Weekends: 6 Ways To Keep It Healthy!

Start the weekend sharing an Operation Beautiful Note!

With the weekend quickly approaching, I felt it appropriate to devote this post to weekend eating. What are your weekend eating habits like? How do they change from your regular work week?

For me; we eat out more, have family functions, sleep longer, etc and that makes for disrupted eating schedules and relying on other people to prepare the food. So how do I keep my weight in check when the weekends are FILLED with tempting, high calorie foods? Aside from the tips I provided in yesterday’s post: 15 Ways To Cut Calories at Each Meal, these suggestions will make for another reminder for how to honor your health, especially when the weekend comes!

1. Don’t Starve! Never, ever, ever go out to dinner or a party hungry! I know this may seem like common knowledge but I know plenty of people who will avoid eating most of the day if there is a party or restaurant to go to that evening. Why would you ever do this to yourself? If your tummy is talking, FEED IT! There have been several times in the past few weeks where I let my hunger get the best of me. What happened? I overate! Even though I HATE the feeling of being stuffed, since I let myself go out hungry, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I ate too fast. If I had just eaten a little something before we left, I would have had better self control. So eat something! You will be doing your mind and body a favor!
2. Drinks. The summer is the best time to lounge around with friends and have a few drinks. I’m not telling you to give this up, but if you want to lose weight, you MUST pick and choose your pleasure. If you want to have ONE beer with friends, do it! Just don’t also grab ice cream, order French fries and hot wings, or have 3-5 more beers. Alcohol can truly make you lose your inhibitions, so be careful with the munchies!
3. Exercise!!! The weekends are my favorite time to get active! You can burn tons of extra calories if you double up by doing your “structured” workout and then go for a walk, play some volleyball, or hike in the park later in the day! Make it fun!! It IS summer after all!
4. Eat Mindfully! Although I still want you to practice mindful eating, there are occasions where you will be eating “just because.” While there is nothing wrong with this once in awhile, if you let it compound every single weekend, you are bound to gain weight. So again, pick and choose your pleasure. If you just splurged while you were out with friends Friday night, try to be a little more conscious on Saturday and Sunday night. Just like you don’t lose weight over night, you absolutely don’t gain weight over night either (water weight aside)!!
5. Don’t just treat yourself on the weekends! The common scenario: eat “good” all week and then ruin all progress when the weekend comes. Why does this happen? Because you do not allow yourself ALL foods, every day. Remember: NOTHING is “off-limits.” If a cookie sounds fabulous mid week… then eat it! Life is about balance and the less you keep “off limits,” the more self control you develop!
6. EAT BREAKFAST! Whether you have a family reunion in the afternoon or you drank a little too much the night before, EAT BREAKFAST! You will kick start your metabolism and have a healthy start to your day, especially if you include lots of protein and fiber! Plus, breakfast eaters usually nosh on less throughout the day!!

Whether you have heard these suggestions a million times or not, we all forget and a little reminder is sometimes just what we need to keep our heads on straight! What will you do to honor your health this weekend!!???

Looking for something healthy to grill? Try these Mediterranean Turkey Burgers from Good Housekeeping! My mother-in-law saved this recipe for us to try and it was yummy!! Now I’m sharing with you!!

Mediterranean Turkey Burgers

Makes 4 servings

• 1/2 cup plus 2 T plain, non-fat yogurt
• 2 green onions, green and white parts separated and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped finely
• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 1/2 oz reduced fat feta
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
• 2 whole wheat pitas (cut in halves) or 4 whole wheat buns
• 2 tomatoes thinly sliced

Directions:

Prepare grill. In small bowl combine  1/2 cup of yogurt, white parts of the green onion, and half the chopped mint. LOVED this concoction!! Green onions are a favorite!

In a larger bowl, combine turkey, feta, coriander, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, green parts of the green onion, remaining mint, and 2 T of yogurt. Mix well and form into 3 1/2″ round patties.

Cook 12-13 minutes on outside grill or Foreman. Warm pitas and buns, divide burgers amongst each bun or pita and add yogurt sauce, tomatoes, and pickles, if desired! Enjoy!!

Nutritional Profile per sandwich: 310 calories, 30 g protein, 24 g carbs, 12 g fat ( 4 g sat.), 4 g Fiber, 90 mg cholesterol, 460 mg sodium

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