Have it but be intentional about it.
Cheat meals/cheat days have been a hot topic since people started getting interested in losing weight.
Should you have it or not? When should you have it? How often should you have a cheat day are among the biggest questions.
Some experts and coaches out there don’t really allow you to have it. Fortunately, I’m the type of coach who believes in it. Because I personally have cheat days. I enjoy cookies, ice cream, pasta and pizza just like any other normal human being out there.
But there are rules to this.
This isn’t a give an inch, take a mile scenario. It’s not a free for all. Because for some people that want to lose weight, if they’re not strategic about their cheap days, it could open up Pandora’s box to a lot of problems. It could completely derail your weight loss efforts if not executed properly.
In this video, I’m going to show you how often should you have a cheat day.
How Often Should You Have A Cheat Day?
The biggest benefit of a cheat day is it kinda gives you a mental break from dieting. It gives you something to look forward to. For a lot of people, this is extremely beneficial when it comes to long term sustainable success. Because adherence is everything when it comes to your diet.
The best diet is the one that you can stick to. If having the occasional cheat day keeps you sane and keeps you motivated, then it absolutely makes sense to have a cheat day.
In a perfect world, you’re going to find a diet that you love so much that you don’t really feel like you need to have a cheat day. You love your diet and you enjoy all the food that you eat. But that’s not always the case.
The other side of that coin is this thing called ‘life’. Life happens. You’re always gonna face challenges and temptations. Whether it’s a birthday party, a celebration, or maybe you bump into someone you haven’t seen in a long time. We usually tend to celebrate around food. We use food as a form of social gathering and that’s okay.
Listen, nobody likes the guy who says no to cake at at a kid’s birthday party. Because I firmly believe that if you’re following a diet that doesn’t allow for mishaps to happen, you are setting yourself up for failure. Hence the idea of cheap days.
Read this out loud. Cheat days are okay. It’s not the devil. In fact it can even be a good thing and I’m going to show you how in a second. All your hard earned efforts aren’t just going to magically go away because of a cheat day. It doesn’t work like that.
I firmly believe in the 90/10 rule when it comes to sustainable weight loss. 90 percent of the time, you need to follow the right system. Which means that your diet is comprised of nutrient dense foods. Your diet revolves around plants and animals. You’re avoiding refined carbs, processed carbs, and sugar.
This might be the most important part of being able to enjoy a cheat day guilt free is that you need to follow the right system first and foremost. You’re follow a weight loss system where you’re actually losing weight and then you throw in the occasional cheat day to keep you sane so you can enjoy yourself.
Now, how many cheat meals should you have every week? How often should you have a cheat day? If we follow the 90/10 rule using a little math, let’s say you eat three meals a day. Multiply that by seven. That’s 21 meals every week. So far so good, right? If you do one cheat meal a week that’s 22 out of 23 meals where you’re following the right system. That’s a 96 percent adherence rate which is absolutely amazing. If you can have that high of an adherence level, you’re absolutely winning.
Even if you do two cheat meals a week and turn those two meals into a cheat day, you’re still okay. That’s 21 out of 23 meals where you’re compliant. That’s still a 91 percent adherence rate which is bang on with the 90/10 rule of sustainable long term weight loss.
So one to two cheat meals or one cheat day of two meals the magic number.
When Should You Have A Cheat Meal?
I personally think that the best way to do this is to be intentional about it. You want to make sure you schedule your cheat meals. Most people know their schedules far in advance throughout the week. Which means you can plan ahead when it comes to cheap days. So if you’re going out with some friends on Friday night then have that as your scheduled cheat meal.
And when this thing called life happens, let’s say you run into someone that you haven’t see in a while and that person wants to go for brunch the next day. Then you still have another cheat meal in your back pocket that you can use the next day. So that’s your two cheat meals right there.
Again, you want to schedule one cheat meal where you’re being intentional about and then you have an optional cheat meal that you can use when life happens.
Here’s the thing. If you don’t have any big plans, you don’t need to have a cheat meal. This goes back to finding a diet you enjoy, first and foremost. If you don’t feel like having a cheat meal, then don’t have it. You can just stick to your diet and have a 100 percent adherence rate.
This strategy is the biggest difference between someone feeling deprived because he/she can have a cheat meal but that only lasts for so long. And then one day, you finally cave in and you have one cheat meal and it just opens the floodgates to hell. It opens up Pandora’s box and that person is completely off the rails with his diet.
Compare that to someone who is actually allowed to have one or two cheat meals a week. You have the option to take it whether you want to or not. When you allow yourself to have one to two cheat meals a week, then it’s okay to eat ice cream. It’s okay to eat pizza. You don’t have to feel bad about it. You don’t have to feel like you’re doing something wrong.
If you’ve ever read the Four Hour Body by Tim Ferris, he actually follows a similar cheat day strategy where he’s really consistent with his diet six out of seven days during the week. Then on one day, he’ll just eat whatever he wants. If it’s good enough for Tim Ferris, it should be good enough for you and I.
What this strategy does if you want to be technical about it is it resets your metabolism. Because all week you’re in a caloric deficit. That’s weight loss 101. You need to be in a caloric deficit if you want to to lose weight. And then one day every week, you eat in a caloric surplus. What this eating strategy does is it prevents homeostasis. It prevents your metabolism from slowing down. This is your “re-feed” day.
What you can’t do is you can’t have little cheat meals every day. And then you step on the scale and you’re wondering why you’re not losing weight. It doesn’t work like that. That’s why finding healthier alternatives of foods that you love is extremely important when you’re trying to lose weight.
For example, I love milk chocolate. But you can’t eat chocolate everyday and expect to lose weight. It doesn’t work that way. So I looked for healthier alternatives and I discovered dark chocolate. It took a little bit to adjust to the flavour but eventually I got used to it. It’s been an absolutely game changer for me when it comes to being able to have a treat without feeling bad about it. Another example is I started eating pistachios instead of chips.
You need to find alternatives to your caloric kryptonite. You can’t eat chips, cookies, and candy every day and expect to lose weight. It doesn’t work like that. Anybody who tells you that you can have those things and still lose weight is lying to you.
3 Tips On How To Enjoy A Cheat Meal Guilt Free
Now, I’m going to give you three magic tricks if you want to take things a step further when it comes to being able to have a cheat meal and not feel bad about it.
1. This might be the most powerful trick is that you want to incorporate intermittent fasting before and after your cheat meal. Again, this is just part of being intentional and scheduling your cheat meals. For example, I like having my cheat meals on Monday. So on Mondays, I’ll usually do a 24 hour fast. I’ll stop eating dinner Sunday night and then I won’t eat again until Monday night. And that dinner that Monday night is my cheat meal. I’ll eat whatever I want that night. And then the next day I’m going to skip breakfast and I’m actually not going to eat until lunch the next day.So I created this huge caloric deficit before the cheat meal. I’ll then have my cheat meal and I won’t eat again for a while. This is probably the best diet hack I can give you. Every time I do this, I’ll actually end up weighing less of the next day because I fasted before and after my cheat meal.
And you can do the exact same thing. Let’s say you’re having a cheat meal for lunch. What you can do is just skip breakfast that morning. Just have a cup of coffee. You’re not going to die, I promise. Have your cheat meal for lunch and then just have a smaller dinner that night. The next day, feel free to skip breakfast and get back to your regular eating routine afterwards.
Your imagination is the only thing that’s holding you back when it comes to being able to enjoy a cheat meal guilt free.
2. Have a small meal a couple hours before your cheat meal. What this does is this mitigates your appetite. It minimizes your cravings and prevent you from overeating. It’s all about setting yourself up for success.
3. Go for a walk after your cheat meal. Again, this mitigates the damage that you do after your cheat meal. Going for a walk keeps your body insulin sensitive. You’re giving your body a chance to burn off the glucose and fatty acids that’s running through your system.
One last thing that I have to mention is that you want to be sensible about this. You want to use some common sense when you have your cheat meal. If you’re trying to lose weight, you probably shouldn’t crush an entire pizza on your cheat day. You probably shouldn’t crush an entire tub of ice cream or an entire family sized bag of chips and expect to lose weight. That makes absolutely no sense. You have to be sensible about it.
And this is when tracking your calories come into play. Let’s say your normal daily caloric intake is 2000 calories to make it easy. You can’t eat 5000 calories in one sitting and expect your body to lose weight the next day. If you eat that many calories on your cheat day, it’ll probably take you a few days until your body goes back to normal. So again, you have to be sensible about this.
This strategy about how often should you have a cheat day just plays into your natural human behavior. As human beings, we’re conditioned to always want something that we can’t have. The more you tell someone they can’t have it the more they’ll want it. And that’s where cheat meals comes in.
Cheat meals can be a great tool when it comes to giving yourself a mental break. You’re giving yourself something to look forward to. You’re giving yourself a little bit of flexibility when it comes to your diet.
The key to being able to have a cheat meal guilt free is to be intentional about it. Again, stick to the 90/10 rule where you’re following the right system weight loss system 90 percent of the time and you’re living your best life the other 10 percent.
90 percent of the time, you’re eating nutrient dense foods throughout the week. And then once or maybe twice a week, have a cheat meal. Enjoy Yourself. Get all those cravings out of the system so you can get back on the horse the next day.
As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!
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