The ‘cheat’ day! It’s everyone’s favorite time while
on a diet.
You get to indulge in whatever you want,
no guilt included. What’s not to love?
Some people may wonder though, should they
really include a cheat day? If one wants to see the
best possible results, wouldn’t it be better to just
skip over it?
The fact is, usually, it isn’t. That cheat day could
actually help you move forward on your diet plan,
not backward. Here’s why – and how to make sure
the next cheat day you add works in your favor.
A Lesson On Leptin
In order to fully understand how a cheat day
works, you need to understand what goes on when
you put yourself on a fat loss diet plan.
After a few weeks on being in a calorie deficit
(consuming fewer calories than you take in daily),
your body is going to start to adjust and adapt.
Your metabolism begins to slow, trying to
conserve energy in case starvation is taking place.
It doesn’t realize that you are just trying to shed a
few extra pounds of fat, but in fact, thinks that you
may be suffering from a famine.
This all happens due to a hormone in the body
called leptin. Leptin is a hormone that is produced
in the body fat cells and any time you are not
taking in enough energy or you are starting to lose
body fat, leptin production declines.
This signals the brain that homeostasis is not
being maintained and something must be done!
The end result is a slower metabolic rate. Along
with this, as you experience declining levels of the
hormone leptin, you are likely to suffer from one of
the following consequences:
Feelings of exhausted
Low libido levels
Dramatically increased hunger and food cravings
Feeling cold all the time
Trouble falling and staying asleep, despite feeling
exhausted
Inability to lose body fat
Doesn’t sound so pleasant, does it? This is a very
real problem that many people on fat loss diets
suffer from however and it’s all due to this single
hormone. Usually this leads to a progress plateau
and if the individual does not find a way to resolve
it, they fall off the diet plan.
Enter The Cheat Day
The best way to fix this? A cheat day. What a
cheat day is going to do is essentially trick your
body into thinking that the low energy period is
over. You’ll take in far more calories on this cheat
day and the sudden influx will send a strong
message to your body that it’s okay to increase
your metabolic rate again.
So after the cheat day is over and you go back
down to your regular diet plan, you are now
burning calories at a faster pace, you aren’t as
hungry or tired, and many of the other negative
symptoms noted above have resolved as well. All
in all, you’ll probably be feeling pretty good.
Weight loss starts up again because you are in that
calorie deficit and results continue to occur.
Of course this fix is only temporarily. Soon your
body will catch on that you are dieting again so at
that point, you’ll then need to have another cheat
day.
Learn more about Leptin here:
Cheating To See Maximum Results
While many people who employ cheat days choose
to just eat whatever it is they are craving – and
there’s nothing wrong with that, there are things
that you can do to ensure that you reap maximum
benefits from your cheat meal.
First, you’ll want to try and cheat after an intense
workout session. The reason for this being exercise
does increase insulin sensitivity, so your body will
be more likely to take up the nutrients that you
feed it, putting it towards lean muscle mass
development. This will also reduce the chances of
any potential weight gain with the cheat meal.
Second, try as bet as you can to focus on having
foods that are high in carbohydrates and low in
dietary fat. Your carbohydrate intake is going to
have a stronger influence on your leptin levels than
foods high in fat would, so by putting the focus
towards these foods, you maximize the
effectiveness of the cheat.
If you were to eat foods that are both high in carbs
and high in fats, this can lead to potential fat gain
because of the sheer number of calories you are
consuming and the fact that your blood sugar level
will be higher at a time when there is plenty of fat
in the body.
The best types of foods to turn to would be things
like pasta with tomato sauce, toast with jelly, low
fat ice cream, breakfast cereal with milk, low-fat
granola bars, baked sweet potatoes, and other
foods of that nature. Basically, the higher carb it is,
the better.
photo posted by Jules (@julesfood) on Sep 18, 2016 at 7:24pm PDT
This said, if you are really craving something
higher in fat such as pizza or some French fries,
you might just go for it. It’ll still offer you great
benefits in terms of restoring leptin and it’ll also
provide the psychological benefits you may need
to be able to stick to your diet going forward.
How Often Should You Cheat?
Finally, you might ask yourself, how often should
you be cheating for maximum results? This will
depend on two things.
First, how lean are you at the present moment? The
leaner you are, the harder your body is going to
fight you to keep burning off body fat. This means
you’ll have to cheat more often to avoid the drop
in metabolic rate and plateau. A man who is in the
high single digits or a woman in the mid to high
teens for body fat percentage will need to cheat
more often than those who are higher than this.
The lean individual might cheat once per week
while someone who isn’t as lean can get away
with having a cheat meal once every 2-4 weeks. If
they cheat more often than this, it could lead to
weight gain.
The second question to ask yourself is how low
your calorie intake is. If you are using a moderate
calorie deficit of around 250 calories, you’ll find
you won’t need to cheat as often as someone who
is using a more strict and aggressive diet, with a
calorie deficit of 500+ calories per day. this again
is due to the fact that the greater your calorie
deficit is, the more likely your body is going to
believe a famine is taking place.
Once again, if you are using a very aggressive diet,
plan for a cheat meal once every week or two. If
your diet isn’t as aggressive, a cheat meal every
3-4 weeks should be fine.
Learn the difference between a cheat day and a
cheat meal by watching the video below.
So there you have the main points to know and
remember about cheat meals. When used properly,
they can be a very powerful dieting technique.
on a diet.
You get to indulge in whatever you want,
no guilt included. What’s not to love?
Some people may wonder though, should they
really include a cheat day? If one wants to see the
best possible results, wouldn’t it be better to just
skip over it?
The fact is, usually, it isn’t. That cheat day could
actually help you move forward on your diet plan,
not backward. Here’s why – and how to make sure
the next cheat day you add works in your favor.
A Lesson On Leptin
In order to fully understand how a cheat day
works, you need to understand what goes on when
you put yourself on a fat loss diet plan.
After a few weeks on being in a calorie deficit
(consuming fewer calories than you take in daily),
your body is going to start to adjust and adapt.
Your metabolism begins to slow, trying to
conserve energy in case starvation is taking place.
It doesn’t realize that you are just trying to shed a
few extra pounds of fat, but in fact, thinks that you
may be suffering from a famine.
This all happens due to a hormone in the body
called leptin. Leptin is a hormone that is produced
in the body fat cells and any time you are not
taking in enough energy or you are starting to lose
body fat, leptin production declines.
This signals the brain that homeostasis is not
being maintained and something must be done!
The end result is a slower metabolic rate. Along
with this, as you experience declining levels of the
hormone leptin, you are likely to suffer from one of
the following consequences:
Feelings of exhausted
Low libido levels
Dramatically increased hunger and food cravings
Feeling cold all the time
Trouble falling and staying asleep, despite feeling
exhausted
Inability to lose body fat
Doesn’t sound so pleasant, does it? This is a very
real problem that many people on fat loss diets
suffer from however and it’s all due to this single
hormone. Usually this leads to a progress plateau
and if the individual does not find a way to resolve
it, they fall off the diet plan.
Enter The Cheat Day
The best way to fix this? A cheat day. What a
cheat day is going to do is essentially trick your
body into thinking that the low energy period is
over. You’ll take in far more calories on this cheat
day and the sudden influx will send a strong
message to your body that it’s okay to increase
your metabolic rate again.
So after the cheat day is over and you go back
down to your regular diet plan, you are now
burning calories at a faster pace, you aren’t as
hungry or tired, and many of the other negative
symptoms noted above have resolved as well. All
in all, you’ll probably be feeling pretty good.
Weight loss starts up again because you are in that
calorie deficit and results continue to occur.
Of course this fix is only temporarily. Soon your
body will catch on that you are dieting again so at
that point, you’ll then need to have another cheat
day.
Learn more about Leptin here:
Cheating To See Maximum Results
While many people who employ cheat days choose
to just eat whatever it is they are craving – and
there’s nothing wrong with that, there are things
that you can do to ensure that you reap maximum
benefits from your cheat meal.
First, you’ll want to try and cheat after an intense
workout session. The reason for this being exercise
does increase insulin sensitivity, so your body will
be more likely to take up the nutrients that you
feed it, putting it towards lean muscle mass
development. This will also reduce the chances of
any potential weight gain with the cheat meal.
Second, try as bet as you can to focus on having
foods that are high in carbohydrates and low in
dietary fat. Your carbohydrate intake is going to
have a stronger influence on your leptin levels than
foods high in fat would, so by putting the focus
towards these foods, you maximize the
effectiveness of the cheat.
If you were to eat foods that are both high in carbs
and high in fats, this can lead to potential fat gain
because of the sheer number of calories you are
consuming and the fact that your blood sugar level
will be higher at a time when there is plenty of fat
in the body.
The best types of foods to turn to would be things
like pasta with tomato sauce, toast with jelly, low
fat ice cream, breakfast cereal with milk, low-fat
granola bars, baked sweet potatoes, and other
foods of that nature. Basically, the higher carb it is,
the better.
photo posted by Jules (@julesfood) on Sep 18, 2016 at 7:24pm PDT
This said, if you are really craving something
higher in fat such as pizza or some French fries,
you might just go for it. It’ll still offer you great
benefits in terms of restoring leptin and it’ll also
provide the psychological benefits you may need
to be able to stick to your diet going forward.
How Often Should You Cheat?
Finally, you might ask yourself, how often should
you be cheating for maximum results? This will
depend on two things.
First, how lean are you at the present moment? The
leaner you are, the harder your body is going to
fight you to keep burning off body fat. This means
you’ll have to cheat more often to avoid the drop
in metabolic rate and plateau. A man who is in the
high single digits or a woman in the mid to high
teens for body fat percentage will need to cheat
more often than those who are higher than this.
The lean individual might cheat once per week
while someone who isn’t as lean can get away
with having a cheat meal once every 2-4 weeks. If
they cheat more often than this, it could lead to
weight gain.
The second question to ask yourself is how low
your calorie intake is. If you are using a moderate
calorie deficit of around 250 calories, you’ll find
you won’t need to cheat as often as someone who
is using a more strict and aggressive diet, with a
calorie deficit of 500+ calories per day. this again
is due to the fact that the greater your calorie
deficit is, the more likely your body is going to
believe a famine is taking place.
Once again, if you are using a very aggressive diet,
plan for a cheat meal once every week or two. If
your diet isn’t as aggressive, a cheat meal every
3-4 weeks should be fine.
Learn the difference between a cheat day and a
cheat meal by watching the video below.
So there you have the main points to know and
remember about cheat meals. When used properly,
they can be a very powerful dieting technique.
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