One the biggest mistakes people make on their fitness journey is overly sacrificing and depriving themselves during the week and going over board on the weekend.   Your discipline Monday – Friday is 120% .  You train hard, have your protein shakes, and eat chicken and rice because you are committed to your goals.  Friday night come around, and you begin feel like you “deserve” or “earned” you cheat meal.   Yes, you did earn your cheat meal.  However, there is a big difference between having a cheat meal as a reward and binge eating away all of your progress.

The important thing is to have balance in your life with fitness and nutrition.  Whether your goal is gain muscle or lose body fat, you should not feel deprived or like you are missing out on life.  Today the tips in this article is to help give  ideas on how to have balance in  your  weekends and still enjoy yourself.

1. DON’T SKIP MEALS

A common mistake is skip breakfast because of the huge meal that is coming later in the day.  I understand the logic behind “wanting to save room”, but this will always backfire with your goals.  If you allow yourself to starve all day, you will end up over eating and being in a major surplus of calories. This will also lead you to “not feeling hungry” for breakfast the following day making it harder to get back on track.

2. STAY ACTIVE

Although you completed the workouts on your program. It is important to stay active on the weekend.  Don’t let yourself lay in bed all day binge watching on Netflix or Disney Plus.  Add in a light walk, moderate hike, or stretching to keep the blood flowing and mind alert.

3. GET QUALITY REST

Most of us on the weekend stay up later.  Make sure not to eat too heavy right before bed or consume too much alcohol.  When you are sleeping is how your body recovers from the workouts and builds lean muscle.  If you become sleep deprived, it will be harder during the week to train hard. Remember, consistency and intensity is the key to results.  Simply going through the motions of the workouts week after week will not produce any results.

4. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER

Easy during the week, easier said than done on the weekend. Keep the habit of drinking plenty of water right when you wake up.  Many people “forget” to drink water on the weekend.  They either do not drink enough fluids or only drink sugary drinks or alcohol.  You do not want to start your follow week dehydrated.  Dehydration will effect your performance during traning.

Remember the key elements to seeing results is intensity, consistency and good nutrition.  In order to complete all three key elements is balance. You should never feel like you “need a break from the gym” or a “break from dieting”.  We are here to develop life style habits that will help us reach our goals.

Feel Free to reach out if you have any questions.

Houston Fry

Ultimate Fitness