Losing weight around Shabbat and the festivals: how to enjoy the table and still reach your goals
You don't need to choose between enjoying Shabbat and losing weight. If you've been treating Friday night as a weekly write-off, that's probably the thing holding you back. Anna and Charlotte on how to enjoy the table, get through the festivals, and still reach your goals.
By Anna & Charlotte · MNU-Certified Nutritionists · Level 3 Personal Trainers
Published 17 June 2026 · Updated 17 June 2026
TL;DR
For a lot of women in NW London, the calendar is built around food. Shabbat comes every week with challah, the Friday night meal and lunch the next day, and then there's the run of festivals on top, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Pesach, plus what feels like a simcha most weeks. If you've been good in the week and written off the weekend, you've quietly written off most of the year. The fix isn't giving up the Friday night table, it's learning to enjoy it and still hit your goals. The aceRULES still work, adapted: protein and veg first so the challah and dessert land on a fuller stomach, water with the meal, and the kitchen closes after dinner. If you keep Shabbat and don't track on your phone, you swap the app for a simple plate strategy for those 25 hours and pick tracking back up after. And after a big Yom Tov you draw a line under it and get straight back to normal, you never write off a whole month.
Key takeaways
- Shabbat is weekly, not a one-off like Christmas, so being good in the week and writing off the weekend means writing off most of the year. That is usually why nothing has stuck
- You don't have to give up challah or the Friday night meal. Restriction backfires, and a plan that asks you to skip your own family table was never going to last
- The aceRULES adapt cleanly: fill up on the protein and veg first so the bread and dessert land on a fuller stomach, water with the meal, and close the kitchen after dinner
- If you keep Shabbat and don't use your phone, you can't track for those 25 hours, so use a simple plate strategy instead (a palm of protein, half the plate veg, be intentional with the extras) and start tracking again afterwards
- Festivals come in runs (the autumn chag-after-chag, Chanukah, Pesach). Enjoy the meal that matters and get back to normal the next day rather than letting one festival become a write-off fortnight
- Yom Kippur and the fasts: don't earn the fast and don't punish the break-fast. Eat normally around them and move on
You don't need to choose between enjoying Shabbat and losing weight.
In fact, if you've been treating Friday night and Shabbat as a weekly write-off, that's probably the thing holding you back.
Shabbat comes every single week. Then there are the festivals, the kiddushes, the simchas and everything else that comes with real life. If your plan only works when none of those things are happening, it's never going to last.
The answer isn't skipping the challah or sitting at the table with a sad salad while everyone else enjoys themselves. It's learning how to enjoy the meals that matter while staying consistent enough to keep moving towards your goals.
That's exactly what we coach women to do every day.
If you've ever thought "I'll start again on Sunday"...
If you've ever had a brilliant week, hit your protein, got your steps in, felt properly on track... and then watched it all unravel somewhere between Friday night challah and Shabbat leftovers, you're not alone.
We hear some version of this every week.
"I've been so good all week, but I'm nervous about Shabbat."
"I know it's going to be a lot of food."
"I'll just get back on track on Sunday."
And that's exactly where most women get stuck.
Because here's the thing: Shabbat isn't a special occasion.
Then add in Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, Shavuot, and what feels like a never-ending stream of kiddushes, simchas and family celebrations, and suddenly "I'll start again next week" becomes "I've been starting again for years."
Why Shabbat feels so hard
The reason Shabbat feels difficult isn't because you're doing anything wrong.
It's because most diet plans were never designed with Shabbat in mind.
Most assume your weekends are completely under your control. You meal prep, eat the same things every day, avoid temptation and stick to the plan.
Real life doesn't work like that.
Especially not when Friday night comes around every single week.
There's challah on the table. Someone's made dessert. You're hosting or being hosted. There's lunch the next day. Maybe a kiddush. Maybe a simcha.
And then next week it all happens again.
For a lot of women we coach, the whole calendar revolves around food. Not because they're obsessed with food, but because food is how families gather, celebrate and spend time together.
That's why generic diet advice often falls flat.
It wasn't written for your life.
And here's the maths nobody talks about.
If you're really focused from Sunday to Friday afternoon and then write off every weekend, you're not writing off the odd occasion.
You're writing off a huge chunk of every single week.
Before you've even counted the festivals.
No wonder it feels like you're working hard but not getting the results you want.
It's rarely one Shabbat meal that causes the problem.
It's the thinking afterwards.
"I've blown it."
"I'll start again Sunday."
"I may as well keep eating now."
The food isn't usually the problem.
The all-or-nothing thinking is.
Do you have to give up challah?
No.
And we'd never ask you to.
Any plan that expects you to avoid your own Friday night table isn't a plan that's going to work long term.
The goal isn't to stop eating the foods you love.
The goal is to stop feeling like you have to choose between enjoying them and reaching your goals.
Because you don't.
The women who succeed long term aren't the women who never eat challah.
They're the women who learn how to eat challah without turning the whole weekend into a free-for-all.
What we actually coach women to do
This is where our aceRULES still work brilliantly.
They're just adapted slightly for the reality of a Shabbat table.
Start with the protein and vegetables. Have the fish. Have the chicken. Fill your plate with salad and vegetables.
Not because bread is bad, but because you'll make very different choices when you're comfortably full than when you're starving.
Drink your water with the meal.
Enjoy the challah. Enjoy dessert if you want it. Just be intentional about it.
The extra calories rarely come from the piece of challah you genuinely enjoyed.
They usually come from the second helping you weren't hungry for, the handfuls while clearing up, and the picking at leftovers later on.
And one of our biggest rules still applies:
When dinner is over, the kitchen is closed.
For many women, that's the habit that makes the biggest difference.
What if you don't track on Shabbat?
This is something most nutrition apps never account for.
If you keep Shabbat, your phone is away from Friday afternoon until Saturday night.
You can't track.
So don't.
Instead, swap tracking for a simple plate strategy.
Then when Shabbat ends, pick up exactly where you left off.
No trying to remember everything you ate.
No punishment.
No compensating.
No "I'll be extra strict tomorrow."
Just carry on.
A couple of untracked meals don't ruin your progress.
They're part of a normal life.
What about Yom Tov and the festivals?
The same principles apply.
The challenge isn't usually one festival meal.
It's when one festival meal becomes a festival week.
Or a festival month.
The autumn chagim are the perfect example.
All packed into a few weeks.
Then later there's Chanukah, Purim, Pesach and Shavuot.
The women who stay on track aren't the women who avoid all the food.
They're the women who enjoy the meals that matter and then go straight back to normal afterwards.
They don't spend two weeks saying, "Well, it's Yom Tov anyway."
That's it.
A quick word about fasting
Whether it's Yom Kippur or another fast day, try not to turn it into a compensation exercise.
Don't spend the day before barely eating because you're trying to "save calories."
And don't treat the break-fast as a licence to eat absolutely everything in sight because you've earned it.
Your body doesn't need punishment or compensation.
It needs consistency.
The one shift that changes everything
Stop trying to be perfect from Sunday to Thursday.
Start learning how to handle Friday and Saturday.
Because nobody gains weight from one piece of challah.
And nobody reaches their goals because they managed five perfect days.
Results come from what happens over months and years, not what happens on one Friday night.
The women who succeed aren't the women with the most willpower.
They're the women who stop flipping between "I'm on track" and "I've blown it."
No guilt.
No punishment.
No "I'll start again Monday."
That's how weight loss works around Shabbat and the festivals.
Not by avoiding them.
By learning how to live with them.
And that's exactly what we help women do inside aceTRANSFORM.
Because your plan should fit around your life.
Not the other way round.
Frequently asked
Can I actually lose weight if I keep Shabbat every single week?
Yes, and most of the women we coach in NW London are doing exactly that. The trick isn't to fight Shabbat, it's to stop treating it as the thing that ruins everything. One generous meal a week doesn't undo a good week, in the same way one good salad doesn't fix a bad one. What stalls people is the all-or-nothing pattern: being strict Sunday to Friday afternoon, then writing off the whole weekend, then starting again Monday. Shabbat comes every week, so that's most of the year written off. Build the week around Shabbat instead of against it and the weekly meal stops being a problem.
Do you have to give up challah and the Friday night meal?
No. And we'd never ask you to. Honestly, a plan that tells you to skip your own Friday night table is a plan that's probably not making it past week two. The goal isn't to avoid challah. The goal is to stop challah becoming challah, three dips, a handful of nuts, another piece of challah, and then wondering why you're stuffed before the fish has even arrived. We always say the same thing: yes to the challah. Just not half the loaf. Have a piece. Enjoy it. Say the bracha. Be part of the meal. Then move on. Fill your plate with the fish, chicken and salads. Drink your water. Slow down enough to actually enjoy what you're eating. Most women don't need to stop eating the foods they love. They just need to stop eating them on autopilot. The extra calories rarely come from the one piece of challah you genuinely wanted. They come from the grazing before the meal starts, the dips you weren't even thinking about, the second piece because everyone else is still eating, and the picking long after you've stopped being hungry. You can absolutely eat challah, enjoy Friday night dinner and still make progress. In fact, that's exactly what we teach women to do. Because if the only way to reach your goals is to avoid Shabbat, you've got the wrong plan.
How do I track my food on Shabbat if I don't use my phone?
You don't, and that's completely fine. For those 25 hours you swap the app for a simple plate strategy you don't have to log: a palm-sized portion of protein at each meal, fill around half the plate with vegetables or salad, and be intentional with the challah, potatoes and desserts rather than eating them automatically because they're there. Decide roughly what you're having before Shabbat comes in, then pick your tracking back up afterwards. No catching up the diary, no guilt over the gap.
How do I get through Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the run of festivals without undoing my progress?
The festivals come in clusters, especially the autumn run, so the danger isn't one big meal, it's letting one chag roll into a two-week write-off. Pick the meals that genuinely matter, enjoy those properly, and treat the days around them as normal days. Keep your steps up between the meals, lean on protein and veg, and the morning after a big Yom Tov you draw a line under it and you're straight back to normal. On the fasts, don't try to earn them in advance and don't punish the break-fast, just eat sensibly around them and move on.
