The Cheat Day
So, you’re dieting….watching the calories….paying a bit more attention to what you eat.
The only thing is, you can eat some of your favourite foods!
A pizza on a Friday night, a few drinks with friends or that new Donut shop that’s opened up on the highstreet. Its all now out of bounds now with your new healthy eating habits, right?
Well, that is until cheat day!
You’ve seen the fitness models in Men’s Health and those Insta-famous Girls who live in bikinis talk about cheat days, they eat whatever they want on a specific day or for a certain amount of time and it doesn’t matter because the rest of the time they’re on high diet alert!
So, is this the best option for you to take?
Sure, you could throw caution to the wind and every Saturday consume every calorie under the sun, donuts, burgers, dominos, a few beers all seen off with a pint of Ben and Jerrys and get back on with it on Sunday or Monday.
Or…. You could take a different approach to your nutrition.
Smarter Nutrition
Little and often is going to be a much more sustainable way of giving yourself treats and staying on track with any diet or exercise regime.
If you love eating calorie dense foods like sweets and fast for and struggle to keep on track with your weight then depriving yourself of them until you are so desperate you eat your own bodyweight in curly fries probably isn’t the best approach.
A simple trick is to try and adhere to the 80-20 rule.
Aslong as around 80% of what you eat is helping you along the way with your goals then theres no reason why you can’t have the extra 20% of your diet as a treat.
That can of coke with your Thursday lunch or desert with your Sunday dinner are going to be a lot better for you in the long run than pushing on through the week, not allowing yourself any flexibility then turning the weekend into a car crash!
So what is Susan at the desk next to you is giving you a smug look because you’re eating a Twirl with your afternoon tea while she’s munching on self righteous carrot sticks…..she’ll be the one gorging on pizza and longing for her cheat day where she throws all progress out the window while you’re keeping on track, allowing yourself small treats now and again knowing the majority of your diet is great and you can stick to it permanently!