Summer not the season of sloth

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2021 (1558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Summer weekends are upon us, and you know what that means… you hit pause on your fitness goals and try to undo the damage when the leaves start to fall, right?

Not necessarily. In fact, I’m going to argue the opposite in today’s column, because there’s nothing fun about waking up every Monday cranky, bloated and in a mental fog when you return to work.

The good news is you can enjoy a summer of fun and still make progress on your fitness goals.

You can’t mess this up as long as you don’t throw in the towel completely and do nothing over the next couple of months. Because it’s your cumulative habits that change you over time, not “being perfect” every day or every week. Fitness is full of grey areas.

That moderation you’re looking for — where you can go out to eat and order something fun or have a few drinks with friends — you can do that and still be on track with some forward thinking.

Some weeks you won’t have your A game. There will be social events and distractions. Heck, I had a crappy week of diet and exercise in the midst of moving this past week. It was rough on all fronts. But these off weeks always serve as a reminder as to why I exercise and eat right.

I’m a different person inside and out when I focus on fitness. Maybe you’ve noticed this too? Fewer negative thoughts. Less irritability. More energy. More drive. More sleep. More regular bowel movements (TMI?). Even staring down an email to reply to felt like a lot of effort last week with my brain in a fog.

That’s what so many overlook. Fitness is supposed to add to your life, not subtract. It’s supposed to make you a better person all around and fill you with energy and confidence.

It’s not supposed to fill you with guilt every time you jump on the scale or slip on your diet. Don’t lose sight of the daily benefits of fitness just because the scale jumped up and you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere sometimes.

You need to play the long game here and not see any of this as temporary behaviour change. Because that’s the only way you keep the weight off. It’s for life, not 21, 30 or 90 days.

So that probably means you shouldn’t take all of July and August off, right? Rationalizing more screw-ups because of one screw-up doesn’t make sense. You wouldn’t slash your other tires if you got one flat. You’d fix that tire and keep driving. This is forever. And when you’re playing forever, a crazy weekend is just a tiny blip. It’s what you do most of the time that matters.

Here are some tips to find the balance this summer:

Keep moving

Don’t pair your weekend of fun with a bunch of sitting. That’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, commit to getting in some activity every day. If you’re out at the lake, swim every morning. Go for long walks. Take a bike ride.

Too often people associate weekends with downtime, choosing sedentary activities that involve food and drink. But activity can give you a little fail-safe in the event calories do exceed your planned intake.

Have ‘work’ days and ‘fun’ days

On the days you have social events planned, cut yourself some slack and don’t sweat being 100 per cent on point.

But on your work days when you’re in the office, follow your regular routine — and that includes your diet and exercise program.

Treat those days like it’s a normal day (unless you’re on vacation). Stick to your workouts. Eat well. A little balance goes a long way.

Plan around parties

If you have a special weekend planned, maybe you decide to eat light leading up to the party so you have a “buffer” going in. Even if things go off the rails, you shouldn’t be in such bad shape at the end of the day.

When your weekend fun is finished, get to the grocery store and prepare to get some solid, home-cooked, nutritious meals in you the next few days so your healthy habits resume.

And, don’t, whatever you do, weigh yourself the morning after. Wait a few days. The excess stomach content, water weight from additional carbs and possibly whatever sorcery travelling and stress does to your body can falsely skew your scale weight.

It’s temporary — if you follow the rules above and get back on the horse the next day. After all, weight gain is caused by eating like crap all summer long, not just a few weekends here and there.

Here’s to finding the balance between fun and fitness this summer!

Mitch Calvert is a Winnipeg-based fitness coach for men and women like his former self, struggling to slay their weight-loss demons and become the healthy, fit version they deserve. Visit mitchcalvert.com to grab yourself a free metabolism jumpstart or inquire about his one-on-one virtual coaching service to keep you on track this summer.