I was the person who ate perfectly from Monday to Thursday and then treated the weekend as a write-off. I genuinely believed this was balance. It took a long time to see it as a pattern that was actively working against me.
How the cycle ran
Strict rules during the week created a scarcity mindset. By Friday evening I felt I had earned the right to eat without limits. A 2021 study in Appetite found that dietary restraint followed by disinhibition is one of the more reliable predictors of weight gain over time in young adults. I was living that pattern without naming it.
The physical result was that my overall weekly intake was higher than if I had simply eaten moderately every day. The psychological result was that I felt constantly either virtuous or guilty, with nothing in between.
What shifted the pattern
A dietitian I eventually saw asked me one question: what would happen if you ate something enjoyable on a Tuesday? The question sounds simple. My reaction to it told me everything.
Allowing flexibility on weekdays reduced the urgency I felt on weekends. My intake evened out. Over about five months, my weight moved in a direction I had not managed in two years of strict rules. The evidence on flexible versus rigid dietary control consistently favours flexibility for long-term outcomes.
This reflects one person's experience and is not a substitute for individualised dietary guidance.