To do or not to have a free meal? Every week, those who regularly follow the diet ask themselves this question. The "cheat day" (free day where you can eat what you want) or the "cheat meal" (lunch or dinner free) allow us to satisfy our palate, to disconnect from the strict diet routine and to share a social moment with friends and relatives, but are they only psychological aids or do they also have positive results in metabolic and physiological terms?
Index
When "cheating (to cheat)" is not cheating at all
Not everyone knows that the much feared free meal actually has gods benefits not only of psychological contentment!
If you follow one low-calorie diet e low in carbohydrates for a long time, the metabolic rate (the number of calories the body burns every day) decreases; the body behaves in this way to preserve the energies, when it is not given everything it wants.
Fat cells are basically reserve fuel tanks; if we start emptying these tanks, the body will try to conserve fat for any future needs; therefore, ironically, the more rigid and rigorous the diet, the more efficient the body becomes to use fewer calories to perform the same functions.
When the metabolism gets stuck, it becomes more difficult to continue losing body fat, because you have to ingest fewer and fewer calories to do so; this leads to a continuous decrease in calories until muscle mass is compromised (read the article on metabolic reset here!).
The cheat meal, thanks to the sudden increase in calories mainly derived from fats and carbohydrates, can help prevent the metabolism from slowing down.
Cheat meal as a prize
Make the cheat meal there it helps mentally and physically! Any diet that deprives the body of certain nutrients for too long is doomed to fail.
The diet must be realistic in order to last and not eat EVER their favorite foods is not at all. The free meal helps to make it easier to follow the diet and also to better supervise ourselves: the cheat is seen as a reward and this pushes us to do everything to earn it (carefully follow the diet and train with all our strength).
Cheat meal or cheat day?
The answer to this question is: it depends!
From your goals, from how your body reacts to the "scoundrels", from the type of diet ... If we are following a low carbohydrate diet, our body will respond better to an entire day full of carbs, rather than just one meal; we can also consider this day a "clean recharge”And then give us a free meal on another day of the week.
There are no equal answers for everyone, everyone knows his own body and must learn to listen to it; if the cheat does not interfere with our progress we can also try to have more than one!
If, on the other hand, progress slows down or you even gain weight, we need to reduce the frequency of free meals. An important tip is to make the cheat day or cheat meal coincide with the training day of the deficient muscles, so that they can benefit from improved performance and increased metabolism.
Self-monitoring of cheat meals
There is no universal formula for free meals; we just have to be honest with ourselves: if eating pizza, beer and ice cream every Saturday night blocks our weight loss, the solution is quite simple; we will have to do a more realistic cheat.
If, on the other hand, this free meal helps us in fat loss, then, we can indulge in some more rudeness, but we must limit ourselves when we see that our body is stalled.
And how do you live the cheat meal? What are your favorite Saturday night dishes? Let us know in the comments!
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