Do “Cheat Day Diets” Work?
First, let’s define exactly what “cheat day diets” are (and what they’re not). A cheat day is a period of time when you’re trying to lose or maintain weight where you stray from your normal eating routine and eat foods that you normally don’t eat while on your diet.
Stray is the operative word as it means eating more calories than you would normally, but not clearing off a buffet table and feeling guilty afterward.
The other operative word is control. If you’re somebody that can’t control your eating during a cheat day, then you’re better off not having one.
Are Cheat Day Diets Right For You?
One of the many ways that diet and nutrition experts recommend losing weight is to eat healthy 6 days a week. Those 6 days may be very restrictive days where you eat fruits and vegetables with every meal, you don’t eat any added fat and you consume zero added sugar. You might even weigh your food.
You are 100% focused on eating healthy those 6 days.
On the seventh day, you enjoy a scheduled cheat day or a free day. The key to making these cheat days successful is to actually use them to enjoy some foods that you’re not allowing yourself to eat on other days.
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The Benefits Of A Cheat Day
A cheat day (or in some cases just a meal) can be beneficial both physically and mentally. Sometimes just the anticipation of eating something different on a certain day of the week, is enough of an incentive to stay on your diet during the other 6 days.
In most cases, damage on the scale will be minimal. Because it takes 2,000 additional calories beyond what is burned that day to gain a pound, weight gain will be minimal at best. You probably won’t even notice a change as it’s unlikely you would consume that many additional calories.
However, with all this in mind, there are some “strategies” to keep in mind with cheat day diets.
Frequency
Most who use a cheat day, stick with just one day per week where they moderately eat foods not otherwise on their diet. Because they’re consuming more calories they normally make other concessions, such as timing.
Timing
Because the calorie count tends to be higher on a cheat day, many time their day with a workout that burns more calories. That workout could be more intense, last longer, work a different set of muscles, etc. The point is that some of the additional cheat day calories will be burnt off, thus minimizing the damage done to a diet change.
Special Occasions
Typically, a cheat day tends to be on the same day each week, but if a special occasion, such as a birthday party or anniversary are coming up, you may want to time your cheat day to fall on the same time as the special occasion. This way you can have a good time without feeling guilty that you had two cheat days that week.
Don’t Go Crazy
By factoring in frequency, special occasions and timing into your cheat plan, you can still enjoy the foods you like – in moderation – without feeling guilty afterwards. Having a cheat day can make losing weight much easier as it keeps the cravings at bay, knowing you can have the food you desire once a week.
It’s important to embrace the cheat days and to enjoy the foods that you are not eating the rest of the week. However, it’s also important to not go crazy. For example, if you’re limiting yourself to 1,500 calories a day during the week and on your cheat day you eat 5,000 calories, you lose everything you gained during the week. Or, to look at it another way, you’re gaining everything you lost during the week. So enjoy a cheat day, but approach it with moderation
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Everyone “cheats” on their diet at one time or another, so don’t feel too bad about it. The key to making your diet stick is to push aside the guilt and continue to move forward in your diet goals.
To lose fat you must be in a calorie deficit, meaning you have to use more calories than you consume. This can be done through exercise and eating fewer calories. But because the belly area tends to hold more fat, it will often be the last place you see a difference. And that’s usually the first place you want to see the difference! If you’re not having success shifting your belly fat download my free report, Why You Can’t Shift Your Belly Fat to help you get the results you want.
