It's Friday!

How did it get to be Friday so fast?  This week has flown by!  When I was working full-time, Fridays were usually busy as I was trying to finish up as much work as possible before the weekend.  The work I needed to get done was often challenged by the reality that, by Friday afternoon, I just wanted to be done and go home and often just didn't feel like staying on task.  I would vacillate between wanting to leave for the weekend with a clean desk and the temptation to cut myself some slack and leave the work for the following Monday morning.

Regardless of what I ended up doing at work on a Friday afternoon, I came home ready to kick back, relax, and reward myself for another work week completed.  Before starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, "reward" always, always meant food.  My husband was a retail jewelry store manager and worked Friday nights, and once our children were grown, my Friday night food fest was a personal party for just me.  I'd opt for my favorite foods (all high calorie, high fat of course) and make sure that I had something sweet to end the meal.  I'd often stop at the store after work, tired, hungry, and on the prowl for my food rewards.  Once home, I'd fix my plate and crawl into bed for a night of watching TV and eating, only getting up to get more food.

If this sounds pretty sad to you . . . it was, especially as I look back.  It's hard to believe that what I just described was me just a little over three years ago!  But that WAS how I typically spent my Friday evenings, and by the time my husband got home from work a little before 10 PM, I had often fallen asleep, sometimes with an empty plate by my side.

When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, Friday nights were a challenge for me because I not only had to change what I had been eating, but change my entire Friday night routine. 

That may be true for some of you, too.  Perhaps your Friday night routine hasn't been an evening eating in bed and watching TV, but it might be going out with friends to kick back and relax.  You do well on program all week, but Friday nights (and the weekends) are really hard because they are about unwinding and rewarding yourself for getting through another work week. 

If this describes you, I would encourage you today to make the choice to change not only what you're eating on weekends, but perhaps what you do, too.  Some people can go out with friends and easily stay on plan, but others find themselves repeatedly swayed by what their friends are eating and drinking, and weekend after weekend finds these individuals going off plan.

The time you've set aside to get to a healthy weight is now, and being on 5&1 isn't forever (although the cycling on and off program can make it FEEL like forever and definitely makes it longer than it could be/should be).  If weekends are when things tend to fall apart for you, I would encourage you to plan a different strategy today - a strategy that will support your journey to a healthy weight.  You owe it to yourself and you'll never regret it!

This is a time of learning new, healthier habits and learning to make new and healthier choices that will not only get you to a healthy weight, but will enable you to stay there.  The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)