WEAKend Weight Gain...A Moment Behind The Muscle

An interesting study was just released! I even heard it on John Tesh radio.

Here's the summary...

Almost everyone loses weight on weekdays and gains weight (finds it LOL) on weekends. What separates the slim from the heavy has much more to do with how much they lose/release during the weekdays. In this study, researchers looked into the impact that the seven-days-a-week human cycle has on weight.

Here's a link to the full study: Click here

This study proves 3 key things:

1. Your weight each week matters more than each day (stop obsessing and start working).

2. Almost everybody eats more (and often bad) on weekends. This is why we at RHF call it the WEAKend.

3. People that release or even maintain their weight significantly eat better on weekdays (weight-gainers are the opposite).

  

This study also proves...

Just to be mindful of your weekly eating patterns. Track it for awhile. If you can track it you can improve it. Perfection isn't required for weight loss but daily action is. Focus on the fitness and follow it with a sensible food plan.

Solutions...Damage Control

Here are 4 easy ways that you can ensure that you are staying on point during the week (damage control from the WEAKend):

1. Up your water intake. Chances are you may be dehydrated anyways. Also feel free to drink coffee or tea to curb hunger (reasonable intake).  

2. Cut out a snack or meal each day. You can even opt for lower calorie snacks than you normally consume. Give your digestive system a break. Try a cleanse or intermittent fasting.

3. Limit, not eliminate a macronutrient (carbs, fat, protein). You want to keep your protein intake pretty steady. Many people will either cut down on their fat or carb intake with this damage control method. Cutting carb intake following higher carb/calorie days can keep you leaner, help manage hunger, and provide more stable energy. This can be as simple as limiting yourself to mostly veggies and a little bit of fruit. Get with someone to help you here or you can get turned around and confused.

4. Cutoff the calories. A cutoff time anywhere between 6-8pm works well for most people, but not for everybody. This is especially useful because many of us tend to eat later into the night (or the morning LOL) on the weekends when prancercising LOL or socializing with friends.

How can you apply this same type of philosophy (cycling strategy) to your workouts?

Problem: Not enough time during the week.

Solution: Be sure to train or stay active each day of the WEAKend. Since your frequency is down to 2 days a week and you tend to have more time on the weekend, a longer 35-45 minute workout is a better plan. Go metabolic! 

Problem: Not enough time during the WEAKend.

Solution: Train 3-5 times during the week. You will find a lot of success with 30 minute (even 20 minutes on your own) workouts with this training schedule. Read more.

If you find that you typically only have 10-20 minutes a day to train, then perform 5-8 shorter training sessions throughout the week. You can do it!

The Big Takeaway...

Eating or training, you will have a lot more success when you analyze your weekly performance rather than your daily performance. Shoot for balance in all you do. Action creates results! Wishful thinking will not cut it nor can you just "buy" fitness.