Cheat Once A Week for Weight Loss

One of the great things I learnt from Body For Life is to allow myself a free day once a week, which means indulging in my favorite foods.

I love the fact that I don’t have to ‘give up’ chocolate, pizza and ice-cream forever. If I want to eat chocolate on the Wednesday, I know it’s not too long to wait until my free day. Isn’t that so much better than telling yourself you can never have your favorite food again? What a surefire way to bring on cravings!

It’s believed that the sudden intake of more calories and different kind of foods on the free day can actually speed up metabolism. Your body has come to expect a certain amount of calories per day, and now suddenly it’s been hit with more than it’s used to.

I usually plan my free day for a Saturday or Sunday. Or if there’s an event during the week such as a birthday dinner, I’ll make that my free day. On that day I’ll have a cheat meal or two of whatever I want.

As Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, points out, ‘If you eat five or six times per day (like you should be), that’s at least 35 meals per week. If 33 or 34 of them are perfect, then one (or even two) “cheat” meals aren’t going to hurt.’

The free day doesn’t mean an all-out, all day binge. Remember, ultimately, it’s still about calories in, calories out. You could undo days of calorie deficit by pigging out from sunrise to sunset on your free day. Not to mention the fact that you’ll feel terrible the following day – lethargic and bloated. Hardly the ideal way to start your new healthy week!

It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. You can still eat your favorite foods and stay healthy.
For example, you really want pizza on your free day. You could make your own pizza at home so it’s not as unhealthy as the greasy takeaway version. You could also have a salad to go with it, instead of just having the pizza.

Rather than devouring a super-size pizza, have a smaller portion and eat it slowly. Remember, your brain may take up to 20 minutes to register that it’s full. Your stomach has probably also shrunk so even though you may want to eat a super-size pizza, you may not be able to.

It helps to keep drinking water too. I know I can stay kind of healthy on my free day while still enjoying my favorites.

A word of advice - after you’ve enjoyed your free day, make sure you don’t keep your cheat foods lying around the house or leftovers in the fridge!

I learned this the hard way. Once, my free day turned into two free days because I still had pizza beckoning to me in the fridge, and half a bar of chocolate in the cupboard!

Even on the free day I try to remember the word moderation. I enjoy a meal or two of guilt-free food and really savor each and every mouthful. But I don’t overdo it because there are also psychological drawbacks to this. If I ended up bingeing all day, I’d find it harder to get back to healthy eating the following day.

I never use my cheat day as an excuse to fall off the wagon!

What if you ‘blow it’ or ’slip up’ during the week? If I find that one week I couldn’t wait for my free day and I stopped by the shop for some chocolate or whatever, I don’t beat myself up about it.

This is the secret to recovering quickly from a minor ‘slip-up’. Don’t feel that you’ve ‘sabotaged’ your lifestyle in any way at all or that you’ve ‘blown it’. Just get back to healthy eating as soon as possible and don’t let it push you off track.