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No cheat days
No eating out.
Time for you to be vulnerable...
I used to just focused on my job, business, and not just being in great shape to a point where it's hard to maintain.
Long story short, I looked down at my belly and was just like "Oh no!."
For the first time in a long time, I could literally grab my belly and shake it with two hands!
What is a Cheat Day?
Most of us, when we start with our diet the first week somehow we manage and then from the second-week we start thinking of having at least one cheat meal.
What is the Idea Behind a Cheat Day?
The idea behind a “cheat day” is: when you follow a diet, your metabolism starts to slow down.
As a result, it disrupts the body’s fat-burning process so by eating high-calorie foods for a day, your metabolism suddenly boosts. This will consequently increase the body’s fat-burning process.
Yes, there is definitely some slowing down of the body’s metabolic rate as you follow a healthy diet (no, it won’t damage your metabolism – this process is called a metabolic adaptation).
In addition to that, eating more foods does increase the body’s metabolic rate.
4 True Effects of Cheat Days
The reason many of us make cheat days and eventually quit on diets and our fitness goals is that we don't DECLARE IT and plan for it.
When it's not planned and you "kind of sort of want it" you will go hard for a few days and then quit for what?
Now before you happily make a list of your fav foods planned for a cheat meal, let’s me reveal the 4 true effects of cheat days:
Leptin Levels Increase - Cheat days (overfeeding, binging unhealthy food) push up the metabolic rate in the range of 3-10%, which lasts only for the next 24 hrs, how it affects the calorie burning.
A large portion of the increase is due to a) Thermic effect of food, your body burns more calories digesting the food, and the increased activity levels, people tend to train better with increased energy levels.
But, the response to more calories differs from person to person.
CHEAT. The Word Itself Gives a Negative Vibe - Always remember, anything associated with healthy habits or a lifestyle change should not be a negative thing.
It Gives a Good and Bad Tag to Food Items - Invariably, we tend to demonize food and create a wrong relationship to it, which hampers long term adherence. It also puts the focus on the wrong thing- cheat days or meals on the weekend will make you feel like a prisoner for the rest of the week.
A Cheat Day Will Eventually Fall You Off the Wagon - Your diet has to suck if you look forward to cheating days. Always remember, living a healthy lifestyle should not be difficult.
If you are low on consistency with the regime, chances are that a cheat day will result in your downfall off the wagon.
This does not mean that you cannot eat more than deficit calories, have to give up on social bonding, and be a hermit while you are dieting. The correct term for a “cheat day” should be - “refeeding”.
If you want to stop being a slave to unhealthy food and your uncontrollable cheat days. If you want to finally find a weight loss strategy that doesn’t leave you deprived and wanting more, build a body you are happy to live in, and the freedom you know you deserve.
Then you need to know more about the different diets and consult an expert regarding your overall health and well-being.