“Ahhhh, Friday! The holidays are behind us, we have had a terrific week of being back on track, so let’s spend some time today thinking about how we want our weekend to unfold. Planning ahead and managing our expectations is a major part of successful weight loss and lifetime health. This is real life, so we need to get real. We know that it is more than likely we are going to eat a little more over the weekends than we do during the week and might find ourselves in situations where we have less control over what goes into our food, such as when eating out. So don’t fight it-go with it! Let’s formulate a plan that makes allowance for these things AND wards off any Monday guilt, regret, remorse or weight gain. Remember, this is a lifestyle so that includes weekends, social situations and times when we are going to want to indulge a bit more and that is fine! It is totally normal, do-able and possible!!! The question is how do YOU want to make it work? What do you really want out of this weekend? Work backwards and determine what’s most important to you down to what is of the least value. You might really be looking forward to cocktails with friends on Friday night after work or it could be a nice meal out on Saturday night with your spouse or maybe it’s going to breakfast with your fam after church on Sunday. Which ever it is, the key word here is OR. Notice how I didn’t say “AND”. It’s about choices! We can have anything we want, just not everything at once! When we give it thought ahead of time we realize that we don’t need to go over board ALL weekend. Instead, pick your favorite event or food and then work it into your plan! Portion control and a little extra activity to make it realistic but also within healthy parameters so that you are still moving toward weight loss this week. You CAN do it and with thought ahead of time and consistent reminders of what is truly important to you, it does not have to be all that hard or leave you feeling deprived. Our mantra for the weekend-BALANCE.