St. Pete Personal Trainer

I’m So Upset, I gained 6 pounds this week end ⁉️

I was going through and organizing old videos and found one from over the holidays that reminded me of the weekends and the stress I see people going through as they try to resist “temptation” and stay on track so I

“Most people worry about what they eat between December 25 and December 31 when they need to worry about what they eat between December 31 and December 25”.

Read that again!

I feel like this is very similar to the weekends.  Because we get caught out of our routine, we tend to stress out trying to navigate the weekends. Sadly, most folks don’t put near as much care into what they eat during the week days.

For our clients, we coach them to plan either one entire unstructured day or 3 meals per week in order to understand the balance between enjoying food, friends and fun and how it fits into a balanced food plan and  we NEVER, I repeat NEVER weigh on a  Monday.

Well, we rarely weigh at all past the first couple of months but, that’s a topic for a whole other day.

If you are one of those folks who hops on the scale every day, (including Mondays), I want to break it down for you barney style to keep you from stressing out tomorrow. 

First, you have to remember that 3500 calories=a pound of fat.

To put it in food terms, that’s THREE pints of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, 10 Crispy Cream Donuts or 2 entire thin crust cheese pizzas from Hungry Howies.

So, in order to gain a pound of fat, you need to eat a SURPLUS of 3500 Calories OVER Your Maintenance Calories Which, For Most People Can Be Between 1500 – 2700/Day.

Now, I don’t know what you have going on over  the weekends but surely you aren’t going over your calories by more than 10,000 calories.

You may get on the scale and see a higher reading on Monday but that is because a gram of carbs holds onto 3-4 grams of water and dining out and week end “snack” foods  generally add sodium to your diet so you are likely bloated and holding a bunch of water and food which has not been eliminated.

Now, if you tend to drink a lot of alcohol on the weekends, that’s a whole different subject that goes far beyond the added calories in alcohol and mixers. My post The Truth About Alcohol and Fat Loss will change your perspective on drinking and your weight loss goals and it has almost nothing to do with calories

And, in order to lose a pound you need to be in a deficit of 3500 calories which can be from movement/exercise or fewer calories.  Everyone is different but some combination of those two is what we recommend and that’s why our Friday and Saturday sessions are packed to capacity with folks getting in their metabolic workouts to get their minds right and their metabolisms revved up.

So, I’m here to tell you not to stress out over the number on the scale on Monday and to help you get your mind right if you  stuffed your face from Friday night to Sunday night.

If you are diligent through the week and go into a calorie deficit, stick to protein fruits and veggies and limit the “non unhealthy meals/drinks” to the weekend and get some quality exercise in, you will have no problem making progress to your goals despite what the scale might say tomorrow morning. It may be slower than you’d like and changing your weekend behavior may something you will need to consider but, that’s a decision you can make as you go through your journey.

It may be up but, if you get right back on track with quality food and hit that Monday workout, you’ll find as the week goes on, you’ll get below your pre-weekend weight.

MORE FROM FAT LOSS U: What To Do If You Ate This Much This Week End
7 Reasons The Scale Isn’t Budging and How To Make It Move