Cheat Meals Or Cheat Days: Wait Until You Reach Your Weight Loss Goal Or Enjoy Now?
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Cheat Meals For Fat Loss: Friend or Foe?
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, we’re discussing cheat meals or cheat days, should you wait until you reach your weight loss goal or enjoy now?
Today’s viewer question is from #AskLiveLeanTV Ep. 017.
Here’s today’s viewer question:
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@dreambakesteam on Twitter asks: Would you recommend cheat meals or cheat days only after you’ve reached your fitness goal, or wherever you are on your journey?
Cheat Meals Or Cheat Days: Wait Until You Reach Your Weight Loss Goal Or Enjoy Now?
Brad: I don’t even do cheat days. If you can tolerate carbohydrates well, meaning you’re carbohydrate sensitive, and you already have low body fat, then you can probably get away with a cheat day. Maybe. You have to test it on yourself.
However, if you’re on a fat loss plan, cheat days shouldn’t even be a thought in your head.
Now let’s talk about cheat meals.
I’ve done a lot of video posts on cheat meals, so I don’t want to go too in-depth with it now. I like cheat meals since they are a nice option to have, regardless of your current situation. It’s just a nice thing to give you a little relief and keep you going.
Think about it. If you need to lose 100 pounds, it could take you 1-2 years to lose it, depending on your rate of fat loss.
As your trainer, if I said you couldn’t have a cheat meal during your fat loss journey, you would probably see this massive mountain in the way of accomplishing your goal.
In other words, you wouldn’t be able to do it.
In my opinion, the thought of not having a cheat meal throughout that journey would be very sad and depressing. This is why I find cheat meals motivating.
You can fit in a cheat meal, however just make sure you’re killing your workouts and you’re eating healthy for your other meals. One cheat meal is not going to ruin your results.
Jessica: Check out Brad’s video post on How To Use Cheat Meals To Lose Weight And Boost Metabolism where he shares 6 cheat meal rules for success. The cheat meal rules are important, so make sure you follow them.
Throughout the week, the ratio of cheat meals to healthy meals is so small.
In comparison to how many healthy meals you’re eating, your once a week cheat meal is not that big of a deal.
Based on this, it should not sabotage your progress. It should actually help you go longer, get stronger, and feel better about your journey, compared to if you never had one.
Brad: If you’re in a decent calorie deficit, cheat meals may also help re-spark your leptin levels to get your metabolism back up, and keep the fat burning engine going.
Jessica: A lot of people confuse a cheat meal for a binge meal. For us, a cheat meal is not a binge meal. A cheat meal is basically equal or maybe slightly higher calorie than what we would normally be eating.
Brad: It’s definitely higher, but not 10 times higher. It could be double. When I’m eating a full pizza for a cheat meal pizza, it’s way higher than my other other typical meals.
Jessica: Yes, but you don’t usually eat again after that.
Brad: Oh, you’re right. Good point.
Jessica: I’m talking about your daily calorie intake. I don’t mean meal per meal. Your total calories for the day is going to be roughly similar to the amount of calories you’re used to eating. It’s not going to be triple or quadruple the amount.
Brad: Yes, agreed. Let me expand on what she means. If I have my pizza cheat meal at four o’clock in the day, I’m not eating another meal, dinner, or snacks after that. I cut it off after a big cheat meal.
Jessica: You can have a green drink and some water.
Brad: For example, if I’ve ate 1200 calories before my cheat meal, and the pizza was 1200 calories, I’m really at the same daily total calorie level. It’s just the macronutrients from the calories are way off.
Jessica: Yes, the macros are different, but calorie-wise, they are not that different. I don’t want everyone to get the impression that a cheat meal means you eat 10 Domino’s pizzas.
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Question For You:
- Do you have a weekly cheat meal or cheat days?
- If you have a weight loss goal, do you stop cheat meals or eat them during the journey?
Be sure to share your answers in the comment section below.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.