Why Monday Morning Weight Loss Motivation Fails for Women Physicians (And What Actually Works Instead)

Hey there. If you’re reading this on a Monday morning, I’m betting you woke up with some version of “this week will be different” playing in your head.

Sound about right?

Maybe you’re mentally going through everything you ate this weekend. Maybe you’re already planning to be “extra careful” this week to lose weight. Maybe you’re promising yourself that this time, you’ll actually stick to your eating plan.

I get it. I’ve had that exact conversation with myself more Monday mornings than I care to admit.

Here’s the thing though – that whole approach? It’s not working. And it’s not because there’s something wrong with you.

The Monday Morning Shame Game

As physicians, we love to tell ourselves “I know what I need to do, I just need to do it.” But here’s what I’ve learned after years of struggling with my own eating and weight and now helping hundreds of women physicians:

If you’re smart enough to become a physician and you can’t get yourself to do what you think you need to do, maybe what you think you need to do is the actual problem.

Not you. The plan.

Why Monday Morning Weight Loss Motivation Always Fails

The Monday morning thing fails for three big reasons:

1. It starts with shame. When you’re trying to make changes from a place of “I screwed up” and “I’m such a mess,” it never works. Shame makes you feel like crap, and when you feel like crap, you eat more crap.
2. It’s all about restriction. Your Monday promises usually involve giving up foods you love and eating boring stuff you feel meh about. Your brain hates restriction. It will rebel every single time.
3. It ignores reality. You’re telling yourself you need to meal prep for hours and track every bite. But hello – you’re also seeing 30 patients a day and getting home at 8pm. Those numbers don’t add up.

What Actually Works for Physician Weight Loss Instead

Forget everything you think you know about Monday morning motivation. Try this:

Stop being mean to yourself. Nothing went wrong this weekend. I don’t care what you ate or how much wine you had. It all makes sense. When you can see that it makes sense, you can actually fix it.

Choose more, not less. Instead of restricting, focus on eating enough of the good stuff so you feel satisfied. If you’re changing what you eat, pack extra snacks. Don’t set yourself up to be hungry and cranky.

Fix your week, not your weekend. If you keep falling apart Friday night and eating everything in sight all weekend, you’re running your weeks like a marathon. Your brain uses food to create the breaks you’re not giving yourself.

Simple Strategies That Actually Work for Busy Women Physicians

Morning brain dump: Spend 3 minutes writing down all the crap your brain is telling you about the weekend. Then take a deep breath and ask yourself, “What do I want to focus on this week?”

Question your stories: When your brain tells you that you can’t take a break or change anything about your schedule, call BS. Usually life is not as fixed as we think and taking more breaks during the week is one of the post powerful things you can do to feel more in control of eating on the weekend.

Look for patterns: Instead of promising to try harder, get curious. What makes certain days harder? How long are your clinics? How late do you work? What’s the common thread?

The Real Deal About Physician Weight Loss

Here’s what I know after helping women physicians with this for six years: anytime we’re trying to create change from a place of shame, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t usually result in actions that are going to actually feel good or be sustainable. It makes you feel like crap.

And here’s the other thing – we’ve been socialized that our needs come last. We’re socialized as women in society for that, but also medicine socializes us to suppress our own needs in order to care for others. That’s needed as a doctor, but the problem is it gets generalized throughout our whole life.

You don’t need another diet. You need permission to be human in a job that expects you to be superhuman.

Ready to stop the Monday morning BS? Listen to episode 329 of Thriving As A Physician Podcast below for all the details.

Trust me, your future Monday morning self will thank you.