A “zero tolerance”
approach to nutrition is a losing proposition. Instructing someone to go
months without indulging in his or her favorite foods is a recipe for
failure as even the most committed dieter can rarely last longer than 12
weeks before falling off the wagon.
Worse still, those who stumble trying to follow such extreme
regimens often binge and rebound severely. Some unlucky folks will gain
back all the weight they lost over several months in just a few days!
Here’s the good news: You will lose fat faster if allowed a cheat
meal once every four to six days. This is because the cheat meal
increases the metabolism, so you’re able to lose body fat faster. Not to
mention the cheat meal acts as a welcome reprieve from a diet that can
get monotonous after a while.
However, this is not an all day food free-for-all -- it’s a cheat
meal, not a cheat evening. With that in mind, here are 7 steps for
losing bodyfat by cheating on your diet.
Step 1. Figure out how often you can cheat. The
ratio between low-carb meals and cheat meals should be between 20:1 and
30:1 -- never less or more. What this means is if you’re eating 5
low-carb meals a day, you should have a cheat meal once every 4-6 days
(preferably the last meal of the day).
This 20:1 or 30:1 ratio applies to about 75 percent of people
trying to lose bodyfat or maintain their weight loss. However,
approximately 25 percent of the population actually loses fat faster and
functions better on a carb-based diet. For example, if someone can get
lean eating carbs much more often, say 4:1 or every day, they are
definitely a “carb person” and should be eating carbs every day.
Step 2. Decide how you will cheat before hand.
When it comes to cheating, you don’t want to fly by the seat of your
pants. Plan your indulgences ahead of time and make it something
meaningful. A tasty meal at your favorite restaurant will be a lot more
satisfying than some haphazard snacking in front of the TV.
Step 3. Determine your carb allotment. You’ll lose
fat faster if you eat the optimal amount of carbs on your cheat day.
Fortunately, figuring this out is relatively simple. Here’s how:
Have a Biosignature assessment performed on a Monday, then get in
four days of low-carb eating. On Friday night enjoy your cheat meal,
recording the quantity of carbs you eat.
On Saturday morning, have another Biosignature assessment
performed. If your body fat has decreased and lean mass increased, you
chose the correct quantity of carbs. Repeat this amount at your next
scheduled cheat meal.
However, if you woke up fatter on Saturday morning, you ate too
much – so the next time you cheat, decrease the carbs by 20 percent and
see if you drop body fat the following morning.
Now if you happen to have lost weight the morning after a cheat
meal, it means the next time you cheat you should increase the carbs by
20 percent and see how your body reacts.
All told, this system effectively eliminates the guesswork out of your fat loss plan!
Related: 16 Ways to Loss Weight Fast
Step 4. Make better cheat choices. While it may be
a cheat meal, the quality of the food you put in your body still
matters. Gluten-free oatmeal and rice are better than wheat cookies;
organic chocolate almonds are better than jellybeans. A good way to tell
if a cheat food works for you is how you feel the next day. If eating
pizza means your knees and elbows don’t bend the next day, try rice
pudding next time.
Step 5. Eat your protein first. Starting a meal
with protein helps reduce the blood sugar spike that occurs after eating
a lot of carbohydrates. There’s also evidence suggesting that when your
body receives carbohydrates first, it sends a signal to the digestive
system to store more fat for later use.
Step 6. When your butt leaves the chair, no more eating.
For some, the first few bites of a cheat meal can serve to “open the
floodgates,” leading to hours of excessive over feeding. Along with
eating your protein portion first, follow the “butt leaves the chair”
law: set your favorite foods on the table and enjoy them, but once you
leave your seat, that’s it – the cheat meal is over.
Step 7. Once you’re lean you can eat more carbs! A
side-benefit of getting to a low body fat percentage is that you can
eat more of your favorite cheat foods and stay lean and muscular.
It’s all related to insulin sensitivity and your body’s ability to
manage carbohydrates – as you get leaner, insulin sensitivity increases,
so you can “handle” carbohydrates in far greater amounts than someone
with more bodyfat. How much more? A hard training lifter with low body
fat can enjoy full cheat days rather than just cheat meals. The only
catch is the cheat days must always fall on a non-training day, for
restorative purposes.
