If you're lucky enough NOT to put on weight as a result of a cheat week, you most certainly will see your weight loss results plateau. Your body can't continue to support your previous healthy controlled nutrition and calorie blasting workouts if it all goes out the window, replaced with an entire week of indulgence.
Cheating a meal is healthy, but cheating a week is not. Mindful eating is necessary for every individual. That's the key to staying healthy. Even if you have a cheat meal, keep your portion size in control.
Will a cheat meal ruin my progress? Lets start out plain and simple, a cheat meal will NOT ruin your progress, assuming all else is right with your diet and workout plan. I would advise against devouring 2 large pizza's by yourself, but theres no reason why your cheat meal would ruin progress if you do it right.
To gain a pound of fat, you would need to add about 500 calories a day on top of your normal diet, every day, for about 7 days. This makes gaining any significant amount of fat from even the craziest, all-out cheat days unlikely.
How Often Should Be Your Cheat Day? Since every weight loss program is unique, there is no conclusive response to this issue. However, most people recommend having a cheat day once a week. This will allow you to indulge without jeopardizing your diet or weight reduction objectives.
The Benefits of Cheating
After eating a larger meal than usual, your body increases leptin production by as much as 30 percent for up to 24 hours. For those on a highly restrictive, low-calorie diet, psychologists and nutritionists often believe that cheat meals allow individuals to eat better throughout the week.
It depends on the kind of person you are: many people feel that regular cheat days help them stick to a strict diet. It makes it easier for them to stop food cravings on the other days. However, for other people, overeating can cause more harm than good.
Weekly cheat meals that are higher in calories and carbohydrates can help to raise leptin levels and lower ghrelin. This return of your hormone levels to normal can help reverse and/or prevent the negative effects on metabolism, hunger drive, and energy expenditure.
If you eat 1500 calories daily and 3000 calories on Saturdays (or another cheat day of choice), your metabolism will experience a small boost and your will burn more calories on “normal” days. Just do your best to lower the glycemic index of the cheat meals so you burn them more slowly and absorb less as fat.
Throwing a cheat meal into the mix tricks your system into thinking food is plentiful and that it's ok to burn through fat stores. Cheat meals can help to reset hormones responsible for metabolism and insulin regulation, replenish glycogen for increased energy and keep calories brining and fat torching mechanisms high.
In order to gain a pound of fat, you would need to add about 500 calories a day on top of your normal diet, every day, for about 7 days. This makes gaining any significant amount of fat from even the craziest all-out cheat days extremely unlikely.
On cheat day, you can eat whatever indulgence you want. But remember, that's singular, “Focus on the one food you crave the most that week,” says Delbridge, who notes that most guys' cravings come down to either carbs, desserts, or alcoholic beverages.
"Most people think they can indulge in high-fat foods for a few days and get away with it," researcher Matt Hulver said in a press release. "But all it takes is five days for your body's muscle to start to protest." It's unclear how quickly your body can get back to normal after eating badly for a few days.
This depends on the individual and what a regimen is, but it can vary. Some people can have cheat days once a week, others can do so once a month, while others should limit them even further.
How many calories should I eat on a cheat day? 'There is not an exact number of calories that you can eat on a cheat day but a good guideline to follow is to not consume more than 150 per cent of your regular calorie intake/limit,' according to Bodies by Byrne, run by a nutritionist and fitness instructor.
To gain one pound, a person must consume ~3,500 calories in excess of what they burn. If you usually follow a 1500 calorie diet but consume 5000 calories for a few days, it can result in weight gain. This is because consuming more calories than the body burns leads to an energy surplus, which the body stores as fat.
How much weight will I gain if I eat 3000 calories a day? If your daily maintenance calories are 2500, then 3000 calories per day might help you gain 1 lb per week. On average, you will gain approximately 1 lb of mass for every additional 3000 calories you consume over your maintenance.
An article on cookinglight.com said cheat days can be good psychologically because they prevent binges, reduce cravings and provide a mental break from dieting, if with the caveat cheat days, have to be done moderately. Lowe doesn't believe having a cheat day is a good idea, but said for some, it can work.
Your Cheat Meals Should Be High Carb, Low Fat
Next, let's talk about the actual composition of your cheat meal. This is important when it comes to counteracting the negative physiological adaptations from dieting most effectively. And in this case, carbs are actually your best friend.
The bottom line is that a 1000-1500 surplus of calories for a day means you'll only gain about 0.70-112 grams of fat. The scales might say you've gained more, but that's because of the water weight excess sodium and carbohydrates bring along with it.
Before you can even register what has happened, your whole weekend was filled with all of the foods you have been depriving yourself of. Research shows just three cheat days a week is as bad for your gut health as a consistently unhealthy diet. Gaining a small amount of weight, like a pound or two, is not a big deal.
One day of overeating does NOT offset all of your progress. When you're dieting, it's easy to feel like you ruined your progress after a Friday or Saturday night full of pizza and ice cream. But that doesn't have to be the case.