Weekend plans

It's a common story I've been told time and again: you've found yourself being 'good' for the entire week - eating healthily, getting your exercise in - but then the weekend rolls around and your mind is telling you it's time to 'unshackle' yourself from those Monday to Friday chains and cut loose by binging on treats on Saturday and Sunday.

Guilt and low mood usually follow at some point late on Sunday, followed by the promise to be extra good during the week ahead, starting from Monday morning.

Yet, it need not be like this. Perhaps, instead of viewing the weekend as a completely separate part of your week, you could instead see your week as seven days, and less as five 'on' and two 'off’. Adding more flexibility to those seven days, perhaps allowing some of those favourite snacks or meals as a post-exercise treat, might help prevent a complete weekend blow-out.

Creating a weekend food plan might also be something worth considering, and it need not be highly restrictive. Having one indulgent meal shouldn't be cause for a ruined weekend. Making sure you get back to a healthy base soon afterwards, as opposed to waiting until Monday to start again, might be the way to go.

Try to keep some things as sacred throughout the week, like good, consistent sleep, a healthy breakfast and making sure your body is getting plenty of movement.

Keep track of how you feel in terms of your energy, mood and digestion after different food choices. This might make moderation more motivating.

A good exercise for now could be to write down your current weekday rules and then your weekend patterns. Then, get in touch and let's plan a way forward!