Check Out These 5 Rules for Cheating on Your Diet
You would think that cheating on your diet is a big no-no, but I have some news for you. Sticking to a rigid eating plan for weeks can get you antsy. You’ll have cravings and will want to do things with your family and friends. I have good news for you. You can diet to lose fat, and even cheat, and STILL have success. It’s all in how and when you apply your diet and your cheat. Let’s discuss it some more.
Schedule Your Cheat Meal
What is a cheat? A cheat is to act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage. We can use this tactic in dieting to lose fat and even build muscle. The body and it’s chemistry is an amazing process. Cheating on your diet needs to be planned in advance. It’s not a haphazard thing. For example, every Saturday you have your scheduled cheat meal. What this does is train your body to some degree, and then throw a monkey wrench in the works.
A properly scheduled and planned cheat can boost your metabolism through the roof and set off fat burning like crazy. The trick is, you choose ONE day during the week for your scheduled cheat and use that one day only. Another tip, it needs to be the same day every week. Therefore, if you choose Saturday to be your cheat day, it has to be every Saturday.
Manage Your Cheat Meal
While a cheat meal can have its benefits, be careful to not let it get out of hand and turn into a cheat weekend. I use to have a forum on this website to help men and when with bodybuilding. When the members leaned they could have a cheat day, they gladly took it. However, upon reading their journaling posts, it was clear they were abusing the perk. Most were starting their cheat day on Friday and ending it late Sunday night. Then, they had the audacity to complain that the program doesn’t work. This cheating tacit only works when you use it properly.
Enjoy Cheating on Your Diet
A planned cheat meal can have positive effects to a structured eating program. Therefore, don’t carry guilt about treating yourself. If you use it properly, it will actually help with fat loss and muscle gain. Therefore, not guilt in taking one scheduled cheat day a week. With that, your job on your cheat day is to ENJOY it! It’s a perk for your rigid dieting program. The cheat-perk has many benefits as you are learning.
Your cheat is up to you. It can be just one meal on that day or you can cheat the entire day (48 hours). The only stipulation is that you MUST get right back on your diet after your scheduled cheat. If you don’t and you allow it to extend into two or more day, it could have disastrous effects of gaining the weight back. Take one cheat day, enjoy it, get right back on your diet.
If You Slip-Up, Compromise
This rule is more for the person in muscle-building mode. If you happen to slip-up and cheat mid-week, before your planned cheat, simply compromise and turn your scheduled cheat meal into a re-feed meal. To finish off the day, refeed on high-quality foods, not junk food such as fast food, restaurant food, pre-package frozen meals, etc. The idea of a refeed is to eat higher, clean, calories from carbs. Therefor, steak and potatoes, chicken and rice, and other such balanced meals that pack a good punch. In doing so, watch your training session the next two days go through the roof.
Get Right Back On Track
Whether you slipped-up or had your scheduled cheat meal, once it’s over get right on track and keep moving forward. However, if your goal is fat loss, get right back on your diet and forget the UNSCHEDULED cheat happened. Don’t do it again. It’s important that if you take an unscheduled cheat in fat-loss mode, you have to always get right back on the diet immediately. Too many unscheduled cheats can take away your schedule cheat day, so be careful. The idea is to keep moving forward, not backwards.
Bottom Line on Cheating on Your Diet
So, cheating on your diet is fine, provided you follow the above simple rules. They are not that hard to live by and they do allow for some flexibility. You didn’t gain the weight overnight, so take the time and pace your weight loss. Now, if you want to keep getting that weight off, I have a free guide for you below…
