Yep, dieting success requires planning and along with planning…a little “cheating” too.
Although our perception of “cheating” in anything is negative…when it comes to dieting success cheating can actually play a positive role.
CHEAT DAY
How can “cheating,” especially on a diet be considered something positive?
By adding a simple, fun and mood boosting “cheat day.”
Believe it or not, adding in a weekly “cheat day” to your diet is an empowering tool that can help you to achieve your weight and fat loss goals.
If your mind is narrow and rigid and you believe that any detour off your diet plan is setting you up for failure, you’re entertaining a dangerous mindset. This type of “rigid” mindset entertains a diet that delegates so many foods (including all your favorites) to your “never-eat, food-banned” list, it actually kicks in your food cravings.
The reality is, maintaining a lower calorie intake for extended periods of time actually harms the progress you would otherwise see because your body soon adapts to your lower calorie intake and eventually the deficit that was working for you may no longer be effective. Now you are eating close to maintenance because your metabolism is running so slow and this means fat loss progression comes to a halt.
Adding a cheat day into your schedule is the key to avoiding this situation. It allows you to periodically boost your calorie intake which offsets this process from occurring. For most people, this boost to their calorie intake for a day is also a subtle but welcome boost to their mood since they are able to eat some things that are otherwise forbidden.
Engaging in a “cheat day” sends your body a signal that you are getting more calories. This in turn elevates your metabolic rate, helping you to experience a faster overall rate of progression with your dieting and weight loss goals.
And, just as important as turning your metabolism back on is the fact that cheat day gives you the opportunity to satisfy your pesky food cravings (and, we all have them), making it easier to stick to your plan the rest of the week. If you know that on any given “cheat day” you are allowed to enjoy some foods from your otherwise “forbidden foods” list, it’s much easier to by-pass them on the way.
Cheat days are almost like a reward system because they give you something to look forward to.
However, too much of a good thing is never a good thing.
Cheating one day a week means just that. One day. Start to detour off your diet a few times weekly and you will definitely hinder your progress and put yourself in danger of falling off your plan entirely sooner or later.
Use this empowering tool once a week or once every other week to keep you motivated and moving forward towards your weight loss goals.
PLAN AHEAD
Additionally, when dieting, you’ll have to give up some foods part of the time, some of them most of the time and a few all of the time – inclusive of those you like and those you don’t like.
This takes some planning a head of time to be successful –
With busy lives dictating our hectic schedules if we don’t take time to plan our weekly meals and snacks ahead of time, we open ourselves to constant temptation by those who are in the business of tempting us!
Truth is, we just never know when we’ll have to pull a late-niter at the office or attend an unplanned meeting. If we haven’t organized our food choices a week ahead of time and planned for emergencies, that sudden late night overtime leaves us fending for ourselves and that “fend” will likely become “vend” as we reach for the closest vending machine to quiet our hunger pangs.
Vending machine foods, fast-foods and take-out are far from the perfect solution for anyone’s weight loss goals.
On the other hand, if we have planned our food choices for the week, we’ll have a healthy snack in place that we can reach for that we’ve brought from home that will tide us through till we can sit down to a proper meal.
Remember: “Failing to plan means planning to fail”…
Plan your weekly meals and work your cheat days into your schedule but keep them under control.
“Stop Weight-Loss Resistance” can help you do just that…
For more tools and resources from Carolyn Hansen to assist you in attaining your health and fitness goals and achieving the success you desire in life, please visit:
It’s time to throw away all the false statements you’ve accepted about dieting and exercise and learn what it really takes to stay healthy and fit and avoid diseases such as diabetes long into your senior years.
