Cheating On Your Nutrition Program

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TweetCheating On Your Nutrition Program




Cheating on your nutrition program may not be so bad
If you were to ask almost any dieting guy in the gym or on the street what he struggles with most when it comes to having success with the process, at least 90% of their answers will be sticking with it.

Dieting is not an easy game to play because almost everyone has a love of food, and for most of us, the food we love would not quite qualify as “diet-friendly” choices.

Furthermore, dieting is largely a process of altering habits, habits that have been with us for a long period of time.

For most people, eating is a significant part of their day, something they do fairly frequently (three to five times each day, on average), and something they take pleasure in. When these habits are suddenly changed, trouble often results.

If you’ve ever tried to break a bad habit -- whether it’s biting your nails, drinking too much coffee or simply not going to bed early enough -- you already know that once a habit is formed, it’s difficult to crack. This holds true of diet and nutrition, and cheating on your nutrition program.

Physiological benefits of cheating
The good news is that cheating on your nutrition program can actually help you with the dieting process. Actually, it can be true that if you don’t cheat on your nutrition program, your progress might slow down.

The reason for this is because after a period of prolonged dieting, particularly if your calories are quite low (defined as being fewer than 11 multiplied as your body weight), your metabolism could be getting sluggish.

This is something that the body does as a protective mechanism when it senses that you are not giving it as much fuel as it needs to meet the demands you’re asking of it. It will slow down as a means of burning fewer calories, doing the required work and thus conserving fuel.

Ultimately, for you this means a decreased rate of fat loss, and in comes the cheat on your nutrition program.

When you’re at this point, having a cheat day where you can eat whatever it is you're craving will actually help to send a signal to the body that it’s OK to start speeding up again, and with that the “famine” (as your body perceives it) is over.

Once you get back on the diet plan, your metabolism speeds up, your body burns calories at a faster rate and the fat continues to come off.

More on cheating on your nutrition program

Psychological benefits of cheating
The benefits you get from cheating on your nutrition program once in a while don’t stop there. Have you ever followed a diet for a few weeks at a time and got to the point where it seemed like you couldn't stop thinking about _____ (insert favorite food here)? This is completely normal and natural.

This relates back to your past eating habits. There is a large social and lifestyle aspect to eating, and when you are trying to change your eating choices, often things seem ”out of place.” If you used to go out with the guys for a beer after work on Fridays, but now since you’re on this new plan and are trying to avoid drinking you aren’t going, this is without a doubt going to wear on your mind in time.

Having those cheat days gives you a mental break and helps keep you motivated on the days you are dieting. By knowing that it’s only a matter of time before you can once again have your favorite foods, you’ll find it much easier to cut them out on the days you shouldn’t be eating them.

Instituting cheat days into your plan
You may be wondering how you can go about adding these cheat days to your diet without overdoing things. What you need to determine is how frequently you will do this. Some people choose to have cheat meals rather than cheat days and, if this is the case, you will likely be able to do it more frequently since fewer calories will be consumed in a meal versus an entire day (in most cases).

Additionally, consider how hard you are dieting. If you’re only on a modest diet, one that’s more focused on choosing healthier foods but not watching calories as much, you’ll want to have a cheat meal or day every two weeks or so.

If, on the other hand, you are on a more severe diet, one that’s aimed to help you lose fat at a rate of one or two pounds a week, you’re more likely to suffer from the metabolic slowdown described earlier and should have these cheat days or meals more frequently. Shoot to have a cheat day once a week or three cheat meals each week (preferably spread throughout the week).

The last factor to take into consideration is your current body fat level. Those who are already quite lean are going to see the metabolic slowdown issue happening much sooner as their body is going to be trying much harder to protect them from getting too lean. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you are at 8% body fat and trying to get to 6%, you’ll have to have cheat days or meals a little more frequently than someone who is at 30% body fat trying to get down to 20%.

The guy with 30% body fat has a lot more stored fat reserved that the body can run on for fuel, so his body is not going to be nearly as concerned that it’s undergoing a famine when the calories are lowered.

Since you can only get to a certain body fat percentage before you actually put your health at risk, the lower you get, the more your body is going to fight the process (by slowing down).

So, consider all of these factors when designing your overall nutrition program.

cheat sheet
When it comes to which foods you choose to eat to cheat on your nutrition program, the choice is really yours; just be aware if they are largely carbohydrate-based (pasta, potatoes, rice, cereals, bagels, candy) because you will likely see a corresponding water weight gain the following day. Try not to panic too much if this occurs, and avoid stepping on the scale a day or two after a big cheat day. This should help you side-step the mental panic mode that could occur if you see any water retention.

Cheat days don’t have to destroy your diet, and when they are well-thought out and implemented into a proper nutrition plan, they can actually be incredibly beneficial from both a psychological and physiological point of view.

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TweetGood article!