MAKING CHEAT DAYS WORK WITH WEIGHT LOSS – Part I

Cheat days have the potential to really take us off track and bring back all those cravings we had under control. They can be a very slippery slope, for sure. On the other hand, because it’s really rare to have a client who never cheats at all (although we actually do have them), cheats can be kind of like the release valve on a pressure cooker for some.

The theory behind having a cheat is the hope that you will stick to your diet or weight loss plan most of the time by reminding yourself you have a special treat coming up. It kind of screams, “This isn’t forever!” when you are in the trenches. Relief is around the corner! Even the word “cheat” makes it sound like you are getting away with something wrong.

There are some upsides to having a planned cheat on occasion, but we need to qualify our position at Genesis. We say it often – we will always give you the absolute best information available to help you lose weight sustainably and to achieve true health. Following the plan, the way we have laid it out, is best. 

We set the bar high. If we were to do less, we would be doing you a disservice. So, take the information we are going to go over now and weigh it carefully – put it into the right context. It is true that cheats can help some people stick to their goals long-term, but there’s a lot more to it.

When trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle, people are often more likely to stick to their healthy eating regimen during the week, as long as they know they have something special coming, say, on the weekend or after an especially tough day. In fact, some feel a cheat can be motivating.

 So, the mindset with a cheat is that it is already built in – a planned cheat so to speak, so that you don’t end up feeling like you have failed or bombed your entire plan. Rather, it is accepted and expected. You enjoy the cheat, then get right back on plan again.

Often times, when someone is eating strictly on a steady low-carb plan, then decides to have a high-carb meal or day, they can get a boost in their metabolic rate temporarily. It’s called diet-variation.

The little energy powerhouses inside your cells, called mitochondria, produce something called ATP which produces energy. When you challenge your body with diet variation, your mitochondria either duplicate themselves or duplicate their effort to meet the demand. This creates greater metabolism.

But you can’t stay there! If you continue to do this, you will be spiking blood sugar and insulin will begin to take you down a whole other path of weight gain and inflammation. So, a special cheat is just that… it’s meant to be the exception, not the rule.

Lastly, a good thing about planning a cheat is that it helps you make better decisions in the moment of temptation on non-cheat days. If someone brings in donuts every Tuesday at work, and you have always struggled with that, because you feel deprived, knowing you have a special cheat planned at another time can help. In a situation like this, you understand that you really aren’t deprived of everything, and that your day to enjoy something is around the corner.

Okay, before we get too excited talking about these cheat days, we need to slow down a bit and get some perspective. While they can be great, there are also some dangers associated with them. Like we said earlier, you need to start off with a right mindset when you decide to eat something off plan. So, next week we will look at how we should further define cheats.