Diet during the Week, Eat on the Weekend is That Possible? Consistency Beats Flexibility When It Comes to Losing Weight. Almost everyone trying to lose weight knows they have to exercise and be careful with their eating Monday through Friday. The question is what about the weekends? Do you need to watch your food 7 days a week? Do you need to exercise on the weekends?
Our body weight changes almost daily depending on hydration status, dietary intake and physical activity patterns. For many overweight people there is a significant difference between these patterns during the week as compared to the weekends, especially Sunday when for many people activity levels are lower while food intake is increased.
Here are the questions that comes to many individuals starting a weight loss program:
1. Can you lose weight by being careful on the weekdays and splurge on the weekends?
2. If the answer to #1 is no, than can you at least maintain your weight loss and still eat more on the weekends?
3. Which is more important being careful with the food on the weekends or exercising?
Certainly adding flexibility during the weekend, holidays and vacations reduces boredom and feelings of deprivation so important in long term weight management, but at what expense? The few studies that have compared dieters who were consistent with their eating and exercise across the 7 day week with those that splurged on the weekends revealed that individuals maintaining the same diet and exercise consistently through the whole week maintained their weight as compared to dieters who took "breaks" on the weekends either in eating or exercise or both.
It's not surprising that consistency in food and beverage intake across the week was more important than in consistency in exercise, given the huge amount of calories one can eat even in a single meal. No exercise is able to compensate for eating 4 slices of pizza or going to an Italian or Mexican restaurant and gobbling down 2500 calories or more.
Dr James Hill and associates at the National Weight Control Registry reported that dietary consistency through the entire week correlated better with long term weight loss maintenance, than flexibility on weekends and holidays. In fact they found that dietary constancy as the best predictor to long term weight maintenance. Dr Racette and colleagues from the Washington University Medical School found that weight gain occurs during weekends relative to weekday is due to increase food intake on the weekends and to slightly decrease exercise. They found an average of 0.2 lb. weight gains over the weekend. This works out to about 10 lb. weight gain per year There conclusion that weekend indulgences contribute to weight gain or cessation of weight loss.
Here is a summary of these studies for those confused about weekend eating and exercising:
1. Losing weight takes 7 days a week; there can be no weekend splurges, at least on a regular basis
2. Maintaining weight loss is possible with watching the food and drink during the week and breaks on the weekend
3. Paying attention to food intake on the weekends is more important for weight loss and maintenance than an extra day of exercise on Saturday or Sunday.
Richard L. Lipman M.D., a board certified internist and endocrinologist has been treating weight and metabolic problems for 25 years in his Miami office. His recent book, The 100 Calorie Secret, describes how thousands of his patients lost weight and kept it off. Learn more weight loss and tips from a doctor who actually takes care of metabolic problems and obesity problems at http://www.richardlipmanmd.com
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