Year of Push 3.5 Win The Weekend

by | May 19, 2017 | Blog

The weekend is here! I know that for many, the weekends are met with mixed emotions. “Yay” for less structure but “oh crap” that lack of structure can leave you feeling not-so-great about your choices.

I think many people fly by the seat of their pants on the weekends. They “hope” they make great choices and they intend to, but they aren’t intentional. Big difference.

Having good intentions and being intentional about what you do & why are totally different.

I’ll use myself and this weekend as an example.

I have had a great week. My workouts were on point and I’m just feeling really good as a result of really good choices.

Enter: Friday.

I’m going out of town for the weekend. I’ll be staying in a hotel and eating out for all my meals. I’ll be with great, fun company and great, fun company sometimes turns into a “live a little!” approach to food and alcohol.

Sure, my intention is to make great choices and keep this amazing feeling going strong. But my intention isn’t enough.

I choose to be intentional. To not just hope for it but to actively participate in creating what I want.

That doesn’t mean I’m going for perfection, it means I’m intentional about what will make me feel my best. Big difference.

So, this morning I took a few minutes with my journal to write out how my ideal weekend would go.

First and foremost, I planned to crush my workout this morning. Done. See below.

Second, I made a plan for hotel-room workouts on Saturday & Sunday. Between my jump rope, burpees, body weight squats & push-ups, I can absolutely get a great sweat going. And it doesn’t take long. These workouts will be done in 15 minutes or less but the intensity will be high.

I’m not interested in perfection or being a purist so I set an intentional standard: one food indulgence, one alcohol indulgenceif I’m somewhere it feels totally worth it. I’m not going to order an average glass of wine just because I can, but if there’s some drink that really screams at me, awesome.

Same thing with food. I’m not going to have nachos “because I can” but if there is some indulgence at a restaurant that seems SUPER worth it, fantastic.

Beyond that, I’ll eat like I normally eat. Clean meals. Mostly non-starchy veggies, some protein, some fat.

On top of that, when we can walk, we’ll walk instead of taking the car.

I haven’t created a rigid plan and I’m certainly not taking away my enjoyment of the weekend, but I am being intentional about what I want and how I want to feel.

That’s how I win the weekend, and it’s how I win every day: going beyond good intentions to being intentional.

About that workout I crushed…

“1775”
100/80 Calorie Bike
50 Power Snatches (75/55)
25 Over-the-Bar Burpees

Like I’ve said before, if you haven’t been on an airdyne bike, they will BLOW YOUR LEGS UP. The resistance is nearly instant and pushing through that lactic acid burn is a beeeeeeotch.

The goal was: keep moving, don’t stop. Steady pace & smile on my face. Hey…that’s a good mantra, eh?

On the food front:

Before my workout I had 2 cups of black coffee and 1 tbsp of coconut butter (off the spoon). I had a spa appointment after my workout so I knew it would be a while before I ate.

Around 11:30am I had the same milkshake from yesterday. So delish! This is, for me, a large meal. When you look at the ingredients, you’ll see why. I did skip the cashews in the shake (which is why I snacked on them a little later). I’ll intentionally keep my fat lower in my other meals.

After leaving the chiropractor around 3:30 I had a couple handfuls of cashews. I wasn’t hungry and could absolutely have gone without this, but hey, I ate them & enjoyed them!

Since I had that shake & nuts earlier (a whole buncha fat), I’m keeping dinner on the lighter side with grilled chicken, pico & sauteed veggies.

Nom nom nom.

If you need more weekend support, check out these podcast episodes on weekend & evening strategies.

Episode 050 – Do You Treat Weekends Like Vacation

091 – Eating Out For Weight Loss

248 – Are Evenings Hard?

PS: If you’re new to these posts, listen to this podcast episode to get the scoop on what changes I’m making in my life and you can start back at my first daily post here.

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