CHEAT MEAL

We all need a break sometimes… I believe a cheat day is essential, no matter how strict your diet or eating plan is.

The gist of these “cheats meals” is to eat clean for the better part of your week while staying active and reward yourself by indulging in something you really want to eat.

It is good for fat loss from a psychological perceptive as it satisfies cravings, and it is also good from a metabolic perspective because of a hormone called Leptin, which is known as the anti-starvation hormone. If you have enough Leptin in the body, your metabolism will keep going at a normal rate… but if you follow a strict diet all the time, your body is more likely to produce less Leptin over time because it believes you’re starving yourself. Fat burning stops almost immediately once Leptin levels are low, which makes your appetite increase significantly.

This is the point at which many people give up on their diets and put on the weight they have lost, plus more. Studies show that if you increase calories, primarily through eating carbs once a week, high Leptin levels can be maintained and keeps the starvation mechanism in check, and inevitably helps to speed up the fat-burning process.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean you should just go all out and splurge on that day each week. I would recommend having your main cheat meal at breakfast time with such things as pancakes and syrup, toast with jam, or even a doughnut. If you push your cheat meal to later in the day, you’re less likely to burn it off because energy levels are lower at night. You can increase your carbs for the remainder of the day by choosing slow burning ones. The idea of the slow-burning/high fiber carbs is they will help to slow the sugar absorption and insulin output.

Another important rule is to include some form of cardio exercise on your cheat day.  Low-intensity cardio training an hour or so after your higher calorie meal will help burn away some of the excess glucose in your bloodstream.

Now you can enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday without feeling guilty. Just get straight back to your healthy eating plan (diet) the following day and you’re back on track to achieve the results you’re looking for!