The Quick Cut:

• Did you know that your weight loss results next week are highly dependent on what you did this weekend?

• Use your weekends to recharge but also to ‘charge forward’ with your weight loss goals.

• Track your progress, schedule your fitness activities for next week, and anticipate any breakdowns that may arise.

• Having a smart strategy for handling eating and drinking in social situations will help you enjoy yourself without derailing your weight loss goals.

• If you do nothing else, the most important habits you can keep for consistent weight loss success are shopping for the right foods and doing your meal prep.

The Long Slice:

The weekends are a time to relax, have fun, and unwind from a long week, right?

Well, sort of.

While you want to use the weekend as a time to recharge and have fun, your fitness goals don’t know what day of the week it is, so you want to stay committed on Saturday and Sunday too, not just during the week.

In fact, the weekend is an ideal time to do things to propel you forward since many of us have Saturdays and Sundays off from work.

Keep in mind that what you do on the weekends plays a big role in the success you will have during the week ahead.

How To Maximize Your Weekend

Here are 4 strategies to help you continue pushing forward with your weight loss on the weekends:

1. Measure Last Week's Progress

The weekend is a perfect time to 'see how you did' this week. The way to track that is by taking progress photos, weighing yourself, and measuring your body fat.

Taking Progress Photos

In order to take body photos properly, wear the same clothes and be in the same well-lit area every time.

Weighing Yourself

When it comes to weighing yourself, do so only once per week, ideally, on the same day of the week. This way, you won't get overly obsessed with the scale.

Weigh yourself first thing in the AM before you eat or drink.

Measuring Body Fat

If your scale measures body fat, weigh yourself first, step off, drink water, and then step back on the scale to get your body fat. This technique will give a more accurate reading.

If your scale doesn't measure body fat, you can measure your body fat using an inexpensive set of calipers. This helpful video will show you how.

Compare and Observe

Compare your photos, body fat, and scale weight to last week’s numbers and photos. Observe how changes you made (if any) this past week affected your progress.

2. Block Off Time In Your Schedule (Set Anchors)

Use the weekend to look ahead to the upcoming week and block out time dedicated to accomplishing your fitness activities. I call these 'unmovable' blocks of time in your calendar 'Anchors'.

Clearly communicate to others so that they know when you’ll be exercising, food shopping, cooking, etc. This will create less friction when trying to get your fitness activities done.

3. Anticipate Breakdown

Life rarely goes as planned, right?

So, once you've set your anchors to get your fitness activities done, anticipate and plan for any obstacles, obligations, scheduling conflicts, etc. that might knock you off your fitness routine.

Having back up plans and workarounds in advance will ensure you get it all done no matter what life throws at you (work, deadlines, family obligations, etc.) during the coming week.

4. Food Shop & Meal Prep

Buying the right foods in advance and prepping your meals ahead of time are two of the biggest factors for fat loss success.

This ensures you're not relying on outside food, which is rarely aligned with the nutritional needs for losing weight.

I use Sunday afternoons to batch cook food for the week ahead. Maintaining this habit religiously helps me stay consistent with my fitness and fat loss goals.

5. Don't Let Social Situations Derail You

Very often, we'll find ourselves in social situations on the weekends (friends, family, community, etc.).

Most social situations involve eating and drinking in a way that is not aligned with our weight loss routine.

Of course, we still want to enjoy ourselves. Ideally, we'd like to eat and drink the stuff we enjoy, without setting us back in our weight loss goals.

With the right strategy, you can enjoy your weekends and not have your fat loss derailed. This helpful video will show you how.

In closing, using the five strategies above for maximizing your weekends will save you so much time and stress during the upcoming week and ensure you stay on track with your weight loss goals.

So, remember to use your weekend not only to recharge, but also to ‘charge forward’! ➡️