Weekends Off?

Another day. Another early start. Another morning walk. Another healthy breakfast. Zero time online last night from 6 pm till bedtime. So far, keeping up with my goals is working well. Now I'm facing the weekend.

Oh, to be 1993 again.

Every time I've gotten into healthy eating habits in the past, I've followed a "weekends off" approach where I basically stuff myself on everything sweet, cheesy, bready on Friday night through Sunday. I then resume healthy eating bright and early Monday morning.

I make it sound awful, but really -- it kept me relatively on track because I didn't seriously gorge myself, but I would definitely indulge enough to feel satisfied. I didn't make up this approach myself. I learned it a long while ago in one of my favorite healthy eating books, The Weekends Off Diet (the book is I am apparently so old, it's no longer in print).


I'm thinking this time around, though, I may try to stick it out and continue eating sensibly all seven days of the week. This means none of this "good" or "bad" day stuff, but -- instead -- filling my belly with more greens, proteins, etc., so maybe I'll have room for only 2 huge slices of pizza instead of 4 for dinner.

However, if those pieces of pizza are homemade and piled high with veggies, avocado, etc., maybe 4 pieces as a meal isn't so bad after all.

Do you practice a weekends-off? Even if you don't set out to, do you tend to indulge more on weekends anyway?


GOAL #4: Roll with it. I used to be much better at accepting unpredictability. Like in college. I'd cruise through my days and take what came at me -- and often that led to good opportunities. I got everything done but had fun at random intervals in between.

When I started working my offices jobs (and I had many different ones), I became a slave to my Outlook Calendar. Over time, I grew to love those little reminders. I'd enjoy chunking -- yeah, chunking --  out my day and getting certain tasks done.

Tuesday mornings were for catching up on my inbox, for example. I had a meeting every Thursday afternoon from 2 till 4. And that routinized approach continued when I left the office. Come home. Go for a run. Cook dinner. Relax. Sleep 8 hours. Wake. Breakfast. Etc.


These days, being at home with a baby means a loose structure for multiple reasons I've already listed way too many times. Working from home, too, isn't exactly a 9 to 5 sort of deal. But I'm still craving that chunking of my time. Knowing what to expect and not having interruptions.

Yeah. That won't happen again for a while. It's been a major source of frustration for me and even leads in anger in extreme cases. Certainly I need to address this. So, I know I can't change my personality, but I can change how I'm dealing with situations and try to find a happy medium.

So, I don't know what exactly I'll do yet, but some of you have suggested that list-making is good. I had many, many lists when I was working, and I definitely think it would help. Even something small like "diaper laundry" that I could cross off. Blocking off certain general ranges of time for tasks could be motivating, too.

And in all of this, taking advantage of time when Stephen is home or when my parents can watch Ada might help me if I set a certain goal for me-time. I do get ample time to run, which is great. But I think if I had another activity outside of that, I'd feel more accomplished and fulfilled.

Wow. Sounds much sadder than it actually is. I've come to understand that sometimes my words paint a darker picture than reality. Transition this year has been a challenge, but not necessarily a bad one.

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