26 Oct It’s The Weekend! How to find an 80/20 balance…

Yes it’s the weekend… To most people that means going out for dinner, having a few drinks and treating yourself after a long busy week!

But what if you’re trying to lose weight, lean up or increase your performance? Can you still let your hair down and have a few unmentionables?

That’s where the 80/20 rule comes in… If you have set yourself some realistic measurable and achievable goals (like no chocolate Monday to Friday or no alcohol on weeknights) and you have managed to fulfill these goals then it make sense to set yourself some guidelines for the remainder of the week so as not to undo everything you’ve worked so hard for during the week.

This might mean making Saturday night the time when you have your one or two glasses of wine or a small dessert after a healthy dinner. Notice that the weekend is not there for us to go crazy and eat and drink everything in sight… This will result in you feeling terrible for days both mentally and physically, and take you two steps back after you’re perfect week of eating real food and avoiding sugar and alcohol!

It’s just not worth it!

So the idea is to keep to the real food plan for 80% of your week, and give yourself 20% to treat yourself to the things you feel you can’t go without. This will stop you feeling deprived and let you reward yourself when you’ve worked hard. So make sure you only have your treat IF you’ve managed your original food and exercise goals for the week or you’ll find yourself way off track before you realise what’s happened, and you’ve gained back all the fat you worked so hard to get rid of.

80/20 works well as a maintenance plan, if you’re still trying to shift a few unwanted kilos it might be a good idea to minimize the treats and treat your week as 90/10 or 95/5. But the main idea is to find a balance that works for you. If you’ve recently changed a few things in your diet from refined processed foodstuffs to cooking healthy and lean meat with plenty of colourful veggies you’ll already be heading in the right direction, so 70/30 or 80/20 could still keep you losing fat BUT if you’ve been eating real food for a while, and you’ve started to plateau we made need to be a little more strict for a few weeks to get you to your goal.

Remember, find YOUR balance – everyone is different. Set your guidelines and listen to your body. If you feel deprived, you may fall of the wagon and struggle to get back on the straight and narrow!

Enjoy your weekend treat whatever it may be  we’re having Thai for our treat tonight! Yum, chicken stir fry with cashews and panang curry (no rice) – delicious!