Are Cheat Meals Necessary?

From talking to a good amount of my bodybuilding friends and coaches, one of the most common questions they get is about Cheat Meals!

How many?

When?

What?

How much?

The list goes on from there.

 

From what I've seen, "cheat meals" are great and as part of a balanced lifestyle to enjoy with loved ones, to give you some sense of normality and to also INCREASE their rate of progress when used at the right time. 

 

Here are some of the KEY pointers;

1. Do NOT justify eating garbage to be "balanced" when the reality is your body doesn't need it, or your current position doesn't warrant it. LOTS of people do this . . .

2. Know your limits - when you do have that "cheat meal" enjoy it and then move on. A LOT of people turn a "cheat meal" in to a "cheat day" where they binge on CRAZY amounts of junk. This isn't mentally healthy either, remember. Also, not everybody is like a IFBB Pro Juan Morel. Morel ate 20,000 calories on "cheat" Sunday.

3. Try and use a "cheat meal" as an opportunity to kick-start your metabolism and fill your muscle bellies. After prolonged periods of dieting in a calorie deficit, along with hard training you will potentially find doing this periodically (it will differ from one person to the next) will speed up your fat loss and keep you looking full. A good sign for the next day is when your hunger is noticeably higher when you go back to your baseline calorie/diet intake.