Dieting for the Weekend

After a disgusting weekend of eating and drinking (which is pretty much every weekend for me), you need to have a healthy week… AKA diet for the weekend – a motto to live by. After eating the same food every day for the past couple of years, occasionally switching it up when I get sick of items such as sunchips and cottage cheese, I pretty have the week-diet down. And I want to share my secrets with you.

A few years ago I lost weight… and then I gained some back and haven’t been able to get rid of it. I really am trying… but for me, maintaining my weight is hard enough – since I binge with alc and food on the weekend…

For breakfast (yes, you need to eat breakfast), I am currently eating special k cereal. A serving size is a cup, so every morning I measure a cup for myself to ensure I am not eating more calories than the serving size.

My breakfast varies for sure. Before, I was eating frosted mini wheats, but those have a lot of calories in them. SOMETIMES, I even have a glass of Simply Orange Juice.

For my mid morning snack, I am currently eating the 90 calorie Special K Bar – CHOCOLATEY PRETZEL. Let me tell you – these are the BEST bars I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot of bars. Almost every kind. These are my number one favorite food (when not indulging in french fries) (and until I get sick of them).

For lunch, I have Chobani greek yogurt. It is 140 calories of goodness. I switch between the flavors of Peach, Strawberry Banana, and most recently Strawberry. If you are still eating regular yogurt and haven’t switched to Greek, I have no idea what is wrong with you. With my yogurt, I have an 110 calorie bag of Trader Joe’s Light Kettle Corn. AMAZING. And you get a whole lotta popcorn (that can be found under my desk – I am really bad with crumbs).

I used to eat Harvest Cheddar Sunchips (140 calories – I ate them for the past 2 years), and I very recently switched over to the kettle corn bags. I am beyond sick of the sunchips. This would be the only reason I don’t recommend eating the same foods everyday. But it works.

Later in the day, I have another snack before I head to the gym so I’m not going on an empty stomach (sometimes I even have a snack before this snack – another bar). If you haven’t guessed already, I have another 90 calorie Chocolatey Pretzel Special K Bar. I have a problem. If I weren’t me, I might switch it up. Sometimes I do if I run out of bars – I will have an 150 calorie Life Cereal Bar… or an 130 Fiber Plus bar (The Fiber Plus bars are WAY better than the Fiber One bars)

My dinner usually varies, but I’ll give you a few options.

1. The Pesto Tortellini Bowl from Trader Joes. This is my FAVORITE frozen meal.

2. Lean Cuisines & Smart Ones meals (A couple favorites include Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti, Lean Cuisine Pizza, and Smart Ones Pasta with Ricotta & Spinach)

3. Scrambled Eggs with an English Muffin (Thomas Multi-Grain 100 calories)

4. IF I ran enough and burned enough calories at the gym, I will eat pretty much anything that’s not HORRIBLE for you… Such meals include pesto & spinach lasagna, pasta, meatballs, chicken, rice, etc.

Later, depending on what I ate, I will have an 100 calorie bag of popcorn… OR an english muffin, salad, carrots, nutella & pretzel crisps, everything bagel chips from Costco & humus, ETC.

You can’t just eat these foods though. And the more you want to eat, the more you should work out… because if you burn too many calories and aren’t eating enough each day you won’t lose weight!

You need to work out! Working full-time makes it pretty hard to go to the gym (at least much harder than being in college, going to the gym, going to class, going to other activities, working 3 part time jobs, writing papers, shooting and editing television projects, and going to cheerleading practice, games, & competition… WHO KNOWS HOW AND WHY IT IS HARDER – but it is… and I really don’t think it should be!) ANYWAY, I try to go to the gym as much as possible. Usually after work on Friday, I am rushing to get ready to go out and Saturday/Sunday I am too hungover to move… but I do try to go as much as possible on the weekends – and I tend to go every day during the week, unless I have other plans after work (which is RARE). Sometimes, if I don’t go to the gym, I still lose weight the next day because of the low amount of calories I will eat during the day.

At the gym, I go on the treadmill for as long as I last… ranging from 30 min to an hour. I usually run an average 2/2.5 miles a day – on a good day I will run 3 miles and on a bad day when I get horrible blisters or horrible cramps, I will run a little over a mile and have to stop – but that doesn’t usually happen because I get very upset if it does! After running, I stretch and do at least 225 crunches a day. I do the twice plank for 1 minute each time. Then I alternate between lifting free weights & leg weights. SUCCESS.

Sometimes I get upset at what good shape I could be in if I just stopped drinking and going out to dinner on the weekend, but then I think… I’m young, having fun, and I feel great… SO whatever 🙂