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#127 - Football & Fat Loss: Finding Balance On The Weekends
23 Plays4 days ago
Most people don’t get stuck Monday–Friday. It’s the weekends... football, alcohol, pizza. That throws everything off and keeps people feeling stuck. Good news is you can do both, though!
In this episode, I’ll break down:
- How to set the right goal for the season (lose, maintain, or just enjoy).
- 3 simple weekend strategies to enjoy food and drinks without blowing progress.
- Quick tips for alcohol, snacking, and getting steps in.
- Why the scale always jumps on Monday and how to handle it.
Listen in and walk away with a game plan you can actually use this weekend.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fit-ish Project Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host Latham Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got another weekly episode for you this week, as we always do. Before I get into this, if you can leave a review, I appreciate that.
Balancing Fitness Goals and Social Activities
00:00:18
Speaker
With this episode, football season is back. And so I wanted to talk about some strategies as we head into the glorious football season on how you can stay on track, but also still enjoy a social life.
00:00:31
Speaker
And this isn't just for football fans. This is a super common theme that I see a ton of people struggle with is they do really well during the week. They're on point with their nutrition, their workouts, they're getting their protein, they're eating quality meals.
00:00:46
Speaker
And then the weekend rolls around and it's just, they go way overboard. It's too many drinks, it's eating all the snacks, it's overdoing it on all the different foods. And a lot of people struggle to find this balance that everybody talks about.
00:01:01
Speaker
I've noticed that once you have some strategies and once you can plan ahead and actually attack this in a way where you can find that balance, it not only makes just enjoying your day to day life so much easier, but you also are able to get those results that you ultimately want from a health standpoint. So you're able to if you want to lose weight, you can lose weight and still enjoy yourself.
00:01:24
Speaker
socially. If you're just trying to maintain your weight, you can also do that. And so we're going to talk about three strategies that I have used and that I have used with clients of mine to help them find this balance and be able to both enjoy a social life, but also stay on track with
Setting Fall Fitness Goals
00:01:40
Speaker
their goals. So let's get right into it.
00:01:43
Speaker
The first thing that you have to do when going into some certain sort of phase or different season of the year is first of all, just decide what is your goal for this particular part of the year.
00:01:55
Speaker
Fat loss isn't necessarily supposed to be something that you do All year long 12 months of the year for a lot of people, they will go in certain phases, because at different times fat loss is going to make more sense and be easier to adhere to and sustain.
00:02:11
Speaker
And so if you're going into this fall, and you're a person who just has a ton going on right now. and fat loss isn't something that is really that important to you at this time, then it's okay to step back a little bit and say, okay, maybe I'm okay with just trying to maintain during these next three months of the year.
00:02:31
Speaker
Or maybe you're the person that's like, I'm really going to enjoy myself. Like I have a bunch of things that I want to do this fall. I'm going to be going to a bunch of tailgates and football games and doing all this different stuff. And I'm actually okay, even if I gain a few pounds, again, nothing wrong with that. Like, obviously, you don't want to go way overboard and gain 2030 pounds. But like, if you're going through a certain season, and you put on two, three, five pounds, something like that, like, that's not a huge deal. Because once you have the tools around losing fat, and you know how all this stuff works, and you know, you have a good solid foundation, you can always come back to then gaining a couple of pounds really isn't that big of a deal.
00:03:08
Speaker
Me right now, I've been traveling a little bit. I've gone on some trips. I've been having more alcohol, less sleep, eating more food, eating more out. And so I've gained a couple of pounds just within this last month. And it's not something that I sweat.
00:03:20
Speaker
I know that this happens at different times throughout the year. And I know that I can always just go back into a quick mini cut or a little fat loss phase and get back to where I want to get. And so I don't stress over that stuff.
00:03:32
Speaker
And the third option is if you're deciding maybe this is a time that I still want to keep it dialed
Strategies for Enjoying Social Life While Staying Fit
00:03:37
Speaker
in. I really want to make some progress before the end of the year, maybe lose another 10, 15, 20 pounds. And I want to be a little bit more dialed with nutrition, with exercises.
00:03:47
Speaker
How can I still find some sort of balance so I don't feel like I'm missing out on a social life? That's also a possibility. So before you go in, just really know what it is that your goal is for year.
00:03:59
Speaker
eight to 12, maybe 16 weeks, because one thing that I find that trips a lot of people up with fat loss is they have this kind of one foot in one foot out mentality. And so like, they're good for a couple of weeks, and then they have some sort of social event, they go way overboard, and they think to themselves, screw it, like, i don't really want to do this.
00:04:19
Speaker
or they're really good Monday through Friday, weekend comes around and they blow their calories. And so they just feel like they're spinning their wheels and never really making any sort of progress, even though their current goal is to lose fat and to see that scale go down over time.
00:04:34
Speaker
And so you don't want to be in that position where you feel like you're doing all the dieting, like you're you feel like you're putting in the mental effort and the physical effort to lose fat, but you're not actually seeing any progress because that's what really slows a lot of people down. And so decide before you go into a certain phase, whether it's right now or even in other phases of the year, decide what your actual goal is for the next eight to 12 weeks.
00:04:59
Speaker
Am I going to be more dialed Is my goal to lose weight, to lose fat? Am I just trying to maintain? Or am I actually okay with even gaining a little bit of weight? All three options are perfectly acceptable. Just make sure that you have some sort of goal so that you can actually do the things that you need to do to achieve that goal.
00:05:20
Speaker
And so once you have decided what your goal is, here are some strategies. So let's say that you're the person that does want to lose some weight. I'm going to give you three different ways that you can actually continue to lose fat, to lose weight, but also enjoy yourself and have some balance and have some sort of a social life.
00:05:37
Speaker
eat some pizza, maybe have some wings, have a couple of drinks, do all those things that you want to do while still staying pretty dialed in with your nutrition and see some progress with your fat loss goals.
00:05:49
Speaker
So the first one is very simple. You're just going to simply skip a meal or in other words, you're going to intermittent fast. And so this is more of a tool than anything. There's some people out there who this is just how they eat on a normal basis, like they only eat two times a day. Sometimes people only eat once a day.
00:06:06
Speaker
But I think for a vast majority of people, you're going to eat three meals on average. And so intermittent fasting isn't something that you're going to do 24-7, 365. That's not like your long-term eating strategy, but I think it works really, really well as a tool.
00:06:21
Speaker
I have clients who will do this sometimes when they travel, they'll just skip breakfast or skip some certain meal because they know that they're probably going to be eating more calories. And so simply by taking out one meal, you are taking out a big portion of your calories for that day, which allows you to then eat extra calories at other meals. And so, for example, let's say you are trying to stick to 2,500 calories for the day. You have some sort of like event coming up, some social event. Maybe there's a big game. You got to get together. You got a bunch of people coming over to the house and you're going to having some snacks and food, things like that.
00:06:56
Speaker
All you need to do, you skip breakfast. Let's say you eat a lunch and it's around 500 calories. Now, in order to still stay within that 2,500 calorie goal, you still have 2,000 calories that you can play with for dinner, for snacks, if you want to have a couple of drinks. And you can do a lot with 2,000 calories.
00:07:15
Speaker
I definitely have to say that it is very easy to overdo it if you're not careful. But if you are pretty planned in your approach and you're more aware about the decisions that you're making with 2000 calories, you could have a burger, you could have fries, you could have some chips and salsa, you could have a couple other snacks, you can even have a couple of beers, like two to three beers, a couple of drinks, and still be under that 2000 calories, if you are being mindful, and if you are paying attention to your choices and paying attention to your calories, which like,
00:07:43
Speaker
You think about that, now you're able to have all those things you want to do. You don't feel like you're restricted. You don't even really feel like you're in a diet because you're eating these things that people would tell you that you can't have on a diet. When you're smart about this and you have some sort of strategy, you can enjoy all those things that you want to enjoy.
00:07:59
Speaker
So that is strategy number one is just to intermittent fast or basically just pick a meal that you're going to skip it doesn't have to be breakfast it could be lunch but most likely for a lot of people it's going to be either breakfast or lunch but it could be one of those instances where maybe like you're going to an early game if you're a hawkeye fan like myself they have a lot of 11 a.m m kickoffs and so maybe you're going down to a tailgate and you're going be eating a lot more earlier in the day maybe you have that tailgate and then maybe you have like a leaner lunch slash dinner at night and you're only having those two different meals throughout the day.
Calorie Management Techniques
00:08:35
Speaker
Strategy number two, this is the one that I use pretty much on a regular basis and probably my favorite strategy when it comes to sticking to fat loss goals but also being able to enjoy yourself a little bit more is called weekend calorie cycling.
00:08:49
Speaker
And all this is is simply banking or budgeting calories for later in the week. And so for example, You're going to eat a little bit less, let's say Sunday through Friday, in order to have more calories on that Saturday. So let's say you're going to that tailgate on a Saturday, you're gonna be eating some extra food, having some drinks, maybe having some snacks.
00:09:10
Speaker
Let's say your calorie goal for the week is to hit 2000 calories. And if you hit that 2000 calories, seven days a week, you're going to be in a calorie deficit, you're going to be losing fat. If you wanted to bank a few extra calories,
00:09:23
Speaker
for that Saturday, rather than trying to stick to that 2000 calories on that Saturday, which might be kind of difficult and force you to be a little bit more restrictive in your day. You could eat 300 calories less Sunday through Friday. So now you eat 300 calories less on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
00:09:43
Speaker
Now you have just banked an extra 1800 calories that you can use for that Saturday. And so instead of sticking to that 2000 calories, now you have closer to 4000 calories that you can have on that Saturday.
00:09:57
Speaker
And a lot of people don't really think about this. They think of being in a calorie deficit or losing fat from just a daily perspective. But one of the biggest mindset shifts that I had that really helped me was thinking about calories on a weekly basis.
00:10:10
Speaker
Because a lot of times with our schedules, they're just going to be a little bit different. Not every single day is going to be the same. And for a lot of people, it's easier to stay on track during the week. And then on the weekends, you have more things going on. You want to go out to eat with the fam. You want to go on a date night.
00:10:25
Speaker
You want to have some wings while you're watching a football game. Like there's a lot more things going on on the weekends. And so by using this calorie cycling and budgeting some extra calories for the weekend, it's an easy way to stay on track with your goals.
00:10:40
Speaker
And so that is strategy number two. And then the third strategy that I would give you is the 80-20 rule. And I've talked about this multiple times on a lot of different podcasts. And this is also something that I regularly do. And so you can actually mix some of these strategies if you would like.
00:10:56
Speaker
I'm just giving you these three and you can use them individually. But a lot of times I will actually do a lot of these things in tandem. So I'll use multiple of these things at the same time. So the 80-20 rule is pretty simple. 80% of the time you're focusing on your whole foods. So your lean proteins, your fruits, your vegetables, your healthy fats, your complex carbs, anything that comes in its whole form. And then 20% of the time, if you want to have some pizza, some wings, some desserts, you want to have some alcohol, you want to have some processed foods, you can also do that as well. And so what this might look like is the 80-20 rule, when you're trying to save some extra calories, 80% of the time, you're going to focus mostly on lean proteins, on fruits and on vegetables.
00:11:39
Speaker
So essentially, you're just eating a little bit less fats and a little bit less carbs. And by doing this, you are going to end up eating less calories. And so, for example, let's say that you want to hit a calorie goal of 2200. And later that night, you're planning on going out to eat, you're going to go to the sports bar, you're to have some dinner, you're going to have a couple drinks and watch the game with some friends.
00:12:03
Speaker
And so for breakfast, you might have something that's super lean, like maybe some eggs or egg whites and then some fruit. That's 300 to 400 calories. For lunch, you're going to have another lean protein type of meal. So maybe you have a taco salad, bunch of vegetables, some ground turkey, a little bit of taco sauce in there. And that's 400 calories with a bunch of food there, some volume to fill you up. You want to make sure that you're eating some fruit and vegetables with the lean protein because those two things together are going to be more satiating. You get more volume, you get more fiber, you get some protein.
00:12:37
Speaker
those things are gonna help to keep you filled up so you're not starving throughout the day and you're not starving when you get to that meal that you are saving a few extra calories for. But with that being said, breakfast, lunch, that's 800 calories right there.
00:12:49
Speaker
You have a goal of hitting 2200 calories. Now you have 1400 calories that you can play with at that dinner or at that sports bar that you are going to go to. So now you can have some wings, you can have a beer two, you can have some of those extra things and still stay within your calorie goal.
00:13:05
Speaker
this isn't like some magic method. All this is doing is by choosing these things like lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, you're allowing yourself to just bank some extra calories. And so this is very similar to calorie cycling, but more so on like a daily practice versus the other calorie cycling that I mentioned earlier, which is more so on a weekly timeline.
00:13:28
Speaker
And so that's it. Like those are the three strategies that I personally use a ton. And like I said, you can use these mixed and matched, like combined, you can combine some of these things. And so like maybe if you're only eating those two meals, like one of those meals could still be super lean and just be fruits and vegetables. If you're doing a weekend calorie banking type of thing, like a weekend calorie cycling type of thing, your Monday through Friday, you could also use that with the 80-20 rule and just focus more so on lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, those sort of things to help you keep your calories lower.
00:14:01
Speaker
But with that being said, you have three strategies right there. Some bonus things that I would tell you are some bonus tips is when it comes to alcohol, alcohol calories can add up very quickly. And so you want to stick to lower calorie things if fat loss or even maintaining is something that you are trying to do. And so light beers, seltzers are things that are good options. Those are typically going to be around 100 calories per drink.
00:14:26
Speaker
If you want to just go with liquor, that's also an option if you want to do it like on the rocks or if you want to mix it with zero calorie mixers. So like soda or diet soda, even water with lime like that. Those are all really solid options to help to save some calories.
00:14:43
Speaker
And just by making some simple swap like that, you could save yourself multiple hundreds of calories just by making sure that you are doing something as simple as that. And so these things all add up.
00:14:55
Speaker
And again, it's not that you need to completely cut anything out. You just have to be strategic about this stuff and plan ahead if fat loss or if maintaining is something that you're focused on.
00:15:05
Speaker
When it comes to snacking, snacking is a tough one, especially in these sorts of like social social situations, because a lot of times there will just be tons of food and it's very, very easy to start to just graze on different things, all the snacks, all the little bites, all the things you just walk by a bowl of something and you grab a couple of chips or you walk by this and you grab a couple of cookies. Like it's very easy for those calories to add up.
00:15:28
Speaker
And so have some rules going into it. Like maybe you're just going to go with the one plate rule. So you get a plate once you get to the social event or whenever you want to have some food and you're going to fill that plate up. And then once that plate is gone, you're done.
00:15:43
Speaker
you enjoy it, you have all the things that you wanted. And then once that plate is gone, then you're done. you're not going to do a bunch of grazing or snacking throughout the day because again, that makes it very easy to overdo it.
00:15:54
Speaker
The other thing that I would say when it comes to just snacking or just food in general is you can find lower calorie alternatives to your favorite foods to eat less calories. and make it so that you don't feel like you're missing out. And what I mean by that is like, there's so many creators out there like content creators that make recipes that taste really good of some of your favorite foods. So when we're thinking about like, fall football type of foods like pizza, wings, burgers, different dips and things like that.
00:16:23
Speaker
There's lots of videos out there on how to make these things and make them be not only taste good, but also be way lower in calories. And so I have a pizza that I use that I'll eat that's roughly a thousand calories, where if I was eating a pizza that was delivered, it would probably be closer to like 3000 calories. Or you can make burgers that are 300 to 400 calories.
00:16:47
Speaker
Whereas like if you go to some restaurants or order burgers at some places, they could easily be 800 to 1000 calories. And so finding lower calorie alternatives so you don't feel like you're missing out.
00:16:58
Speaker
but you're still able to stay in line with your goals is another really solid option. And a couple of my favorite accounts, there's a couple that I follow that do a really good job of this, especially around like sports and like football seasons and like get togethers and social events is flexible dieting.
00:17:14
Speaker
And then tasty shreds are two accounts that I follow that have tons of really good recipes. And I'll link both of those in the show notes. If you want to check those out, I follow them on Instagram, but They have really good recipes that are lower calorie, higher protein and taste really good. So I'll be sure to give you those because once you find some of those things, it makes staying in a calorie deficit or eating less calories so much easier. And then you don't have that.
00:17:37
Speaker
guilt around like eating tons of extra calories and overdoing it and just feeling like you're never going to be able to make progress because you're eating these tasty foods, but you're also so hitting those calorie goals, those protein goals that you have to stay in line with your fitness goals or your fat loss goals that you have as well.
00:17:54
Speaker
And then the last thing that I would say just about like some bonus tips is if you can just get some movement in throughout the day. So maybe it's a short walk before you get the day started. Maybe you go for a run,
00:18:04
Speaker
ah Maybe after you have your meal, you go for a little walk or maybe you even work out on the weekends or before the game or whatever you're doing. Get a little bit of movement, get a little bit of activity because it's going to do a couple of things for you. Obviously, you're going to get the extra calorie burn, which is nice.
00:18:19
Speaker
But on top of that, I found that like when you get some movement in. you're just a little bit less likely to overdo it. So like when you're on point with your exercise and you're doing well, you're going to be a little bit more health conscious about the choices that you're making when you are exercising on a consistent basis and you've got that workout in.
00:18:36
Speaker
Sometimes it's the complete opposite. Like people will be like, oh, I got that workout and I deserve to have 12 drinks and 16 snacks and a whole large piece. of And obviously that's not going to be conducive to your goals.
00:18:48
Speaker
But I think for the most part, if you can get some movement and get a workout and you feel good about having a little bit of extra and still being able to stay on track with your goals. And then the final thing that I would tell you is it's important when you're doing things like this to manage your expectations.
Managing Expectations and Understanding Progress
00:19:04
Speaker
A big part of fat loss and even just maintaining weight is the mental side of things. And so when people have a weekend like this, or like maybe they go to a social event and they eat a little bit more than they're used to, they just have this idea that they just screwed up all their progress. And if you're not careful and you overdo it and you're overeating calories, it is very easy to always feel like you're starting back on square one because you do really well.
00:19:27
Speaker
Monday through Friday. And then then on the weekend, you just overdo it and you completely erase that calorie deficit that you were in or you overdo it and you start gaining weight and things like that. But when you're strategic about it, when you plan ahead, when you're hitting those calorie goals, you can eat more food and enjoy yourself and eat things that people would tell you are not healthy and are going to make you fat and still lose weight.
00:19:47
Speaker
This was a huge part of me being able to lose the weight and keep it off and still feel like I could live a social life was learning that it was possible to do both. But when you do this, you have to expect a couple things. If you're having more carbs, if you're having some salt, if you're having alcohol, maybe if you're sleeping a little bit less, you are probably going to be holding on to more water. So if you step on that scale on Monday, that scale could be up.
00:20:11
Speaker
That doesn't mean that you gained a bunch of fat. It just means that your body is holding on to water because as long as you're hitting those targets that you have, just as far as like calories, proteins, things like that, you can be certain that you are going to be moving in the right direction, even when it doesn't show up on that scale right away. And be aware of that. Because a lot of times when you do do things like this, you go out to eat, you have some extra food, you have alcohol, there's a very good chance that scale is going to be up a little bit. So don't panic, you just stick to your normal routine. And the nice thing is,
00:20:42
Speaker
A lot of times people will feel like they fell off when they do something like this, but when you plan ahead, this is just part of the plan. So there's no, you didn't fall off. This is just sticking to the routine. You have this day or this meal that you really enjoy and it's part of the plan and you stay on track and then you just continue your normal routine the next day you get back to your workouts you get back to eating all your healthy meals you get back to getting your steps in and you just continue to make progress in this way and as I said before once you can find this balance this is the massive unlock to having that long-term success that so many people struggle with because you don't have to pick like you don't have to be like I'm 1000% in I'm not going to ever go to a social event
00:21:26
Speaker
I'm never going to have a drink. I'm never going to have a snack. I'm never going to have a dessert. I'm never going to go out to eat. I'm never going to do all those things. And you also don't need to be on the other extreme of where like, I don't care about any of my fitness goals. I'm just going to eat whatever I want. I eat anything in sight. You don't have to pick between those two things. All this stuff lies on a spectrum.
00:21:44
Speaker
And when you really understand these things, when you understand calories, when you understand how to calorie cycle, when you understand how to make choices and hit calorie goals and hit protein goals and still be able to make progress, you're able to do both of these things at the same time.
00:22:00
Speaker
And when you can do both these things at the same time, it becomes much more sustainable. Because I think for a majority of us, we want to live a life where we can do both of these things. But we also want to feel good.
00:22:11
Speaker
We also want to look good. We also want to be able to just have good health and good energy and all those other things that we get from doing all those healthy behaviors. But when you can mix the two of these, I think it's personally the best long term strategy.
00:22:25
Speaker
And so hopefully you're able to gather a nugget or two, but just a quick review as we head into this fall season, pick some sort of goal, whether it's to lose weight, whether it's just to maintain or whether you're okay with even gaining a couple pounds.
00:22:39
Speaker
All three of those options are perfectly good options, but just make sure that you have some sort of direction so that your actions can align with whatever you're it is that you decide to do. Second thing is make sure you have a plan going in. So whether that's using intermittent fasting, whether that's calorie cycling on a weekly or daily basis, or whether that's using the 80-20 rule with just focusing on a lot of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, pick some sort of plan going in so that you have yourself set up in a way where you can still be successful, but also still enjoy yourself
00:23:10
Speaker
And the third thing is is just to make sure that you manage expectations and just continue to stay on track. When you do those three things, that is how you find this balance. That is how you're able to enjoy yourself and still kill it with your fitness goals.
00:23:24
Speaker
Again, hopefully this was helpful. Hopefully this gives you some strategies going into the fall season, into the football season, so you can enjoy yourself and still hit all those fitness goals that you might have for yourself.
00:23:35
Speaker
If you have specific questions about this or you just want more help with this or you just want some accountability, that is what I do with one-on-one coaching and helping people actually personalize this stuff and fit into their lives and into their preferences. You can always check out that link to see if you are a good fit for the program.
00:23:53
Speaker
Otherwise, i do really appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.