Here’s the thing, we are all human. That means we have all fallen off the health wagon. Usually, I jump off the health wagon Friday nights to catch the pizza and beer bus that speeds along until Sunday evening when it reaches Regretsville. So I know what it’s like to wake up Monday morning feeling like you have to start your fitness goals over from scratch. A binge, a cheat weekend, a 2-day slip, or whatever you call it, can be hard to come back from and is often the reason people give up on their fitness goals. So, through WAY too much personal experience, I have found five tried and true ways to come back from a binge weekend stronger than ever.
This is my #1 trick so I want to be very clear, this isn’t to punish yourself. There’s no place, or point, for that kind of thing. Doing a killer workout after a diet slip reminds you what your body is capable of. Forget the calories you are burning, this workout is to get back your confidence, to show yourself you are still a badass, and to set your mind right back on track. Also, it makes you feel like you’ve sweated out a good portion of the weekend, so you feel a little lighter and ready to take on the week.
Want to feel better? Go get a gallon jug of water and finish it by bedtime. I do this a lot, so don’t tell me it’s impossible… I mean you’ll have to pee every 30 minutes but that’s kind of the point. Drinking large amounts of water after a cheat weekend will help flush out any excess toxins in the body. Speaking from experience, drinking water is like hitting the reset button on my stomach. It makes me feel like I’m not carrying around 8 pieces of pizza and 3 pancakes in my tummy.
One thing you don’t want to do after a binge is starve yourself. Honestly, I know it’s tempting to wait until 5 o’clock on Monday night to eat in some attempt to balance out the calorie intake, but it’s the wrong move. You need your metabolism to be working full speed in order to burn calories, and you need to eat to do that. So while you don’t have to eat as soon as you get up, especially if you eat ice cream at midnight the night before, you should start your Monday with a light food. My go-to’s are a smoothie, salad, or vegetables.
It’s simple but effective, and this shouldn’t wait until Monday. If you had a binge weekend, go for a walk Sunday. Nothing fancy, just a simple walk through your neighborhood helps your body process the large amount of food it’s ingested and leaves you feeling less like a couch potato. And it helps to stop the cycle Sunday night so you can wake up Monday ready to go.
Just remember that a cheat meal doesn’t need to become a cheat day, or cheat weekend. You can stop it from snowballing by simply moving on. If you end up eating 7 tacos at 1 a.m. Saturday night, try to wake up Sunday with Monday’s motivation. Or if you have way too many donuts Sunday morning, go for a walk, drink some water, reset and get right back on track. Moving on from one bad decision in that moment can help you from derailing your fitness goals permanently. It’s important to be able to do this, because all of us will have mistakes at some point, but they shouldn’t be the reason we give up on ourselves. Don’t beat yourself up over a binge weekend, it is not worth it.
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