Cheat meals to lose weight is a concept that's been around for a very long time. I first heard of it when I was on Body for Life the body transformation program that actually encourages an entire day of cheating. But whether it works is highly questionable. It didn't work for me or tons of other people I spoke to on BFL. Here's the facts so you can decide to incorporte cheat meals or not to cheat on your diet.
How Dieting Causes Cravings & Fat Storage According to fatloss experts low calorie dieting lowers your levels of leptin the protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. When levels are low your appetite goes way up and so do your cortisol levels (the fat storage hormone). This is your body's way of protecting itself from starvation.
How The Cheat Meal Works There are many fatloss plans that recommend strategic cheating to trick your body into not turning on the fat storing hormones and to keep your appetite under control. The idea is that eating larger portions of foods not on your diet plan signal your body that there's no impending famine and it's o.k. to burn fat. It's also supposed to help you not feel deprived of the foods you love. It's good in theory and for some people it actually works. But for most people cheat meals only make it that much harder to stay on track and achieve rapid and permanent weightloss.
How Cheat Meals Sabotage Your Weightloss Some people have zero issues eating 4-6 healthy meals 6 days of the week then bingeing on pizza, fries, donuts, and ice cream on the 7th day. They can just get back on track the next day without a problem. For others the cheat meal or cheat day can trigger even more intense cravings for more of the same or more of other things they've been missing.
The other issue with cheat meals is that you never break the addiction to fatty, greasy, highly processed sugary foods that aren't good for your health and those are the foods that are typically responsible for cravings and overeating.
What's Better Than Cheat Meals Not going on a low calorie diet in the first place is a good place to start but if you need to cut back on calories to lose weight (most people do) the best way to do it is with a calorie/carb cycling plan that promotes healthy eating. Any diet that says you can eat your favorite junk food and get skinny is just a scam so don't fall for the hype. Your best bet is to learn how to eat clean and to cycle calories and carbs to prevent that fat storage response. That was the strategy that worked best for me and it's worked for tons of clients and readers too.
Learn how to cycle calories and carbs with The Carb Cycling Diet: Balancing Hi Carb, Low Carb, and No Carb Days for Healthy Weight Loss
