Earlier Sheena used to be a weekend girl. Saving calories all along the week to binge at her favourite pastry on Sunday. This had become her ritual. Spending her Sunday in the most unhealthy style and begin her usual routine Monday onward.

After a month or so, she realized that in spite of working out hard, she was not able to lose weight – albeit she had gained some pounds. What could be going wrong? She had read somewhere that you can give in to your cravings once in a while even while dieting.

I used to be totally confused as Sheena is now. I committed the same mistakes. However, one of my instructors at aerobic classes enlightened me. On every Friday morning, she used to say a line when the class came to an end. She used to say, “Do not eat burger on the weekend or do not eat pastry on this weekend. These foods are loaded with calories and the hard work you did for the entire week will go for a toss. Since then, I stopped my Sunday binges. In fact, I work out on Sundays and take rest on Mondays to stay away from Monday blues. Besides eating unhealthy, there are so many mistakes that we commit on weekends that turn out to be detrimental to our health in long term. Let’s have a look.

1. Messy Fridays

Sabotaging your weekend begins from Friday itself. The joy of upcoming weekend is so much that even the Friday schedule goes for a toss. Some people, including myself, miss the Friday workout, thinking of catching it up on the Weekend. This never happens. Tiredness suddenly sets in on Friday evening to even cook a healthy dinner. You might blame advertisements and offers by restaurants for this. However, their job is to make it tempting for you. They are not aware that you desire to live a healthy life. While you can enjoy a hearty meal in restaurants, you should not make it a habit. If your Friday goes good, you can make well informed choices for the weekend.

2. Liquor Ticker

Liquor is one of the ways to celebrate the weekend. However, if you do not pre-decide the quantity, it is hard to decide it after that first glass. Too much intake of alcohol harms your health. There are so many ailments that are a result of heavy drinking. Alcohol damages your liver and even plays a role in causing several types of cancer. If you are fond of alcohol, do not keep the bottle near to you. Just prepare a glass and consume it. Keeping the bottle within reach will tempt you to drink more.

3. Snooze Dose

Weekends are meant to catch up on lost sleep, right. However, experts believe that if you do not keep a tap on sleep in the morning, then you are likely to spoil your day. The more you sleep, greater are the chances of a lethargic day. Instead, you should wake up on time in the morning and opt for naps during the day. This will help you accomplish your weekend goals without missing out on sleep. What I prefer on Sundays is to wake up on time and enjoy a relaxed morning when I do not have to rush to do anything. I prepare a mug of coffee, sit near the window and enjoy reading Sunday supplements with sips of caffeine. What say?

4. Not Taking a Social Media Break

If I was writing this post some 10 years back, this point would not have existed at all. However, social media is a menace in this age and world. With internet available on the phone, many people are interested in keeping a tap on how other people are spending their Sundays rather than enjoying their own.

Further, World Wide Web is contagious. It is known as web for some reason. Once you get inside, it is difficult for you to get off it. If you desire to spend a healthy weekend, take a social media break. Do not even hover around your phone. Spend time with your loved ones rather than watching their updates on social media. Further, social media even does not allow you to take adequate rest, which is a must for weekends.

5. The Itch to Binge

This error is one of the most common ones and should be moved on to number one. Sundays are not meant to take a break from the healthy routine and go about eating anything and everything that comes to your sight. If you really want to take a break, opt for one meal in a day. Binging throughout the weekend will harm your health badly and the hard work of entire week will do down the drain.

Maintaining your body is like maintaining relationships. It is quite easy to form them but quite hard to mend a broken one. When you binge, your body is not able to handle the constant ‘unhealthy’ food you stuff it with. Your system feels as if it is in a roller coaster. You might not be aware that many ailments are a result of binging. Some of the problems that binging results in are fatigue, anxiety and even depression. You are spoiling a great week with weekend binging for sure. Instead of binging, do not stay away from your favourite food but keep a control on the portion your indulgences.

6. Extreme Exercise Schedule

There are two types of personalities – one who do not work out on weekends and other who work out only on weekends. These are on the extreme ends. Some people even go overboard with workouts on weekends. In both the cases, you could be harming your health. Your body does not get used to such forms of workout.

The strain on the muscles is quite grave, when you work out only on the weekends. Whereas it is possible to take a break once a week, make sure that you do not opt for no-workout weekends. By not working out both on Saturday and Sunday, your muscles get strained when you begin your workout on Mondays. When it comes to binging and exercise, moderation is the key. What you can do is exercise thrice a week if your schedule is too tight. What I prefer is resting on Mondays and working it out throughout the week. It feels great to begin a Monday after proper sleep and rest.

7. Working on Weekends

While some go overboard with weekend celebration, others prefer working even on weekends to lower the burden of the upcoming week. Checking on work emails is quite tempting. However, it is required to take a break from the work at least once a week. This is necessary for enhanced levels of productivity during the week. When your mind gets required amount of relaxation from the work, it gets charged up to tackle the things in the coming week. Such work schedule results in stress and even depression, at times.

8. Running Errands

This is one of the favourite habits of my dear husband. He likes doing all the wrong stuff on weekends. Grocery shopping, cleaning his accessories, servicing his vehicle and all the related ones. If you have the same habit, then even you might be feeling that your Sunday is not a Fun-day at all, just like my husband keeps on complaining. What you can do is instead of piling up the work for a pretty Sunday, you can set aside half an hour every day to complete the chores. This way, your Sunday would not have a long list of to-dos.

9. Unnecessary Worrying

Another bad habit that my husband has – is keep worrying about the work that needs to be completed at office. He keeps on narrating the list to me – I listen to it attentively at times. But sometimes I do wonder that will worrying about the work on Sunday will get it done automatically on Monday? Nopes. Then why keep on worrying along with your spouse. Instead watch movies together, cook a nice meal or play some board games. Such Sundays are the great ones, according to me.

10. Read this on Sunday

If you are reading this on Sunday, then you have wasted your precious weekend moments on this preachy post. Instead get up and get going. Keep your mobile at a distance and take a walk across the street. You might meet an old friend of yours or find something interesting that makes your Sunday a better one. What say?

Weekends are not for committing errors but refueling your body and mind that makes your upcoming week a great one. Pre-plan it – even the rest and you will make it one of the best weekends.