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You count calories all week long, but then Friday arrives and your good intentions fly out the window. Blame it on that false sense of freedom you feel when the clock strikes five, or the fact that weekends, by their very nature, tend to be unstructured (no 3 P.m. meetings to take your mind off food). Add in the usual temptations-restaurants, takeout, backyard barbecuesand Saturdays and Sundays can be murder on your diet.

If you think you can’t do much damage in two days, think again. “If you’ve been overly restrictive of your favorite foods during the week, you’re even more vulnerable to overeating on the weekends, because you may feel you deserve to splurge,” says Lisa Powell, R.D., director of nutrition at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona. But watch out. An average dinner at an Italian restaurant can rack up more than 1,000 calories if you add up the wine, antipasto, garlic bread, pasta special and tiramisu. Dine out like this just three times a month and you could pack on 10 pounds in a year. Read more of Weekend Diet Survival Guide