Why my week now starts on a Friday

A few weeks from now it’ll be exactly one year since I got serious about losing weight.

It’s still sometimes hard to believe that I’ve come so far in such a relatively short period of time but I also have to remind myself that I’m far from being able to declare Mission Accomplished.

The truth is that I haven’t lost any weight for the past couple of months.

I always knew my weight loss would slow down – this hasn’t come as a surprise – but what I didn’t predict was how hard I am now finding it to keep on track when it comes to food & nutrition and to stay within my daily calorie limit.

There is absolutely no doubt that I’m still addicted to food and I know that weekends especially are my downfall. I guess this is mainly down to having more free time and not having the same structured routine that work provides during the week.

I’m not too disappointed and I’m certainly not beating myself up about a lack of progress – as someone who has been piling on the pounds (stones!) for years, being able to maintain my weight is just as much of an achievement as losing it.

I’m still exercising between 3 & 6 times per week and I’m continuing to cook and eat real, healthy food too. So most of my good habits are still intact, I just need to nail the willpower for food once again.

One way I plan to do this is to re-arrange my week: instead of the week starting on a Monday, it will now begin on Fridays.

The reason for this is purely psychological.

When you start on a Monday and stick to your plan all the way until Friday, it can be extremely tempting to “treat” yourself at the weekend (hello drive-thru!).

Even if you’re allowing yourself some extra calories for Saturday and Sunday, it doesn’t take much to go “over budget” for the week.

By making Friday the first day of the week, I’m giving myself Monday to Thursday to balance out any over-indulgence from the weekend.

Here’s a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean.

What I do at the moment: Monday to Sunday

I allow myself 14,000 calories for the week, split up like this:

Monday 1800
Tuesday 1800
Wednesday 1800
Thursday 1800
Friday 1800
Saturday 2500
Sunday 2500

But every Saturday and Sunday I actually end up having 3000-3500 calories so across the weekend I’m 2000 calories over my limit and there’s no way of redressing the balance.

What I’m planning: Friday to Thursday

I’ve still got 14,000 to play with.

Friday 1700
Saturday 3500
Sunday 3500
Monday 1650
Tuesday 1700
Wednesday 1700
Thursday 1700

I’ve now allocated my 14,000 calories in a slightly different pattern, which more realistically reflects what happens at the weekend. But if – for whatever reason – I have a “bad weekend” or there’s a night out etc, I can drop down my calorie intake between Monday and Thursday to redress the balance.

I’m starting this from this Friday and I’m hoping that this small change is going to allow me to take back control of my weight and get the scales moving again.

How have you been getting on over the past couple of months? Feel free to reply in the comments or email me directly.