The most common reason for
including a cheat meal is for the psychological break it gives and the
sense of normality, often with loved ones or solo which you can miss out on if
your diet is overly restrictive. Balance is a big part of making this a LIFESTYLE.
However from a physiological perspective cheat meals can be very powerful if you choose to use them at the correct time!!
If
you have a good understanding of your body, you know where your diet is
and you're progressing including cheat meals can make you progress even
faster whilst enjoying a mental break.
In
terms
of fat loss, you're almost creating a "cycle" where you throw a lot of
fuel on the fire, let it burn and as it begins to go down you add more
fuel again. This cycle can help create an environment whereby your
metabolism peaks and burns through stored energy quickly (while running
on your "normal" calorie intake) before going up again.
Doing
this also helps with the longevity of your fat loss journey because you
are protecting your metabolism. I've seen so
many people force their body into a negative position by going too low
on calories and doing too much which leads to their metabolism adapting
and becoming stagnant.
As
you get lean even factors like leptin become a factor (the "starvation"
hormone). If leptin levels reach too low then fat loss becomes
increasingly hard to attain. How do we raise leptin levels? More
calories, specifically carbohydrates!
The key factor with cheat meals
is timing and NOT justifying having garbage in your diet when you don't really need it!
With "cheat meals" remember most get this wrong and BINGE for a day. That's not what I'm saying here, so please be mindful of that.
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