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  • It creates a huge calorie surplus– having a cheat day can create some damage. Say the start of a cheat day out is a big breakfast of pancakes doused in syrup, butter, a glass of orange juice and some sausage (1500calories roughly). Lunch is Wendy’s for  a junior bacon cheeseburger, large fry and large coke (1200 cals) and dinner you decide to grab a 4 piece boneless wing and cheesey potato wedge basket from b dubs washed down with 1 beer (1200cals+) Congratulations! Your grand calorie total for the day 3900 calories! We didn’t even count the dipping sauces. A man dieting on 2000 cals went over 1900 and a women dieting on 1400 went over 2500. That’s a lot when you’re looking at the big picture. If I space that 2500 calories over the week in the womans diet shes eating more like 19oo cals per day than 1400. This could mean not losing what she wanted to.
  • It creates an unhealthy relationship with food- refraining from certain foods is okay if you need to create a calorie deficit. This doesn’t mean they are evil or bad(unless you have some sensitivity, allergy,or GI issue). If I say  YOURE NOT ALLOWED TO THINK OF A YELLOW JEEP,DO NOT THINK OF A YELLOW JEEP . Even though you may not ever think of a yellow jeep, all of the sudden, here it is in your brain. Same things happen when we refrain certain foods. I choose to not eat this right now for my long term goal is a better option. Fitting foods into your diet is great for some, and blows progress for others. The people who fit it in can refrain from overeating that food because they know they can have more tomorrow. Others it may trigger overeating and cause them to eat it like they will never have it again. Everyone is different, so every strategy might be different. Try a couple strategies and find out for yourself. This is a learning process!

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  • It  can create binging disorder-The overeating will cause you to feel guilt and undereat purposely or by coincidence. This is okay for a time or two, but if it becomes a habit, we are going down a road for bulimia without the purging.
  • It causes guilt and belief to have tighter controls after– The shameful feeling of guilt has been shared with every dieter on the planet after cheat meals. A whole day of high carb, high fat foods and a day following that back to normal may feel us feeling moody, irritable, and not fun to be around. High calorie, high blood sugar day and low calorie, low blood sugar day…Sounds like fun(said no one ever)If the cheat day is hindering your progress and making the diet a longer process, why even bother?

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  • It gets you back to where you started and can blow your progress for that week.
    After the day or 2 of your cheat days calories can be so high that you hinder your progress. All that hard work for nothing.

What to do instead

1.Find how many calories PER WEEK to lose weight.

Example 2,000 cals a day

14,000cals a week

2. Determine how many calories you need for your weekends.

Example 2500 2 days a week (maintenance calories)

1,800 Monday through Friday

2500 Saturday and Sunday

If it is too hard of a deficit to deal with during the week, then you must cut from the weekend calories. You’re in a calorie deficit no matter how much you try to disguise it.

Another option

-have a cheat meal not a day.

1 meal. How much damage can one meal do to weekly progress? Not a terrible amount given that its a normal portioned meal and not a “rock cheat meal”. If you leave the table overly stuffed and feel miserable, it may have been too much.