Reserve and Splurge!

Reserve and splurge! Just what exactly does that mean?

One way I have found to be very helpful in the journey of weight loss is to allow yourself a time to splurge once a week but in order to have the splurge, you must operate on reserve the other six days.

With the holidays upon us and all the goodies and special treats that accompany them, the last thing you want to do is deprive yourself. You do not want to feel as if you are on a 'diet' during this time of year yet you also do not want to have to start the New Year with a resolution of losing weight that you gained in the month of December! In order to create a lifestyle, you can not deprive yourself of anything that you enjoy but instead you must learn how to live in moderation.

One definition of the word reserve is "to retain or hold over until a future time or place." By reserving what you eat during the week, you can splurge one day of the weekend without doing harm. Now, when I talk about reserving, that does not mean that you skip meals or starve yourself. You must eat something every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism operating to it's fullest potential thus burning the maximum number of calories. However, if you count your calories, points or whatever else you may do and discipline yourself to the utmost level, then reward yourself by allowing yourself the special treats one day a week. This not only helps in keeping you on track for weight loss but it also gives you something to look forward to and therefore helps to motivate you during the week.

Most of us live by our calendars and on a plan. Your 'splurge day' does not have to be the same day each week but you do want to make sure there are no less than 5 days in between. For example, you have a Christmas party to a attend on Saturday and the following Friday, you have dinner plans with friends. Make these days your 'splurge days' and live on reserve the rest of the time leading up to those special treats.

Give it a try and see if this plan helps you to create a new lifestyle of eating for weight loss. Remember...reserve and splurge!