You’re SO good all week.
Monday arrives and you’re on it. Meals planned, workouts done, plenty of water, protein, steps… you’re feeling pretty smug about the whole thing. 😂
Then Friday comes.
There’s a takeaway. Maybe a couple of glasses of wine. Saturday involves brunch or a meal out. You start picking at things you wouldn’t normally bother with and suddenly Sunday night arrives and you’re thinking:
“Right. I’ll start again Monday.”
Sound familiar? Yep?
This is something I hear ALL the time, and if you feel like you’re constantly undoing all your hard work at the weekend, I want you to know something:
The answer probably isn’t being even stricter during the week.
In fact, that could be part of the problem…
Are You Being TOO “Good” Monday to Friday?
When someone tells me they’re really “good” during the week, I always want to know what good actually means.
Because sometimes it means eating balanced meals, moving their body and looking after themselves.
But sometimes it means:
Eating as little as possible.
Avoiding anything remotely “naughty”.
Saying no to chocolate, puddings, meals out and anything they actually enjoy.
Trying to “save” or bank calories for the weekend.
Then Friday arrives and you’re absolutely READY for it.
You’ve spent the whole week restricting yourself, so suddenly all those foods you’ve been avoiding feel even more tempting.
This is where the cycle starts.
You’re super strict → you overdo it → you feel guilty → you promise to be even stricter next week → repeat.
And repeat.
And repeat.
No wonder it feels exhausting!
Stop Trying to “Bank” Calories
I see this one a LOT.
You know you’re going out on Saturday night, so you decide you’ll be extra “good” beforehand.
Maybe you skip breakfast. Have a tiny lunch. Avoid snacks. Try to “save” as many calories as possible for later. (Just to clarify, I wouldn’t recommend this!)
The problem?
You arrive at the restaurant absolutely STARVING. 😂
Suddenly the bread basket looks incredible, you’re eating everything in sight and it becomes much harder to make intentional choices because your body is quite literally asking you to FEED IT.
The same thing can happen across the whole week.
You can create a calorie deficit Monday to Thursday, but if your weekend becomes a complete free-for-all, it is surprisingly easy to wipe that deficit out.
That doesn’t mean you can’t go out for dinner, have a takeaway or drink the wine.
Of course you can!
It just means we need to stop swinging between the two extremes.
It’s Not the Tiramisu That’s the Problem
This is a BIG one.
You go out for dinner on Friday and have a pizza and tiramisu.
Lovely. ENJOY IT! 🙌
But then your brain goes:
“Well… I’ve ruined it now anyway.”
So Friday dinner turns into Friday-night snacks.
Then Saturday becomes a “bad day”.
Then Sunday becomes, “Well, I’m starting again tomorrow anyway…”
And suddenly one lovely meal has turned into an entire weekend of eating things you didn’t even particularly want.
The pizza wasn’t the problem.
It was the all-or-nothing thinking that came afterwards.
One meal doesn’t ruin your progress.
One dessert doesn’t ruin your progress.
One glass of wine doesn’t ruin your progress.
You don’t need to compensate for it, punish yourself for it or “start again”.
You just carry on.
Give Your Weekends Some Anchors
Weekdays naturally have structure.
You get up at a certain time, you go to work, you have lunch at roughly the same time. Maybe your workout happens before or after work.
Weekends can be completely different.
You sleep in, breakfast happens at 10:30am, you’re running around with the kids, lunch gets forgotten so you pick at a few things. Suddenly it’s 5pm and you’re absolutely ravenous.
So rather than trying to create a rigid weekend diet, give yourself a few anchors.
Keep it really simple:
-
Have proper meals rather than grazing your way through the day.
-
Get a decent source of protein into those meals.
-
Drink your water.
-
Get outside and move your body.
-
If you know you’re going out later, STILL EAT beforehand!
Your Saturday doesn’t need to look exactly like your Wednesday.
You just need enough structure that you don’t go from one extreme to the other.
Use the “HELL YEAH” Rule 😂
This is one of my favourites.
If you’re going to your favourite Italian restaurant and they do the BEST tiramisu…
HELL YEAH.
Have the tiramisu. Enjoy every single mouthful.
But the slightly stale biscuits sitting in the office kitchen that you don’t even really like?
Meh.
The random handfuls of your kids’ leftovers?
Probably not.
The food you’re eating simply because it happens to be sitting in front of you?
Do you actually want it?
This isn’t about labelling foods as “good” or “bad”. It’s about making conscious choices and saving your 30% for the things you actually enjoy.
Think 70/30, Not 100/0
You do not need a perfect diet.
In fact, trying to eat “perfectly” is often exactly what creates the problem in the first place.
Instead, think 70/30.
Around 70% of the time, you’re giving your body the stuff it needs: protein, fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, healthy fats and nutritious meals.
The other 30%?
That’s LIFE.
The meal out. The chocolate. The glass of wine. The birthday cake. The Friday-night takeaway.
And when those things are already part of your lifestyle, you don’t need to feel like you’ve “fallen off the wagon” every time you have them.
There is no wagon! 😂
Stop Starting Again Every Monday
This is probably the biggest thing I want you to take away from this.
You don’t need another Monday restart.
You don’t need to “be really good this week”.
You don’t need to punish yourself because you went out for dinner on Saturday.
What you need is a way of eating, exercising and looking after yourself that works on a random Wednesday in November AND a sunny Saturday when your friends invite you out for drinks.
That’s where consistency actually comes from.
Just learning how to keep going when real life happens. 💜
Want Some Help Actually Doing It?
If you are reading this thinking “YES. This is me!”, my 6 Week Reboot is now OPEN! 🎉
Over six weeks, I’ll help you get properly back into a routine WITHOUT the all-or-nothing nonsense.
You’ll get short, achievable workouts, simple nutrition support, weekly personal check-ins and accountability, plus access to our amazing Lorna Marie Fitness Squad community.
The aim isn’t to make you perfect for six weeks.
It’s to help you build something you can actually KEEP doing afterwards.
👉 Join the 6 Week Reboot and become part of the Squad here.
This blog was taken from one of our private Squad Q&As, where I answer real questions from our members every single week.
🎧 You can also listen to the full episode on the Lorna Marie Fitness YouTube Podcast Channel or catch up on Spotify.
Now be honest… are you guilty of “starting again Monday”? 😂
