5 Tips to Cheat on Your Diet & Still Lose Weight
Cheat on Your Diet
For those who doubt that cheating is viable note that Rob Poulos, of Zero to Hero Fitness, says: “I can tell you flat out that you can get nearly the same results with about 90% compliance to your diet plan as if you followed it 100% to the letter.” Rob and his clients have impressive results, and he has over 15 years of research that he conducted on dieting and exercise. Other industry experts agree, and many have even devised diet plans around the cheating concept.
Guidelines for cheating on your diet for great results:
1. Plan your cheat day or meals around a workout. It’s better to cheat on purpose than to cheat on impulse. Working out kicks your metabolism into high gear for up to 4 hours, so if you cheat after a workout, fast walk, or jog your body can better burn off the excess carbs, sugars, and fats in a ‘cheat’ meal or treat.
2. Limit cheats to 500 – 1,000 extra calories a week depending on your size and gender. Plan either a cheat day, where you spread the entire surplus throughout the day, or plan for 2-4 cheat meals, with 200-500 calories extra for each meal. Perhaps you have dessert after one meal, and a second meal you have a larger than average serving of your favorite food, such as lasagna. Most people like to have their cheat times around the weekend or at a social event but there is no rule.
3. Limit your cheats and stay in your portion/caloric guidelines at all other times. One pitfall of cheating is that some people get into the habit of having a little extra spread over time. For instance, they’ll eat an extra 200 calories over 5 days for a total of 1,000 extra calories. This is a bad habit to get into, as it compromises the integrity of the rest of your plan. Don’t cheat several days in a row. You want to limit these cheat meals and remaining in calorie deficit the majority of your time.
4. Eat 5-6 meals/snacks per day. With 35-42 meals/snacks per week, then having the 2-4 ‘cheat’ meals or snacks can help you stay motivated, and will still remain under 10% of the meals you eat in a week!
5. Follow a sound diet plan. It doesn’t matter what type of diet plan you follow, but it should consist of 5-6 smaller meals/snacks per day as noted above.
That’s it! It doesn’t matter what type of food you use to cheat with, just so long as you enjoy it. You can rest easy knowing that you can have a few treats during every week, and you are actually helping your diet. The reason that cheating can help you is because it will keep the fat burning hormone, leptin at a higher level. If leptin levels drop, cortisol kicks in, replacing the leptin. When this happens, cortisol sends signals to you to say you are hungry, while also holding onto any body fat that you might have released.
If you follow these 5 simple guidelines for your diet, cheating can be enjoyable and rewarding. This way, you can look forward to continuous fat loss without the deprivation that dieters traditionally experience.
