Do you want to lose weight, but you can’t make progress, no matter what? You may have fallen victim to a bad eating habit that is preventing you from progressing without even knowing it. In a recent revelation, a health and wellness coach identified this habit as the root cause of many people’s difficulty losing weight. Find out what this habit is and how you can avoid falling into its traps if optimal health is on your mind!
Losing weight: should we sacrifice the pleasure of the weekend with the family?
While our motivations for getting in shape have evolved – abandoning the unrealistic and unhealthy pursuit of the perfect body two months before summer – there’s no denying that we’re still looking to slim and tone our figure to feel good about ourselves in the daily. In order to shed those extra pounds that hamper our well-being, many of us adopt a balanced and healthy diet during the week, carefully monitoring what we eat, from breakfast to dinner.
Nevertheless, knowing that it is essential to indulge yourself with taste to maintain our motivation and our good habits, it is common to take advantage of the weekends to somewhat relax our dietary rules and reward us for the efforts made. This more or less corresponds to the notion of the “cheat meal” (this joker meal during which we allow ourselves to eat what we want when we are on a diet). However, this practice can be counterproductive, especially when it comes to losing weight and body fat.
How to achieve a sustainable dietary balance and lose weight in the long term?
According Emilian Mary, a personal fitness trainer, overreliance on cheat meals is one of the most common and pervasive problems for those looking to lose weight. On his Instagram account, he maintains that giving in to the temptation of too many pleasure meals during the weekend greatly harms the progress made and prevents weight loss, despite the efforts made during the week.
To reconcile the pleasure of letting go occasionally and the need to maintain a balanced diet to achieve our goals, the sports coach offers some tips and advice to take into account when planning our weekend meals. Thus, it is possible to continue enjoying our favorite dishes without compromising the efforts invested and the expected results. So don’t wait any longer and take notes to get the most out of your pleasure meals, while keeping the course towards a toned silhouette and better health!
How to Balance Pleasure and Diet: Tips and Advice for a Healthy Weekend!
Don’t panic, it is quite possible to reconcile convivial moments around a good family meal or an aperitif with friends with the pursuit of your slimming goals. The trick is to find a compromise by being more balanced in your food choices, while remaining careful not to let these occasional deviations turn into uncontrolled excess food, as Emilien Mary points out.
To achieve this, he suggests implementing a strategy that consists of reducing caloric intake in anticipation of these moments of gastronomic pleasure. For example, if you have planned a large dinner on a Saturday evening, it is recommended that you adapt your calorie consumption for breakfast and lunch for that day by opting for sources of lean protein, vegetables and some fruits, which are both nutritious and low in calories. For example, you can eat a good serving of Skyr with a piece of fruit in the morning, then make a lunch of a serving of chicken with grilled vegetables, so you’ll leave room for more calories for dinner.
In this way, you can afford the luxury of enjoying a gourmet meal without compromising your slimming efforts. By taking a more moderate approach and planning your food day wisely, you can keep your overall calorie consumption under control, even on weekends.
The secret to losing weight while having fun therefore lies in balance and planning, as well as in understanding the needs of our body and the impact of different food categories on our weight. It’s about learning to make informed choices and moderate taste pleasures, while maintaining a varied and balanced diet, in order to allow our body to function optimally and help us achieve our slimming goals.
