I managed to gain a couple of pounds yesterday to add to the eight pounds I gained on Saturday, making the total gain for this weekend ten pounds! I’m absolutely astounded that adding that much weight in such a short amount of time is even possible. I expected to gain weight on Saturday; that was inevitable given the amount of sugar (from the cookies) and carbohydrates (from the cookies and beer) consumed. I had no idea I’d gain eight pounds, of course. And I expected to gain a little yesterday given that I’ve been gaining weight on Cheeseburger Weekend ever since I started Cheeseburger Weekend, but I also had some ice cream (not a pint, but too much anyway), an excessive amount of cheese, and some cashews.

My calorie (and carbohydrate) intake on the weekends has just been too high. This weekend was an extreme example, but I’ve got to start eating on Saturdays and Sundays the same way I eat on my non-fasting days during the week. I don’t know why this wasn’t obvious until recently. A diet has to be a diet all the time, otherwise it’s not really a diet. Cheeseburger Weekend has got to go: the combination of ground beef, cheese, and hamburger buns packs too much of a caloric punch. And I’ll have to do better about not eating between breakfast and dinner.

Another problem is that I’m not very active on the weekends, so I’m burning fewer calories than I do on the weekdays. The anxiety of the work week combined with my reduced sleep due to that anxiety results in what feels like an overwhelming sense of fatigue when the weekend rolls around. Anyway, I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of time on the couch on Saturdays and Sundays, and that has to change. I obviously have more time on the weekends to be active than I do during the week, so I need to figure out some sort of exercise regimen specifically for the end of the week.

I’m having lunch with a friend this Friday, so I’ll not only be losing a fasting day but probably not eating terribly healthy on that day. And I have a dinner party to go to on Saturday, although I’ll probably be eating better than I typically eat on Saturday given that the weekends have been so disastrous in terms of diet. I can’t (or I’m not willing to) fast more than three days a week, so I have to be much more careful about what I’m eating on the days on which I actually get to eat.

I think one of the problems with the fasting is that I have a fear of not eating enough on the non-fasting days. Obviously I’m not going to starve, but psychologically it’s difficult to think of not feeling like I’ve really eaten before another fasting day begins. However, I’ve gotten pretty good at tolerating the hunger on the fasting days, so this really shouldn’t be an issue. Overall, I should be focused on creating healthier eating patterns that can be sustained over the long term, and it seems like I’ve been failing to do that, especially on the weekends. I’ll do better.