to Thursday night was clean, and Friday morning to Sunday night was more of a binge fest. That ratio isn’t great, is it? It’s no surprise I struggled through digestive distress for years until trying some new strategies, which made my relationship with food much more relaxed and eliminated the ‘6-months pregnant looking bloated belly’ after meals. You know the one?

So, off I’d go from Monday to Thursday night eating my fruits, veggies, and proteins and being super conscious of what I was eating. By the time Friday rolled around I was so ready for any and all “rewards” for making it through the week and to the weekend. It was on! I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and however much I wanted. And, I would.

Because, it’s Sunday. 

Have you ever eaten so much on Sunday night dinner (and after dinner, because it’s still Sunday so effing right you’re having those 2 bowls of ice cream) that you’re still full when you wake up Monday morning? And, then Monday morning you’re pissed at yourself because you ate so much tough-to-digest food over the weekend and you feel guilty as hell. UGH. I used to feel like that much too often.

It wasn’t a cold turkey kind of quitting (and doesn’t need to be). But, eventually, I decided that I totally hated that feeling and realized that no one was making me feel that way, but me. The realization? I could stop at any point I wanted to, I just needed to actually do it. The funny thing about doing stuff and taking action…it works 😉

Those same foods I was binging on were available on every other day of the week.

Whoa. Just repeat those words to yourself one time.

My coach Jill Coleman is a smart lady. She’s said these similar words many a time, and they always strike a cord with me. What is different about Friday, Saturday and Sunday, compared to the previous four days? Probably a few things: you’re exhausted by the time the weekend comes, you feel like you deserve a reward for making it through a tough week, you have more social events to attend, or it’s just become a habit for you to binge once the weekend hits.

These are things you’ll need to consider and see what is truly going on in your life that is making the weekend binge a reoccurring theme. What I’ve come to practice is that Saturday holds no significance in my eating habits, compared to Tuesday. It is going to take practice. It is going to take some mindset shifting. It will not be without it’s challenges, but I guarantee it will be worth it.

This is why I eat burgers, drink wine and eat cupcakes on random Mondays, Wednesdays or Sundays (really, any day for that matter). Because, it’s just another day. I very rarely ever binge anymore or go ‘all out’. A burger doesn’t turn into a burger + 4 cookies + 2L of diet soda. One or two glasses of wine doesn’t have to turn into a bottle or more. And, when it does turn into that I might feel a bellyache or a headache but not a soul ache.

It’s just a day and those foods are available anytime I want them. I never feel deprived. I never feel like I want to eat all the things immediately. I just eat, regardless of what the calendar tells me what day it is.

JMG

 

 

 

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