all about cheat day

Of all the common mistakes, I’ve found that cheat day tends to be my downfall. So I wanted to share some tips I’ve developed along the way…

Although again, it’s important to find what works best for you and your lifestyle.

why do we need a cheat day?

Increasing up our food intake for 12-24 hours every week is an important reset for our bodies.

The spike in calories causes a heap of hormonal changes which assist fat loss. This includes improving the conversion of the T4 thyroid hormone to the more active T3. This increases fat loss by ensuring your metabolism doesn’t slow down due to extended periods of lower calorie intake.

The other benefit is psychological. Everyone binges eventually on a diet so it’s better to plan for and manage it.

how to minimise cheat day damage

eat proper meals
I’ve had a few cheat days where it’s started with chocolate for breakfast and continued with me picking at things all day. And I mean all day. If there’s one sure way to make yourself sick (and undo all your good work), it’s to keep eating constant dribbles of crap.

When I keep my cheats to proper meals, like a big plate of potato ravioli, risotto, a lovely sourdough sandwich or pizza and only have the odd snack in between, I find I not only enjoy my food on cheat day more, I feel much better come Sunday morning. And the scales tend to be kinder as well.

have a high protein breakfast
If I have a good Slow Carb high protein breakfast of eggs and spinach or lentils, and then start my cheating at lunch, my cheat day damage is much more moderate.

limit your cheats for lunch & dinner
While it is fun to go crazy with your cheat day snacks, I try not to do this every week. By concentrating my cheats at lunch, dinner and dessert with a generous helping of vino I really make the most of my cheat day and feel a lot better afterward.

drink lots of water
With the extra carbohydrates you’re consuming on cheat day, it’s even more important to drink enough water. This is because the digestion process for carbohydrates requires quite a bit of water and if you’re not drinking enough, your body will use water from other places which can lead to headaches and general not-goodness.

try not to spread your cheats across multiple days
To get the maximum benefit of cheat day, you really need to get a good spike in your calorie intake over a short period of time. This is difficult to achieve if you have a cheat breakfast on Monday, then a cheat dinner on Friday.

Of course you need to work a way around your social life. But just because you’re going out for dinner or breakfast doesn’t mean you can’t be Slow Carb for those meals. I find pretty much anywhere except for a pizza place or my favourite bakery offers plenty of slow carb meals. I tend to just think like I’m gluten intolerant and order accordingly.

eat out for your cheat meals
There are two benefits here. Eating out is great fun and even better when you have no dietary restrictions.

It also means that you won’t have tempting leftovers lying around the house for the rest of the week.

don’t be afraid to eat out during the rest of the week
Apart from pizzerias and bakeries, I find it isn’t that hard to eat out and stay Slow Carb. So don’t feel like you need to curtail your social life to stick to this way of eating.

Breakfast is easy, just choose your favourite eggs and accompaniments and ask them to skip the toast. A big salad at lunch is easy to find. Just make sure it is substantial enough with some protein included. Dinner is easy in most places. Steak and salad is always a good standby. And if you’re having Asian food, just asked for an extra serving of steamed veggies instead of the rice to soak up your curry.

If you’re vegetarian it can be a bit more tricky if you’re only given the choice of a vegetarian pasta or risotto – best to check the menu ahead if you can.

From an alcohol perspective, it’s fine to have a glass or two of wine so that isn’t going to hinder your social life. Just try to keep it to 2 glasses max except for cheat day.

At the end of the day it isn’t the end of the world if you eat a little cheese, or have a taste of toast. You just don’t want to be eating a whole meal of cheats apart from your designated one day a week.

get rid of cheat food from your house before the next day
Willpower is over rated. I find if I have cheats in the house, they end up talking to me when they shouldn’t. Even if I have the best intentions, I find it’s much easier to just keep non-Slow Carb foods away.

can you get away with just one cheat meal per week?

According to Tim Ferriss most men can but some women can’t.

Apparently menstruation can stop if leptin levels get too low. Tim mentions this happened to one of his readers until she started having a cheat day every second week. Overfeeding on cheat day can temporarily increase your leptin levels by 40% and reverse any issues with low leptin.

And if you’re wondering, leptin is a hormone that is related to satiety and knowing when we are full.

can I spread my ‘cheats’ throughout the week?

It’s better to keep your cheat day to the one day mainly because then you get the benefits of ‘resetting’ your metabolism. If you start decreasing your calorie intake, your body and metabolism will start to slow down, making it more difficult to continue losing weight. By having one cheat day a week where you’re eating heaps of food your body thinks there is an abundance and your metabolism is increased.

If you spread your cheats throughout the week you miss out on the benefits of resetting your metabolism. Which will make it more difficult to achieve your goals.

The other benefit is that it’s easier to avoid overdoing the cheats if you keep them all to one day. As Laura mentioned on flickr, she always feels slightly disappointed that things don’t taste as great on cheat day as the anticipation. That’s part of the point of cheat day – to realise that the things you crave or have been denying yourself aren’t as good as your imagination.

can I change my cheat day

Absolutely! If you have a special event that you’d like to plan around and have cheat day on a Friday on week and Sunday the next. Feel free to do so. It’s all good.

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