Treat Yourself Once a Week

[Tony1968]

It’s important to make sure you enjoy a treat once every week. You’ll find it a lot easier to stick to a healthy weight loss diet throughout the rest of the week if you allow yourself one day (and I stress ONE day) out of the week to eat the foods you love. When you have something to look forward to, it won’t be so hard to be strict about your diet the rest of the time. Treating yourself once a week won’t kill the progress you’ve made if you remain true to your diet goals for the remaining 6 days.

[Charlotte]

Hmm, I never thought of doing that. I guess it might be better than treating yourself everyday. So then you just stick to a strict diet all week long and then on one day you eat whatever you want? Really? And this won't destroy your progress?

[Whirlybird]

I find that this is the best way to be motivated. The first while that I followed this kind of strategy, I found that I set myself back a lot. It's like when you move out of your parents home and suddenly you can eat cake for dinner...then you realize that's not really a good idea. So I used to do stupid things like eat only sugary food and deep fried stuff on my day "off". Then after I got that stupidity out of my system, I found that I would actually somewhat continue to stick to my program on the 7th day, but I'd allow myself a dessert that I like and a glass of beer or wine. There were no "rules" that day but I didn't feel like I had to just gorge because I could. It was about achieving a balance.

[Firefly77]

I find that this is the best way to be motivated. The first while that I followed this kind of strategy, I found that I set myself back a lot. It's like when you move out of your parents home and suddenly you can eat cake for dinner...then you realize that's not really a good idea. So I used to do stupid things like eat only sugary food and deep fried stuff on my day "off". Then after I got that stupidity out of my system, I found that I would actually somewhat continue to stick to my program on the 7th day, but I'd allow myself a dessert that I like and a glass of beer or wine. There were no "rules" that day but I didn't feel like I had to just gorge because I could. It was about achieving a balance.

So, then it’s still about exercising control on the day that you can “treat” yourself, but you don’t have to be as strict about it? I guess it’s still just a matter of everything in moderation. I would think that deviating from your diet plan would only cause more harm to your weight loss goals than good.

[Lady Greenfairy]

Thank you for sharing this tip. That sounds manageable and realistic

[ChristySmiles]

I think I might give this a try. It may motivate me to stick to my diet for the rest of the week if I know I have one day that I can eat what I want and enjoy food.

[KittyKatt]

It really does work. I only allow myself to have a treat if I know that I stuck to it throughout the whole week. So if I cheated, that counts as my treat and I don't get the "real" one. It's sort of a psychological game with myself but it keeps me going!