Cheat meal - what is it and how to do it correctly?

Why does craving occur?

Generally, people trying to get their body in shape follow a specific diet plan. This plan is needed to balance your daily caloric intake, as well as proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Thus, by observing your daily energy intake, you can achieve results in losing weight or gaining muscle mass.

Cheat meal - what is it? First, you need to understand why those who are losing weight are drawn to junk food. The fact is that diets are designed in such a way that the amount of carbohydrates (the main component responsible for providing the body with energy) is limited, so the body lacks energy. The brain senses this and sends signals that it needs to replenish its reserves. This is how cravings for forbidden foods that contain a lot of calories appear.

In addition, there is still a psychological aspect to consider here. Many people love to enjoy food, but when switching to proper nutrition, this pleasure from food usually disappears. You have to eat healthy foods that don't give you as much pleasure as candy or cookies. Therefore, with long-term dietary restrictions, a person needs the pleasure of eating.

Useful tips on how to conduct a cheat meal correctly

Cheat mil is individual for everyone who is engaged in weight loss. Its frequency and necessity is determined by the amount of stress on the body and psychological characteristics. But it’s important to remember about a cheat meal that it’s just as much a means of losing weight as restricting food. Therefore, there are a number of rules and recommendations that will help achieve optimal results and not undo the hard work done:

• With the exception of the cheat day described above, a cheat day involves only one meal without taking into account calories and BJU balance. The rest of the day you eat as usual, following a diet.
• If you just stick to proper nutrition, without cutting carbohydrates, you don't need a cheat meal. Just as it is not needed with protein-carbohydrate alternation, when you eat most carbohydrates one half of the day, and most fats the second. Of course, you can do it, you will get psychological relief, however, you will not speed up your metabolism this way.
• When starting to consume prohibited foods, turn off the TV, monitor and phone. When you combine food and reading or watching a TV series, the amount you eat doubles. The brain will not receive a signal of saturation in time, besides, without being distracted by gadgets, you will fully enjoy the taste of the dish and get more pleasure.
• Drinking alcohol and cigarettes is prohibited during the cheat meal.
• If you have a cheat meal on a training day, you will have the opportunity to work off the calories you eat. In addition, if you do this after training, when the metabolism is accelerated, the effect will also be better.
• The optimal time for unloading is the second half of the day. Then the body will have time to digest what you eat and burn calories, and you will be less likely to lapse and eat too much.
• If you have problems with the gastrointestinal tract, it is certainly worth discussing with your doctor the upcoming diet and diet, as well as dishes that can be eaten during a cheat meal and not shock the body.

Cheat meal - what is it?

This compound word comes from the English words cheat and meal. The first means “disturbance”, and the second means “eating”. Cheat meal - what is it? You can guess that this combination implies a violation of the nutrition plan. That is, you can eat any food for a limited period of time.

For example, once every two weeks on Saturday a person departs from his usual diet and allows himself to eat a burger, pizza, cake or something similar. This is called "having a cheat meal."

Correct cheat meal: menu

It matters not only how and when to properly arrange a cheat meal, but also the foods included in this meal. A cheat meal on a low-carb diet should compensate for the serious energy deficit experienced by a person who is losing weight. Therefore, it is advisable that it consists of high-carbohydrate dishes. What to eat for a cheat meal? Pizza, sushi, cake or ice cream, juicy fruit or your favorite French fries. The main thing is that the allowed one-time intake does not develop into a protracted “calorie binge” with the unconscious absorption of everything that comes to hand. If only because a cheat meal with proper nutrition and a calorie deficit in such a breakdown simply loses its meaning.

Cheat meal is not a green light for everything harmful and forbidden. Your menu is only replaced once with your favorite delicacy in order to relieve stress and satisfy the body’s psychological need for such a “wrong” product. For this reason, it is not recommended to have a cheat meal with wine, as well as any other alcohol and cigarettes.

The essence

Why do you need a cheat meal? As already mentioned, when the body lacks energy, the brain sends a signal that it needs food. It is the cheat meal that fulfills this task and saturates the body with a huge amount of energy. But why is such a violation allowed and why does the body fat not increase after a cheat meal?

When a person sticks to a diet for a long time, the metabolic processes in the body slow down because the supply of nutrients is limited. A slowdown in metabolism is fraught with the appearance of a plateau, that is, a lack of progress. The body weight may stand still and no results can be seen in the mirror. In this case, a cheat meal accelerates the metabolism, and the person progresses again.

When can you have a cheat meal?

Diet violations are allowed only to people who adhere to proper nutrition for a long time. This could be 2, 3 or 4 months. In general, it is recommended to do cheat meals for people whose body fat is 10-15%. If a person has just started eating healthy foods and limiting himself to this, then he simply has no need to do a cheat meal.

For those who want to lose extra pounds, it is recommended to break the diet once every 2-3 weeks. If you do this more often, the body will not have time to burn fat reserves. Those who are gaining muscle mass can have cheat meals once every 1-2 weeks, since muscles require a lot of energy for training. But you shouldn’t overdo it either, so as not to gain excess weight.

It is best to break your diet in the first half of the day so that the food you eat has time to be digested and absorbed before bed. It is also better to choose days that have training. In this case, your metabolism will be faster and there will be less chance that the calories you eat will be stored as fat.

Cheat meal and refeed: differences and features

The so-called refeeds are also designed to replenish the reserves of carbohydrates and glycogen, as well as recharge the metabolism. But the difference between refeed and cheat meal is the duration of the processes.

In the first case, high-carbohydrate foods are consumed throughout the day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the second case, there is a one-time consumption of forbidden delicacies, which experts advise to do in the first half of the day. Due to the fact that refeeds last throughout the day, it is recommended to choose healthier sources of carbohydrates for them (potatoes, pasta, sweet fruits, bread). At the same time, the level of fat consumed in carbohydrate refeeds should be reduced as much as possible.

In addition to cheat meals and refeeds, you can often come across such a thing as a cheat day. Essentially this is the same as a refeed. Its meaning is that you can eat “forbidden foods” throughout the day, but with an important caveat - only experienced athletes who have constant physical activity and adhere to a balanced diet can organize such a “belly feast”.

Advantages

It would seem that the only advantage can be that the psychological craving for prohibited foods goes away, but cheat meals have advantages for the body itself:

• Metabolism accelerates. The process of anabolism, that is, muscle growth, and fat burning occurs faster when the metabolic rate is high. A cheat meal can speed up your metabolism when it is slow due to limited energy supply.
• The muscles are filled with glycogen. This benefit is especially true for those who do strength training. During work, muscles use their own glycogen reserves for energy. At the end of the workout, these reserves are practically zero, so recovery is required. This can be achieved through nutrition: carbohydrates can be processed and fill muscles with glycogen. This is why cheat meals are useful for those who frequently train with weights.

The most important advantage is, of course, satisfaction. Psychological cravings for prohibited foods go away, and you can continue to adhere to proper nutrition. Moreover, you don’t have to worry that the calories consumed will be deposited in fat reserves, because this is a one-time violation.

Flaws

Breaking a diet, of course, has its downsides that should be taken into account:

• Addiction. If you eat a prohibited product, there is a high probability that you will have an even greater craving for it. Therefore, after a cheat meal, you should restrain yourself and not drive yourself into overeating for a week.
• Disruption of body processes. When a large amount of energy is received that is not familiar to the body, it begins to process it, accelerating the metabolism. But other processes, such as digestion, are also disrupted. Therefore, you should not overeat, but only satisfy your cravings.
• Problems. After a cheat meal, you may experience bloating or an upset stomach. You can resort to the use of medications that will facilitate the digestion of food.

How often should you do a cheat meal?

With a few exceptions, anyone losing weight can do one or two cheat meals a week without compromising their results. But remember that a cheat meal is not a festive feast, after which it is difficult to get up. This is one portion of the prohibited - pizza, ice cream, chips, cake, chocolate, burger and the like.

The exceptions are those who are just starting their diet. For the first few weeks, it is better for them to adhere to it quite strictly in order to get used to the diet and healthy foods, and enter a new regime. Cheat meals prevent you from getting rid of the unhealthy eating habit that has caused you to gain excess weight. Over these few weeks, you may fall out of love with some foods that stimulate dopamine and serotonin receptors in the brain, like drugs, and cause constant cravings for them. But this requires at least a few weeks.

Finally, don’t do a cheat meal two days in a row - this risks going on a food binge. It is better to distribute cheat days evenly throughout the week. For example, Wednesday and Saturday, instead of Friday and Saturday.

By Lyle McDonald, bodyrecomposition.com

Basic Rules

You shouldn't eat everything you can get your hands on if you're having a cheat meal. The rules below will help you avoid negative consequences:

• A cheat meal is one meal. Which can consist of any products. You shouldn't have a cheat day. What is this? This is eating unhealthy foods all day long. Such a violation can bring much more bad consequences.
• There is no need to exclude anything from your usual diet. That is, if you have a cheat meal on the next day, then all normal meals should be present. You just need to replace one of them.
• There is no need to reproach yourself for the so-called breakdown. A cheat meal is a planned event, so everyone goes to it consciously. Blaming yourself can provoke even more overeating.

• You need to choose the right day and the right environment. Eating a burger in some cafe is unlikely to be enjoyable. But if, for example, you have a delicious meal at home with close people, it will be much more enjoyable.

There is no need to do a cheat meal if there is no need. That is, if the weight is decreasing, then it is not at all necessary to arrange a belly festival for yourself. It is best to continue to eat well and, if you reach a plateau, break your diet.

• Weighing yourself after a cheat meal is strictly prohibited! The weight will rise by several kilograms, this is inevitable. However, do not think that it is fat. This is just water that the body is able to retain if you eat a lot of sweet or salty foods. Within 2-3 days the weight will return to normal.

• Don't limit yourself. That's what a cheat meal is for, to be completely satisfied. A small piece of cake or a couple of sweets will not satiate the body, and after a day, most likely, you will want more.

These are the main points that tell you how to do a cheat meal correctly. The most important thing is not to make a habit out of it, but to focus on your own feelings.

What types of cheat meals are there?

The easiest way to incorporate a cheat meal into your diet is the one-meal strategy. Once a week, plan a meal that you love and can't give up. The basic rule here: eat with pleasure, but within reasonable limits - this is one meal, not a license for gluttony.

With any cheat meal strategy, try to have this meal at breakfast or lunch rather than dinner - this will allow you to burn more calories throughout the day. The more cheat meals you have in your diet per week, the more strictly you should adhere to your diet on the remaining days.

Strategy 90/10

In this case, you follow the diet at least 90% of the time, the remaining 10% is devoted to cheat meals. This method is best suited for women or people with a sedentary job and a sedentary lifestyle who burn a small amount of calories throughout the day. However, for impulsive overweight people, this approach will be too strict.

Count the number of main meals per week - if you eat 3 meals a day, that would be 21 meals per week. We take 10% - which means you can devote 2 meals a week to your favorite treats.

Strategy 80/20

With this approach, cheat meals are allowed to be used in 20% of meals. This plan is convenient for active people and athletes, allowing you to maintain a comfortable weight during significant physical activity. This strategy can also work for those who are in the early stages of losing excess weight.

However, you will need to switch to the 90/10 plan when the weight starts to come off to prevent plateauing.

The 80/20 strategy is not recommended for people with a sedentary lifestyle, as there is a greater chance of gaining extra calories, which will lead to weight gain.

Cheat day strategy

This strategy allows you to eat what you want throughout the day. However, you should not overeat and should strictly adhere to healthier meal planning for the rest of the week. This approach is not recommended for the average person or people who go to the gym up to four times a week.

The cheat day plan is designed exclusively for bodybuilders, marathon runners and triathletes, but no cheat meals are allowed for the 12 weeks leading up to the race.