So what’s the answer for me? How can I stay on track during the weekend and not blow all of the hard work I did during the week? It’s a question I continually struggle with as I’m sure we all do. There is the percentage of us that are extremely disciplined and have no problem with the weekends. This isn’t for you guys…it’s for the rest of us!

Don’t Take It So Hard

Ok, so you’re not perfect on the weekends. Unless fitness is your living or you’re a bodybuilder preparing for a competition, is it really that big of a deal? Weekends are an opportunity to relax from a hard week of work and working out. I make a commitment to myself to run at least once during the weekend and stay conscious of my food selections and timing. One of the big reasons I got fat was because I was not conscious of when and what I was eating. Keep that commitment to yourself, do what you’ve got to do over the weekend and just do your best. If you get to the point where you’re disciplined enough and into your body enough to be strict on the weekends, God Bless YOU. Otherwise, do the best you can and lighten up.

Have Healthy Food In The Fridge

You’re hungry. You head to the fridge only to find lunchmeat, mayo, oh heck, you know what’s in there. To be quite honest, I can’t remember what I used to have in my fridge that was unhealthy. The point is that sooner or later you have to start weeding out the crap in your fridge. This is about changing the way you eat for life, people. This isn’t about a short term diet. You have to get rid of the junk. It’s hard enough to eat right without having temptation staring you in the face every time you open the fridge door. I know it’s hard. You have a wife and kids that, perhaps, don’t share your zeal for health and fitness. Don’t use that as an excuse. Buy healthy food for yourself. Cook for yourself. Talk yourself into eating the healthy stuff, but don’t beat yourself up if you just don’t. The key is to have the healthy food available so that you can eat well. If it’s not there, then you’ve lost before you’ve even started.

Work Extra Hard During the Week

I’m making the assumption that you’ve worked exercise into your daily weekday routine at least once a day. I’ve broken up my workouts so that I can workout before work, during lunch or after work. My goal is to workout three times a day for 45 minutes each and I actually do that two to three days out of the week. Get yourself into a hard working routine and stick to it during the week. Eat well and exercise hard. When the weekend comes, your body will be ready for a lighter routine. The changes in your food intake may even be good for you metabolism. Just don’t let yourself slide off the deep end. You’ve worked very hard all week. The weekend is a time to take the foot off the gas a little. Don’t let the engine die.

Make Good Choices

It’s all about making good choices. When you’re morbidly obese, you’re not making good choices. It’s plain and simple. You make good choices, you see good results. Good choices come over time and require changes to ones mindset. Without a change to ones mindset, the same choice will continue to be made. Fear had me decide to change the way I was thinking about my health and fitness. Fear of dying. It may be some other trigger for you. But there must be a trigger and beliefs must change in order to consistently make different choices, choices that will start you down the road to fitness and good health. For the morbidly obese, these good choices happen slowly in the beginning and build momentum over time. It’s a long journey with many pitfalls and only those that change their mindsets and build good choices over time will attain the goal of fitness and good health. Get serious about the choices you are making. Make a commitment to yourself to change.

Fred Eisele is a self-proclaimed “ordinary 45 year old guy” that decided to take action on getting fit. Starting at an unbelievable 315 pounds, Fred dropped over 100 pounds of fat. His current goals include discarding 14 pounds of fat and gaining an additional 6 pounds of muscle, putting him at 210 pounds at 10% body fat!

You can reach Fred by email at fred@eiseles.net or on the web at www.eiseles.net.

Editor’s Note: To read more about Fred Eisele,
order Fit Over 40: Role Models For Excellence At Any Age today!