The nutrition plan for my Get Lean Program, although being well-balanced for long term results, may still be considered a bit restrictive for some people.  A reduction in caloric intake, starchy carbohydrates and processed foods can seem extreme to those who have developed non-supportive eating habits.  For this reason, among others, a Cheat Day (also referred to as a “Refeed Day”) is recommended in my program. Psychologically, it’s much easier to make changes to your nutrition when you know you will have an opportunity to indulge yourself on occasion. Re-feed Days also have a very real benefit to your long term fat loss physiologically.

Here is an example of one of my more recent cheat meals… this is after a powerlifting competition and a few of us decided to go all out:

Despite being somewhat controversial, the idea of a cheat day, or at least a cheat meal, is a common element in many popular nutrition plans and diets.  Myself, I cheat almost every Saturday (if I’ve been in a caloric deficit for at least a few weeks). I consume extra calories from whatever sources I want (as long as I don’t “undo” my net caloric deficit for the week). The main reason I include a weekly cheat meal is not so much for the mental aspect or to settle any cravings, but rather to support a healthy metabolism.

Here’s another example of one of my cheat meals:

As Tim Ferriss writes about in his book The 4 Hour Body, significantly spiking your calorie intake once per week can help you lose body fat by keeping your metabolic rate and thyroid function in high gear.  While reducing calories during the week will help you lose fat, it can also negatively affect your production of thyroid hormones T3 and T4, which are partly responsible for maintaining a higher metabolism.  The cheat day helps you avoid this problem.

Now I don’t suggest using this as a licence to go crazy with your cheat days (as demonstrated in the video below), but it’s nice to know that enjoying a high-calorie indulgence once a week can actually be beneficial. Cheat meals are great tools when used correctly, but used incorrectly they can sabotage your progress. Here are some signs that it may really be time for a cheat meal:

  • Your workouts are crappy on a regular basis (no pump, poor strength, lack of focus).
  • Your body temperature is starting to drop (you feel cold ALL the time).
  • Your fat loss has plateaued and reducing calories isn’t helping.
  • You just dropped a lot of weight in a short amount of time (not including the first week of dieting, when you drop water and glycogen weight).

If one or more of these apply to you, a cheat meal is warranted. If none of these apply to you, you probably don’t need a cheat meal.

The following video could be considered to be taking things too far… this is what I call my Epic Cheat Meal. Prepare to be amazed by my glorious creation! (Vegetarians, I suggest you avert your eyes!):

Regardless of the benefits of a planned cheat meal, I know that sometimes a heavy meal or “junk food” will sneak it’s way into your diet outside of your regular planned cheat day. This is especially common during the holidays. There are some things you can do to help manage your binge days, however.  Here are a few things I recommend to prevent fat gain from your cheat meals:

1. Start your day with a low carb, high protein meal.  To minimize the release of insulin, make sure your first meal of your “cheat day” is high in protein and lower in carbohydrates.

2. Exercise before your cheat meal.  When you perform an intense workout before you binge, you deplete glycogen stores and increase the storage of calories in your muscle cells rather than fat cells.

3. Take an antioxidant supplement called Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), as well as a high-Allicin garlic supplement, about 20 minutes before your heavy meal.  ALA and Allicin both improve insulin sensitivity and help to shuttle calories into muscle glycogen storage.  R-form ALA is recommended. You can order high quality supplements with excellent prices at  True Nutrition … use the discount code TOPFORM for 5% off your order.

GreenTea

4. Drink some green tea during your bigger binge meals, and drink a strong black coffee 20 minutes after to speed up gastric emptying.  The green tea also helps to regulate your blood sugar and insulin, while the black coffee / caffeine after will help move the food through your digestive system more quickly so that less of it is actually absorbed and stored as fat. You can also take a Green Tea extract supplement called EGCG to get a more concentrated dose of the effective qualities in green tea. In fact, in his book the 4 Hour Body, Tim Ferriss recommends stacking EGCG with ALA and Allicin before your cheat meals.

 

5. Perform some brief muscular contraction exercises around your cheat meal.  Even doing about 1 minute of light bodyweight exercises such as air squats and wall pushups right before and about an hour after you eat will stimulate something called glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4) to the surface of your muscle cells, which can also increase the storage of energy in muscle.

6. Choose the same day each week as your cheat day.  Be consistent.  The rest of your week you need to eat lean and “clean” in order to take advantage of this fat loss protocol.

Good luck and enjoy!

By the way, here is some fun related research that indicates what the world’s most popular “cheat meal” is:

Sports supplement brand BULK POWDERS™ wanted to find out what their customers’ – ranging from amateur fitness fans to professional athletes – top choice of meal or snack was to break their diet with. Their survey was undertaken by 761 people from 28 different countries, and the results revealed that takeaway pizza was the favourite indulgence of the some of worlds most health conscious people, with 17% of the total votes. Alcohol ranked second in the global survey, with other takeaways (such as Chinese, Indian and Caribbean) placing third.

Takeaway pizza also ranked the top for much of Europe, with the UK,  Bulgaria, Austria and Denmark finding that a takeaway hit the spot – but shunning the option of a supermarket pizza. It came as no surprise to find that in Italy, home to the world’s best Gelato, 40% of votes went to ice cream, whilst in Ireland, the birthplace of Guinness, 17% of votes went to alcohol. Findings from outside the EU revealed that whilst the residents of California favoured fast food burger meals such as McDonalds, the USA as a whole agreed with Ireland with over 20% of votes for alcohol.

It’s kinda cool to see what foods different populations choose to indulge on. Check out the full article here: http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/blog/favourite-cheat-meal-results/

Eat up!

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