Despite eating clean all week, the numbers don't seem to go down. And one may blame the scale. However, the scale isn't broken. Your weekends might be.

That's the blunt diagnosis from Arnold Schwarzenegger's newsletter, Arnold's Pump Club, which broke down why so many people eat "perfectly" all week and still don't see the scale move.

“Study after study suggests that people, on average, significantly underestimate how much they eat.”

As published on Arnold’s Pump Club, one study found the average underestimation lands around 20%, meaning the calorie deficit someone thinks they're creating often isn't real. And this usually happens in the ‘cheat day meals’ for the weekends.

The newsletter points to a year-long study that found something telling. Dieters lost weight steadily Monday through Friday, then stalled or gained weight every single weekend, without any awareness that they had eaten more.

The fix isn't cutting out every weekend’s cheat meals. The real issue is awareness, not willpower. Spending a week actually tracking food, paying attention to easy-to-miss sources like cooking oils, marinades, beverages, and bites off a kid's plate, tends to reveal exactly where the extra calories are hiding.

For anyone not ready to track everything, the simplest fix is narrowing focus to just the weekend. That's where the spiral usually starts, and protecting those two days can be enough to keep five days of progress intact.

The bigger takeaway is that perfection isn't required. Nobody needs seven flawlessly controlled days to make progress. But underestimating intake daily and then losing structure entirely on weekends is a recipe for staying stuck, no matter how clean the weekdays look.

Do you think weekend eating is the main thing derailing your progress? Let us know in the comments.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's cheat meals

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't eat perfectly all the time, and he's never claimed otherwise.

The bodybuilding legend admits he occasionally indulges in steak, schnitzel, or a hamburger, but says the occasional splurge doesn't set him back since his baseline eating stays disciplined, according to T3.

His cheat meals lean heavily into European comfort food. When traveling through Europe, Schwarzenegger enjoys traditional wiener schnitzel, authentic German potato salad, and Italian and Spanish pastas, per Tasting Table.

One spot in Ohio has become a recurring favorite. Schwarzenegger has long been a fan of the buffet at Schmidt's Sausage Haus, and when that option was temporarily unavailable, he simply ordered a hearty wiener schnitzel instead, according to The Takeout.

There's also a nostalgic favorite tied to his childhood. Schwarzenegger holds a soft spot for Kaiserschmarrn, a traditional Austrian shredded pancake his mother used to make, typically served with fruit compote or dusted in powdered sugar.

Do you think allowing occasional indulgences makes healthy eating more sustainable long-term?

Written by

Zaid Quraishi

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi