What your weekend eating habits are trying to tell you
(*disclaimer – this article refers to ‘bingeing at the weekend’ as a phrase meaning over eating at the weekends. It is intended as a resource for information only, and should not be considered medical advice. If you think you may be suffering from Binge Eating Disorder, please seek support from your GP or another qualified medical professional).
My weeks used to look something like this:
Monday: Gym, salad, water – good.
Tuesday: Gym, salad, water – good.
Wednesday: Gym, salad, water – good.
Thursday: Gym, salad, water… out for drinks after work – wine and probably no dinner. Hmm.
Friday: Bacon, coffee, chips, takeaway, wine, ice cream – bad.
Saturday: Run (good), brunch, cake, prosecco, dinner, cocktails – bad.
Sunday: 3 breakfasts (I’m not even kidding you here), Sunday roast out, probably some wine, desert, cake, crisps, ALL THE FOOD BECAUSE MONDAY IS COMING AND I'LL BE BACK ON MY DIET THEN AND I CAN'T HAVE ANY OF THIS STUFF IN THE HOUSE AND OBVIOUSLY I'LL NEVER EAT CHOCOLATE EVER AGAIN. (Bad).
Come Monday morning, I’d head back to the gym, often hungover, vowing to do better next time. Except, I never did. This pattern repeated, over and over again.
Why do I binge eat at the weekend?
I know I’m not alone when I talk about being ‘good’ during the week and ‘bad’ at weekends. One of the first things people often talk to me about when they find out what I do is exactly this – a cycle of restrict, restrict, restrict – and then binge. Boom. Sound familiar?
It’s a classic diet cycle, albeit one restricted down into just seven days and repeating over and over.
That’s my story – yours may look a little similar.
So WHY is this pattern repeating, for thousands of us, week in and week out?
Perhaps one – or more- of these scenarios sounds familiar?
You are restricting yourself too much during the week
However that looks to you – whether it’s staying ‘on plan’, being ‘good’, being ‘healthy’ – they all have this one underlying theme. Restriction.
And what happens when you restrict your food? At some stage or other, it will ultimately come out in the form of a binge. You can’t help it – it’s very common and very very natural. I know it sounds a bit extreme – and there are varying degrees of this, but essentially week in, week out, you are forcing yourself into a classic diet cycle, whether you realise it or not.
It might look like a lifestyle choice, being healthy or eating sensibly – call it what you like, but at its core - it’s a diet.
A diet with restriction and deprivation during the week which causes you to obsess over the foods you aren’t allowing yourself mid-week which then, come the weekend, become so tempting and all-consuming that you just can’t help yourself. You’re having them all - hungry or not it really doesn’t matter, you can’t get to them fast enough.
You have less structure at the weekends
During the week you have a pretty clear routine. You wake up, perhaps do a workout, meditation, journaling – whatever (maybe, maybe not – the world is firmly divided into morning people and not morning people. As a Queen of the very irritating morning people I like to do my #selfcare first thing – perhaps for you this comes later in the day – that isn’t particularly relevant here). Get ready for work, have your breakfast, do some work, have your lunch, do some more work, perhaps now is when you fit in your exercise or some other hobby, have dinner, chill out for a bit and then head to bed.
Repeat x 5, more or less. (Probably less… Friday probably looks a little different).
Then comes the weekend and suddenly – boom – no routine! You have a lie in, perhaps go meet friends, maybe take a class or whatever – all great, but where do you fit in your food? Meals out, takeaways in, ‘treats’ to see you through – it can quickly all roll in to one and before you know it you are headed straight into binge-town, with no way out – until Monday at least.
You’re trying to relax
You have a busy and stressful job, and whilst you love it you really live for the weekends. Nothing looks better than the clock hitting 5 on a Friday night – with the promise of a break, a chance to switch off and relax for two whole days. This was me – part of my Friday night routine was to stop off at the Co-Op on the way home and pick up two of those family – sized grab bags of Cadbury chocolate, and a couple of bags of Haribo for good measure.
I’d get home, pour a glass of wine and relax. Something good on the TV, chocolate and sweets for company – it became a standard routine that I’d fit in somewhere, either Friday night or Saturday.
To me, relaxing = wine, chocolate and sweets. It signaled that this was ‘my’ time, and I owned it. Too much of it.
It’s someone’s birthday / Christmas / a party / the weekend
Often involving social plans and alcohol, but rather than chatting and you know, actually socialising – you can be found hovering by the buffet, telling yourself this is just a one off ‘because it’s Janes birthday/ Dave’s leaving do / Rachel’s baby shower’…. as you sneak your 8th sausage roll of the night.
You wouldn’t normally have food like this, but you give yourself a pass because of the aforementioned celebrations. Tomorrow will be a new day – only it isn’t, because you’re hungover and you’ve ruined the weekend now anyway so you might as well start again on Monday. You’re on the train to b-town.
You’ve been so good all week
Ah yes, this one is probably my favorite. “I’ve been ‘so good’ all week – I deserve to treat myself with a little something-something!” Only that something-something suddenly becomes a thirty pound splurge at M&S food hall comprising many small tubs of overpriced cakes, a couple of packs of crisps, some cheese & olives, those 3 for ten pound anti-pasti things and a some cheese thrown in for good measure. Bruce Bogtrotter ain’t got nothing on you.
See yourself there in one of those, do you?
I thought you might – and it’s totally OK. Very normal and very, very common.
You know what all these scenarios ultimately have in common?
You are restricting yourself too much during the week
Make sense?
So – now you know WHY you are bingeing at the weekend… WHAT are you going to do about it and HOW can you stop?
Don’t worry – I’m not going to leave you hanging…
I’ve developed a free guide with 5 tips to help you do exactly that.
I'm going to blow my own trumpet here, because I think it's pretty fab. Implement even just one of these tips and you'll be well on your way to stopping this cycle and breaking this pattern which has been getting you down for years.
Don’t believe me? It’s free – you have literally nothing to lose.
Bingeing at the weekend is a topic I talk about a lot in my online Facebook Community, and I’d love to hear from you! What do you think about bingeing at the weekend – did this article resonate with you? Join now to have your say. I can’t wait to meet you!
Further support
If you need help regarding Binge Eating Disorder or any other eating disorder, please seek support from your GP or other qualified medical professional. Beat and Mind are two charities which can provide additional support and have plenty of resources on their websites.