We’ve all been there. I’ve been there plenty of times. We eat really well in the week, eating the right things, controlling our portions sizes, saying no to that chocolate bar and packet of crisps, but then Friday night comes and it all goes out the window.
It’s been a long hard week and all we want to do in unwind and relax and quite a lot of the time, food and alcohol do just the job for us.
The Big Picture
This is all well and good, but when we are at the point in our lives when we want to lose a bit of weight and it just isn’t happening these weekend splurges can quite often be the cause of the problem.
How our bodies lose fat is very simple. If eat less calories than our bodies use (A calorie deficit) then it has to use its own fat stores to make up for the energy that it’s not getting. Simple enough? Each pound of body fat equates to roughly 3500 calories so if we are in a calorie deficit of 500 calories each day for a whole week then we will lose one pound of fat (500 x 7 days = 3500). I put that in bold because it’s very helpful to remember how and why we lose body fat.
So if your body needs 2000 calories for example to maintain itself (When your height, weight, age, and activity levels are taken into account) then eating 1500 calories each day for a week will ensure that you lose that one pound of body fat.
The Sticking Point
Now when we have our weekend splurges it can actually undo all our good work that we’ve done in the week!
For example lets say again that your body needs 2000 calories to maintain itself and you eat 1500 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which means you are in a 2000 calorie deficit for the week so far – good job! Now Friday night comes and you fancy a few glasses of wine. Then Saturday comes and you have a bacon, egg and sausage sandwich for breakfast, go out for lunch and have a meal and drinks and the night. Then on Sunday you sit on the sofa all day and eat junk food. All of that has meant that you’ve eaten 2500 on Friday night, 3000 on Saturday and 2500 on Sunday which has completely wiped out your original 2000 calories deficit and we’re back to where we started!
Summary
So now we have looked at how the body loses body fat, the importance of calories and being in a calorie deficit across the week and why the weekends and overindulging can undo all of our good work!
Stay consistent with your calorie intake across the week and watch those pounds drop off. If you know you’re going to eat a little bit more on a given day, just eat less and account of it either the day before or after. Simples!
Adam C. Morris - Fitness Coach 