Labor Day means cookouts, family, friends and probably a table full of food you don’t normally eat on a Monday.
Enjoy it.
Seriously.
You don’t need to bring your food scale to the family BBQ or avoid everything you like because you’re trying to stay on track.
You can enjoy the day AND still make some good choices.
Start with protein.
Burgers, chicken, steak, pulled pork, whatever is on the grill. Get a good serving of protein on your plate first.
Get some vegetables or fruit on there.
Salad, grilled vegetables, watermelon, fruit salad. Grab something that gives the plate some volume outside of meat, buns and sides.
Pick the carbs you actually want.
Mac and cheese? Have some.
Potato salad? Go for it.
Chips? That’s fine too.
You probably don’t need three giant servings of all of them. Pick what you actually enjoy and have a reasonable portion.
Want dessert? Eat dessert.
If Grandma made your favorite pie, have the pie.
You don’t need to eat every dessert on the table just because it’s there, but you also don’t need to sit there miserable watching everyone else eat because you’re “on a diet.”
And most importantly…
If you overeat today, you didn’t screw anything up.
One day of eating more calories than normal isn’t going to make you fat, just like one day of eating perfectly isn’t going to get you in shape.
You may weigh more tomorrow. More food in your system, more carbohydrates, more sodium and more water can all move the scale.
That doesn’t mean you gained three pounds of body fat overnight.
Enjoy your Labor Day.
Enjoy the food.
Enjoy the people you’re spending it with.
Then tomorrow?
Get right back to what you normally do.
No starving yourself.
No punishment workout.
No trying to “make up for it.”
Just back to normal.
Your results are built by what you do consistently, not what you do at one family BBQ.
