“Sure it’s the weekend, I can eat whatever I want and I’ll get back on the wagon after the weekend.”
Nope. It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid.
I got my calculator out the other day and ran some numbers… if you take the ‘weekend’ off training, and more importantly, from your diet, you are literally taking 42% of the week ‘off’.
42% is nearly half. Being ‘good’ half the time and being ‘bad’ half the time leave you in a massive stale mate (when you consider the fact that you probably aren’t comparably as ‘good’ on Mon-Thurs as your are ‘bad’ on Fri-Sun leaving you in a 50/50 situation, or worse).
You will not lose weight, and will probably gain weight, in this situation.
I know, sh**.
You simply cannot take the entire weekend off and then pretend it didn’t happen, I’m afraid. Eating too much isn’t like having a misunderstanding with someone, saying sorry, and it’s all forgotten about. Your calorie balance won’t forget that chinese and a bottle of wine on Friday night, coffee and cake with your mate on Saturday followed by 18 gin and tonics and hangover food on Sunday – your fat cells have a very good memory.
This is what you can do – eat ‘normally’ Monday to Thursday, eat very little Friday throughout the day to compensate for the chinese you are inevitably going to get, same again on Saturday during the day to make up for the calories in the 18 gin and tonics. Have one bout of bad food on Sunday but eat really light for the rest of the day.
Try that out and watch yourself still lose fat while having a life.
You can thank me later.
Bryan Kavanagh BSc. CSCS
Bachelor of Science, Sport Science & Health (hons)
NSCA, Certified Personal Trainer
NSCA, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.
ITEC, Level 3 Sports Massage Therapist