Don't Cheat Yourself of a Cheat Meal

A buddy of mine once joked that the two of the most important things to enjoy in life are food and beer...that might be part right. There's so much amazing food out there to savor! Let's face it, we're not all robots and we have to break from the norm and enjoy the pizzas, the pancakes, and the cookies from time to time.

It's important to know that it's not a bad thing to enjoy a cheat meal every once in awhile. Not everyone can throw down a cheat meal like The Rock, but I think there are ways we can all enjoy our favorites. Here are some guidelines to model your cheat meals by:

1. Cheat meal not a cheat day: There's a reason this is listed in the lead-off spot. Cheat meal = Acceptable, Cheat day = overkill. For the most part, your regimen has probably been fairly clean. A cheat meal can test your discipline and, in a lot of cases, can strengthen your resolve. A little taste of something different can be enough to hold you over and really keep you sane. When cheat meals start to turn into cheat days, that's when we start to negate the tireless work and we begin to veer off track.


2. Make a plan: You know best what your training regimen is like but it's best to have no more than two cheat meals a week. With that in mind, create a strategy for when you know you can indulge a little bit in some of these tasty treats. I normally have about one cheat meal a week and plan for it to be on either Saturday or Sunday (as scheduling permits). I ate pretty clean this week and was able to enjoy a few slices of my favorite pizza while watching some football this weekend with some friends. Knowing when this was going to happen and having a plan made it easier to avoid temptations that pop up throughout the week.
   


3. Train before your meal: I try to make sure that cheat days never match up with rest days. It's important to align a training day with a cheat meal to help offset some of what we're enjoying. Some people jokingly call this a zero-sum war, and, to an extent, it kind of is. Ultimately though, we want to be able to have our cake and eat it too by being able to enjoy our food without having to deal with some of the repercussions. 


4. Portion control: Don't forget to moderate with this meal just like you would any other meal. Balance is still something to keep in mind. Quantity means having enough to stave off temptation but not going past the point of being full. 


5. Forget the guilt: Enjoy your meal! The point here is to be able to take a break and relax the mind and body. 

Above all else, remember that a cheat meal is a part of your overall diet. It's crucial that we don't have the mindset that the other meals during the week are a series of labors meant to punish and test us and the cheat meal is the big relief from all of that. Enjoy your meals during the week and savor your next cheat meal as a part of your overall health and lifestyle.