If You Struggle with Weekend Binging...
Hey friends! Hope you all had a great weekend and the week is off to a good start for you! I'll be honest...I'm pretty tired. But tired for all good reasons. We have had a lot of family and friends visiting the last couple weeks and work has been crazy so just trying to remind myself to make intentional time for rest and "me" time. Anyone else? Anyways, a topic that's come up a lot lately with clients has been the struggle of being "good" all week and then binging on the weekends and struggling desperately with breaking out of that cycle. Guuurllll, I've been there! It's a tricky thing to navigate! But I think after reading this post you'll feel a little, scratch that, a LOT more empowered in your ability to skip the weekend binge!
Buuut, let's first say that the actual act of binging is not a bad thing. You should never feel like a screw up or a bad person for binging. But, what I do know, from coaching women through this process (and from dealing with it myself), is that binging doesn't feel good. I don't feel like me when I binge on food. I don't feel that I can be my best person when I'm using food to meet a need it can't meet.
Why you can't stop binging...
Eating until you feel sick on weekends isn't your fault. I know it may feel like it, but it's actually a 100% normal reaction your body takes to protect you from starvation.Binging is the result of feeling starved. There's no other explanation.
Either you're starved from physically from food which leads your body to fight back and protect itself from another famine (either true or perceived) or it's starved from emotional needs. Either way, starvation leads to binging.This is why if you've ever dieted before, or even if you've ever simply restricted your calories all in the "name of health", there does come a moment where you can't take the restriction anymore and your body's natural drive to feed itself kicks in. And this is where the binging comes.
It doesn't have to be a weekend to enjoy what you eat.
So if the reason your weekends feel like they're more spent in a food coma from binging on delicious foods, but then you think back and can't remember what the foods tasted like, have no fear! There's a simple solution towards working to feeling more at peace with food and more in control without food controlling you each day of the week.Eat freely every day!Seek to meet your emotional needs during the week!
Fill your life with people who will pour into you and you in them.When I talk to clients about their own struggles with binging on weekends, they usually start with..."But I do so well during the week! And then when the weekend comes I can't seem to control myself!"The problem here is that phrase "I do so well". What does it mean to "do well"? If you use these phrases like "do well", or "I'm so good" around food and eating, it's a good indication that you aren't at peace with all foods. You don't see foods as neither good or bad, but that there's a moral hierarchy with foods.
But wait, I thought it was common knowledge that pizza is bad and salads are good, right?This mentality is the very reason why you're feeling deprived on weekdays and then out of control on weekends. Eating good food shouldn't be just limited to a couple of days a week, but to all days, listening to your body and your cravings for how to eat and what to eat.
How good food during the week will help your weekend binging.
So, instead of eating the way every diet tells you to eat, limiting calories to a certain number and portioning food and snacks to a certain amount regardless of your own hunger cues, try this...Try eating foods that sound good to you, letting yourself eat ice cream on a Monday or Wednesday night, having that glass of wine on a Tuesday, and celebrating food every day! Eating foods that you love during the week instead of eating only "safe foods", listening to cravings instead of pushing them away, and taking away this mentality of "weeknight foods" vs "weekend foods" will help you to not feel the need to binge on weekends.
Because every day will be a day you can celebrate. This takes the "forbidden" label off of a lot of foods, which can mentally lead you to crave them even more and feel less in control when eating them, and leaves you able to eat intuitively and mindfully when enjoying foods that were, in the past, only reserved for the weekend. It helps you have a peace about eating those foods instead of the mindset of, "I have to eat all of 'x' on the weekend because starting Monday I can't have it for another 5 days!" So to recap, the reason you find yourself going crazy with food on weekends has nothing to do with your lack of discipline or lack of self control. It has nothing to do with your willpower or ability to say "no". It has EVERYTHING to do with how you're eating through the week and how you're showing yourself love Monday-Friday! So, here's a practical application for you...show yourself some love this week by having a "treat yo' self" night! Let yourself enjoy a food that you previously reserved for the weekend. See how this simple exercise completely changes your view of food and your empowerment. Then, be sure to comment below with your experience so we can all learn more of what a healthy relationship with food really looks like! Happy eating :)