“Rules were meant to be broken.”
I’m going to tell you how to cheat on your diet without cheating on your eating plan.
I’ve heard some experts claim that the more you eat healthy foods, the less you crave unhealthy foods. Personally, I have found this statement to be completely untrue. Right now I’m eating healthier than I ever have and I’m also craving junk foods more than ever. So what do I do? I cheat. I’m able to get away with this by varying my daily calorie intake to lose weight.
Who doesn't like to cheat?
This is very important because if you allow yourself to cheat, you are much more likely to stick to your eating plan. Too many times, people feel like if they let themselves indulge in “forbidden foods” then their entire diet has gone down the tubes. They slip up once and beat themselves up. Then, they eat more junk food since they’ve already “failed.” The next thing you know, they quit working out and then they’ve really let themselves go.
This is why traditional diets usually fail.
No one will ever stick to a diet that’s too restrictive. But that’s exactly what you get if you try to eat the same number of calories every single day. Take my eating plan, for instance. I know that in order to lose fat, I need to be eating approximately 1,800 calories per day. Well what happens if I want to eat a 1,800 calorie meal or even a 2,000 calorie meal? I like eating way too much to deprive myself of large, satisfying meals. So, here’s the trick.
I manage my calorie intake on a weekly basis, not on a daily basis.
Putting this one tip into practice has helped me immensely. I could pretty much care less how many calories I’m consuming per day as long as I know I’m consuming about 12,600 per week.
Here is an example of my caloric intake throughout a normal week:
Monday – 1,500
Tuesday – 1,500
Wednesday – 1,500
Thursday – 1,500
Friday – 2,500
Saturday – 1,100
Sunday – 3,000
The reason Saturday is so low is because it’s my intermittent fasting day. On my intermittent fasting day, I typically only eat one meal in the evening following a 20 to 24-hour fasting period. This is not as bad as it sounds. Intermittent fasting is an excellent way to cut your weekly calories so that you can enjoy larger cheat meals at other times during the week. It also offers some pretty incredible long-term health benefits. These are outlined in Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat program.
Here is an interesting video by Brad Pilon on the similarities between fasting and exercise.
What I like to do is go really low Monday through Thursday so that I can splurge on the weekend. This type of schedule works out well for me because I go out and socialize on the weekends. The last thing I want is to not be able to have a few appetizers at a happy hour or enjoy a giant burger and fries or a few slices of pizza at the end of a long week.
In fact, I make an effort to intentionally splurge like this every week.
Not that it takes much effort for me, since I love food so much. But there is a method to the madness. After a few low-calorie days, leptin levels drop. Leptin is a key hormone for fat metabolism. Following up a few low-calorie days with a high-calorie day or two will boost leptin levels and rev up fat burning for the subsequent low-calorie days to come. It’s like tricking your body into burning fat.
This is all made possible by varying your daily calorie intake to lose weight. Do this and you will have the best of both worlds. You can eat your favorite foods while still achieving your fitness goals. Just remember… cheat strategically and you will burn fat, but cheat too often and you will become fat.
Alykhan,
I follow a very similar method, using Eat Stop Eat twice per week and then eating more on the weekends. It’s been a great long term solution since there’s no lifestyle impact. I get to enjoy eating out with friends and family and still lose fat. It’s win-win!
Dave
Dave´s last [type] ..A Fitness Models Workout Routine: How Would An Abercrombie Model Workout?
Alykhan,
Micromanaging caloric intake is definitely a losing battle. It’s almost impossible to be precise enough and it robs everyone of what little willpower they have. I even take it one step further than you. I don’t count calories at all. 6 days a week I eat until I feel full at every meal, and one day a week I fast. Just had my body fat percentage checked today and came out at 10.4%, looks like my “laissez-faire” approach to nutrition is working!
By the by, really digging your site so far! I can tell good things are in store here.
Darrin´s last [type] ..Body Language Secrets to Look Like a Superhero
I truly believe on cycling everything … I know its weird but its part of the universe (another time)
I think cycling carbs, calories , exercise routines makes sense for our bodies and really kick it into gear
You just explained a trade secret in the fitness model industry
@ Dave,
Currently, I do ESE once per week. I’m really liking the results, though, so I may start adding in a second day perhaps every other week or so. I also love dining out on the weekends, so this type of routine is a no-brainer for me!
@ Darrin,
I actually don’t count calories myself. I just estimate. I feel like it’s way too nit-picky to try to track every single calorie you consume and I have a good enough handle now that I can approximate my intake each day to within 200-300 calories. So on a weekly basis, I may be off by 1,000 or 1,500 max which in the grand scheme of things is minimal when you are running a solid calorie deficit and exercising regularly.
I really enjoy your site too… especially the recipes. Keep up the good work!
@ Raymond,
Excellent point! I agree that cycling is key to obtaining optimal results. I eat very low-carb during the week and on the weekends, I go nuts on stuff like pizza and subs. Similarly with exercise, I try to mix up my routines so I’m not doing the same thing day in and day out or week in and week out.
I read this article last week and set about making a customized eating plan for myself (have spent way too much money on various other diet plans which are too extreme to maintain long term!)
I also took my maintenance calories minus 3500, and split that (11018) up into 7 days. I do intermittent fasting the day after my cheat day (Sunday), so I am fasting now.I will only eat tonight after about 20 hours of fasting.
The other days I split the rest of the calories up. After my cheat day yesterday however I am up 1.3kg and about 1% BF up.Does this ever happen to you….I know I’m only supposed to weigh once per week, but I can’t believe that I’ll lose this extra weight plus more by next weigh in?? Not happy with that!
Looking at your article again it seems like your cheat day is included in your weekly calorie count so even when you cheat you don’t go over the 12600 per week….am I right? When you cheat you still have to stick to the calorie count and not go over it? You can’t just go out and eat anything you want without being mindful of the total calories? For me, it’s easy to do the calories counting thing during the week, but going out to eat, how do you know how many calories you’re eating? Also, many of these diet “guru’s” who advocate cheat days make it seem like you can eat whatever and how much you like??
I would appreciate your comments here, I’m really getting disillusioned at the moment:-(
@ Natalie,
My weight and body fat percent always fluctuate throughout the week. Sometimes, my body fat percent is as much as 2% higher than the day before depending on my current physical state (whether or not I’ve eaten recently, how much I’ve eaten recently, how active I’ve been, water retention level, etc.) After a big cheat day with no exercise, my weight will go up 2-3 pounds. This is normal, so don’t stress about it. Don’t worry about the occasional weigh in where you gain a pound or two. If you keep a constant calorie defecit running, you will lose weight over time. That is a fact.
My cheat meals are included in my weekly calorie target, but this is just a guideline. Some weeks I will eat more, some weeks I will eat less. For example, this past week, I exercised a lot (3 weight training sessions, 1 body resistance workout, and 3 soccer games). My appetite was higher, so I probably went over the 12,600. I still didn’t lose any ground though, since I was so active. A general rule of thumb is to keep your calories in sync with your activity level. If you are doing nothing, eat less. If you are very active, you can afford to eat a little more (but not too much).
Remember, how much to eat is not an exact science, but more of something you get a feel for once you start paying attention. You know your body better than anyone, so don’t be afraid to make some tweaks to your plan. If over time, you find you’re not losing weight, lower your calorie target a little bit. Hope this helps and thanks for reading!
Thank you so much for this, makes sense! I’ll calm down a bit and keep doing the right things! It seems like a more livable way to do things than what I’ve tried before!
In South Africa, it is winter now, with Spring in September and I want to be in good shape for summer, so I’ll definately persevere.
Thanks again!
@ Natalie,
Anytime! It’s great that you’re starting a few months ahead. Many people underestimate how long it takes them to get as lean as they’d like. A lot of people think they can start their program a few weeks before summer, but in reality it takes much longer.
What an awesome write-up. It’s the plan I’m now following. I do still have the same number of calories per day but I’m going to mix it up. The whole notion that eating healthy foods will take away cravings for unhealthy foods is hogwash. Thank you so much for pointing that out. Finally, my feelings are validated on this issue. I went so far as to become vegan, at one point, because I thought that surely will be the healthiest I can be, so I won’t crave anything right? WRONG. This type of eating plan speaks volumes for what you can accomplish. It frees you from guilt and deprivation. You literally can have your cake and eat it to. –Thanks a bunch.
@ Rayca,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I feel a lot of normal people can stick with this type of eating plan and do really well because it allows them to indulge regularly without going overboard. It’s just a matter of time before you get used to skipping meals or taking a protein shake or something very low-calorie as a meal replacement and then, the whole process becomes second nature.
This is what I’m actually doing. So, I allow myself one day in a week to eat anything I want…anything…and I still can maintain my weight at best.
@ Mary,
I do the same. I’m a big believer that it’s good to have regular strategic cheat days because they provide psychological relief.