Learn to know Cheat Meal Strategies for Weight Loss like a Professional
Cheating in sports, career, politics, and in love is bad. But is it ok cheating on diet? Did you ever get this question?
Well, though cheat meals are high in calories and low in nutrients, by cheating on your diet, your body can actually reap some amazing and unexpected benefits. You can cheat 10 days or more than that depending on your fitness level.
In fact, under the right parameters, dietary cheaters will gain a lot of benefits. A weekly “cheat meal” has been proved to boost your metabolism but moderation is the key. There was a study published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2017 which found that dieters who took a 2-week break from their low-calorie diet plan lost more weight than who are confined to their diet plan. [1]
Also, the Australian researchers discovered that dieters who took a break from the prescribed diet plan dropped by 50 percent more weight. Therefore, though you need not be a consistent dieter, you should follow the right cheat meal strategies to maximize weight loss and minimize the damage while munching on the food you crave.
Here’s how you can have a cheat meal like a professional dietary person and still lose weight.
Cheat Meal Strategies For Weight Loss
1. No cheat meal when you’re famished
When you’re hungry, you’ll obviously pig out all the dishes. And the combination of hunger and cheat meal are deadly. I mean, when you’re famished and you’ve Pizzas, Chips, Soft drinks, and Burgers on your food platter you’ll certainly eat more and more to satisfy your hunger as well as cravings.
Later, to burn all that excess calories consumed in the cheat meal, it takes a lot of effort. Therefore, no cheating when you’re hungry.
2. Eat more before a Cheat Meal
Wait, what? Should you eat more and then have a cheat meal? Actually, Yes. When you try to eat more proteins, vitamins, or greens before having a cheat meal, you’ll feel almost stuffed. Eventually, you’ll end up having lighter cheat meals. Isn’t that a fantastic idea? How many of you agree?
A cheat meal is an opportunity to eat what you like but not to pig out everything. The only possible way to not pig out cheat meals is to have a pre-meal which includes proteins, vitamins, and greens. That being said, you can have a green salad with grilled chicken and a squeezed lemon juice. As a substitute for chicken, you can have boiled eggs.
Therefore, remember that it’s a cheat meal but not a cheat day. Don’t go overboard and have too many calories from junk food. Try to eat only 2 or 3 slices of Pizza but not the whole lasagna.
3. Plan before you Cheat
Planning is the key to every successful work. When you plan for what to eat and what not to eat, you would definitely end up having a cheat meal in moderation. Therefore, plan to have food in moderation. Though it’s a big day, a farewell party, birthday party or a bachelorette party, if you plan for what to eat then obviously you’ll eat in moderation and you don’t need to spend extra time in burning the excess calories.
4. Order the best Cheat meal
Did you know that there are some cheat meals which are actually healthy? Well, yes! Some cheat meals are better and healthy than other cheat meals. A high-carbohydrate and moderate-protein meal can help you stay on track. That’s because carbohydrates have a high influence on leptin levels, which help you burn fat greatly and also makes you feel satisfied.
Restaurant meals tend to be high in sodium levels which mean the sodium throws off antidiuretic hormones. These hormones are responsible to control how much you urinate. Therefore, the lack of this hormone makes you feel dehydrated and bloated.
In order to avoid any such issues, you must drink plenty of water. Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water each day to replenish, hydrate your body and to flush out the toxins.
5. Avoid the Worst kind of Cheat Meal
It’s better to avoid than to take the risk. A high-fat or high-calorie cheat meal will store large amounts of fat in various parts of your body than a high-carb meal. The reason is simple. Dietary fat will get stored more immediately and efficiently than other carbohydrates or proteins.
Moreover, dietary fat won’t be able to effectively increase leptin levels. So, your body lacks a temporary metabolism boost. That’s the reason, you need to avoid the worst kind of cheat meals such as creamy pasta, desserts, tempura foods, cheesy pizza, and other junks.
6. Yes to Cheat meal but No to Cheat day
Yes, you can have a cheat meal but that doesn’t mean you can cheat all throughout the day or weeks. If you’re eating large amounts of high-calorie unhealthy food throughout the day, it will hamper your next week’s progress.
Moreover, you get used to cheating every day. Gradually, cheat days convert to cheat weeks. So, have a cheat meal and get back on track with workouts and healthy eating.
7. No Pigging out
First of all, a cheat meal is an opportunity to eat what you want but not what you can. I mean don’t pig out all the dishes in front of you. Eat in moderation and put an extra effort before having a cheat meal.
There are two ways you can stop yourself from filling your tummy completely with a cheat meal. The first thing is to set time restraint and the second thing is to not go overboard by overloading calories throughout the day.
8. Workout before you feast
One of the wonderful trick to minimize fat levels in your body is to work out before having a cheat meal. Doing so depletes your glycogen levels – the sugar that your body burns for energy.
Hit the gym before having a cheat meal and do high-rep circuit workouts which are the best depletion workouts. For an extra boost, you can also have a cup of black coffee before the workout because caffeine can increase fat metabolism when taken as a pre-workout supplement.
9. Drink more Water
You need to drink at least 8 glasses of water on the cheat meal day. Drinking more water will flush out the increased sodium levels in your body and keeps you hydrated.
10. Have Nutrient-rich cheat meals
Pick a cheat meal wisely that has more nutritional value instead of something with no calories. You need to take advantage of protein, healthy fat, and carbs, even if that’s high in calories when compared to the foods that are processed, artificially processed and with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
11. Cook Cheat meals at Home
When you cook cheat meals at home, you know what you’re actually adding to the dishes. The restaurant made cheat meals cannot guarantee health factor since you don’t know what ingredients they toss into the pan to make the dishes. Moreover, the restaurant cooked foods are high in sodium which can make you bloated and dehydrated.
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