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A cheat meal is a meal where someone trying to lose weight, can eat and drink what ever he or she wants. It is a meal without any dietary restrictions. The cheat meal is a psychological escape that most people may need when they start a weight loss program.
It has no physical benefits. People have to realize that the excess calories from cheat meals will be stored as fat. The excess calories from a cheat meal will set you back somewhat and negate some of the effects of your weight loss efforts in the preceding week.
You should avoid cheat meals if you do not need them. Do not take a cheat meal just for the sake of taking it.
If you ever do need a temporary reprieve from the intense discipline of diet and exercise and need a psychological outlet, here are a set of cheat meal rules. These rules should allow you to relief the built-up pressure with minimum negative effect on your weight loss efforts. The intent of these rules is to satisfy your cravings while minimizing the impact of the excess calories.
1. You Only Deserve a Cheat Meal if You Have Been Diligent the Entire Week
The cheat meal is a reward for sticking to your weight loss program. You should have adhered to your diet plan and done all the necessary exercises. Make a plan or follow a program. You are only entitled to the cheat meal if you have followed your plan or program.
2. You Must be Exercising
Cheat meals are not allowed for those who are not exercising. People who are meagerly dieting are not entitled to cheat meals. If you want a cheat meal, get on an exercise program.
3. Cheat Meal is Limited to 1 Meal per Week
Limit your cheat meal to a single meal and not an entire cheat day. Do not make the mistake of going on a prolonged binge. There is a high tendency for a prolonged binge so you have to be weary.
4. Eat All You Can With One Fill of a 9 inch Plate
Fill all the food that you can eat on a 9 inch plate. Limit your cheat meal to this. A lot of food can go on a 9 inch plate. Most of the time, the cravings reduce dramatically when a few bites of a particular food is taken. In order to minimize damage, have a variety of the food you most craved during the week.
5. Limit to 1 Serving of Sweetened Beverage
You can take any type of sweetened beverage so long as it is limited to one serving. 1 serving is limited to a regular 8 ounce glass. Skip dessert if you take a smoothie, milk shake or yogurt based drink. These drinks have high calories and should not be taken with dessert.
6. Take 1 Serving of Dessert
Take only 1 serving of dessert. As mentioned above, forfeit dessert if you take a smoothie, milk shake or yogurt based drink.
7. Have Your Cheat Meal for Lunch instead of Dinner
It is not advisable to have your cheat meal for dinner. The overload of calories will cause more damage at night as your metabolism slows down when you go to sleep. A heavy meal taken earlier in the day has the potential to cause lesser damage.
8. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is prohibited with a cheat meal. Alcohol halts fat burning and this is the last thing that you want to do after consuming all the excess calories. It was found that even a single drink of alcohol had the potential to cause massive disruption to the metabolism.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s not a cheat; it’s a different kind of restriction.
Thanks for your comment. Its not a full cheat. its a cheat with rules to limit the damage.
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