It’s Thursday and you’ve been patiently waiting for the weekend all week long. You stick to your food goals and are strict with yourself Monday through Thursday. As the weekend approaches you look forward to throwing your hands up in the air and taking a free-for-all mindset for the next few days.

It’s common to loosen the reigns after a long week of obligations, restricting yourself, and a million things on your to-do list, which can ultimately lead to feeling depleted. This depletion leads to a domino effect that impacts various areas of your life, including eating out of alignment with your healthy eating goals.

Typically this depletion comes from a number of things. A few common ones I often see with my clients are:

• Accommodating others to a point that their needs aren’t being met because they don’t speak up for themselves.
• They restrict throughout the week and rebel against the rules they’ve set.
• Feel they don’t have control over their schedule and to-do list.
• Other stressors that might come up during the week (e.g., feeling isolated or like they’re not doing a good enough job at work).

Experiencing any of these leads to feeling like we’re lacking willpower or self-discipline and is when we look forward to indulging or letting go of the reigns. However, by checking in on your needs it can help reduce the accommodating, restriction and feeling like you lack control over your schedule as mentioned above. By doing that, you end up feeling like you have more of a choice so you don’t end up as depleted and as a result the pull to food decreases. For example, if you find that you push through different tasks, just by taking a few minutes to recharge (whatever that means to you) can be really helpful as it could be the difference between indulging at night and eating in alignment with your healthy eating goals.  

Tuning into your needs can help in every area of your life. Next time you’re in a situation where you’re starting to feel depleted, ask yourself:

• How do I want this experience to end? Knowing what you want to get out of the situation can help you figure out what your true needs are so you can check in on them through out the experience to ensure they’re being met. When you do that, see what happens with your food choices and if you’re more naturally able to eat in alignment with your goals.
• If you find you’re accommodating another person or a situation you can ask, “How can I find the middle ground so my needs are met, as is the other person’s (or situation)?”

Once you uncover what kind of situation leads you to feeling depleted, you can look forward to a weekend without a free-for-all mindset.

Unapologetically Me First: An Urban Retreat Focused on You: 

If you’re in Chicago and feeling depleted, take some time for yourself on Sunday, July 21^st at The Living Room in Wicker Park from 10am- 2:30pm. 

Attendees will experience: 

• Yoga for rejuvenation 
• Health coaching to help uncover what’s getting in the way of sticking to a routine 
• Interactive cooking to learn some https://laurabfolkes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/voyagechicago-staff_avatar_1495127966-240×240-1-5-4-3-1.jpg first steps 
• Community Acupuncture for stress and relaxation 

Learn more and sign up!