It is not easy for everyone to plunge into a diet plan. Even after a long diet, you will crave fatty snacks and meals someday.
But do not worry, You can still have your favorite food while dieting! How? By a planned indulgence, that is, you can pick up one day a week as a refeed day. You can eat whatever you wish to.
Just follow the do’s and don’ts of a cheat meal to avoid going off-track of your diet. To know the do’s and don’t in detail, read on!
What is a cheat meal?
We eat nutritional food to keep ourselves healthy. And we diet to lose weight. Proper diet food is eating fruits, grains, protein, veggies, and dairy. Instead, if we eat fatty food, sugar, and greasy food, our diet is futile.
But a cheat meal can give you the pleasure of eating the food of your choice and help with weight loss. A cheat meal is a meal that you can consume once without disturbing your diet.
What to consume as a cheat meal?
You can eat the food of your choice; it doesn’t mean you can eat everything. Yes, you can consume fatty, sugary, and greasy food but with more quantity of carbs in it rather than fat. Do not get confused! We are here to help you out with a few examples.
1. Burger, pizza, fries
Add more salads and veggies to your meal than extra cheese and sauces. Just remove the word extra and use less oil, cheese, mayo and other additionals. It will still be high in carbs and calories but will provide nutrition.
2. Pasta
You can have pasta as your cheat meal. But rather than refined wheat flour, you can eat chickpea pasta, spaghetti or meatballs. It consists of less fat and more carbs and protein. Also, it is enriched with fibres.
3. Chicken, eggs, and fish
Fish has protein, vitamins, calcium and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. And chicken and eggs have protein, vitamins and minerals; instead of frying, grill and enjoy them.
4. South Indian food
Most South Indian cuisine is steamed, less in calories like idli, appam, dosa, idiyappam and uthappam. You can enjoy them without the guilt of cheating on your diet.
5. Sweets
Try to eat sweets cooked with ingredients rich in fiber and protein. You can eat pancakes made with a batter of fruits, protein powder or flaxseed. Also, it will be good to intake sweets cooked in jaggery, stevia, or some fruit jams or sauces.
What are the do’s and don’ts of cheat meals?
A cheat meal boosts the metabolism of your body. But, if not done in the right way, it may encourage unhealthy behaviour. To evade any mistake in your diet, read the do’s and don’ts, which will help you properly follow a diet with an indulgent cheat meal.
What to do on a Cheat Meal?
To enjoy your cheat meal without gaining weight, you need to keep a few things in mind like,
1. Mindful eating
Your presence while eating is essential for dieting. If you focus entirely on what you are eating, the taste of the food, it will somehow affect your body’s protein, carbohydrates, fats, and calories. And also you will enjoy the food and be satisfied with what you ate.
Feel the food and eat slowly; this will reduce your cravings. You will not eat a lot as eating slowly will quickly fill your stomach.
2. Listen to cravings
Enjoy what you were craving. It will satisfy you and boost your energy for the rest of the days until the next cheat meal.
Just avoid failure cascades and relish the moment.
3. Make a plan
You are free to eat anything on a cheat day. Still, you need to make a rough plan like the other workout days. The planning chart must include the time of the meal and what you have decided to eat.
If there is an occasion on Monday, switch the day you already had a cheat day. Try to plan the cheat meal into your weekly calories if you want to eat for more than a day.
Also, plan the cheat meal on a day you have worked out to your limits.
4. Maintain a nutritional balance
Mostly, on cheat days, people do not eat food items they usually eat on workout days. But it is good to have nutritional food on cheat day also.
Cook whatever you crave, but add something to it rich in fibres and nutrients.
5. Small treat
Give yourself a treat every day but in a small quantity. A few calories will not make much difference to your diet plan.
6. Calorie count
Keeping a calorie count will help you out with maintaining your body. If you observe the intake of calories a day, you can consume calories on cheat day accordingly.
Save up calories on the rest of the days to have even more for the cheat meal.
7. Workout
After fulfilling your cravings, work out a little to build up your muscles to make the correct usage of calories you ate.
8. When to eat
It is best to eat a cheat meal for lunch. Why? Because your meal will contain sugar, fat and carbs, all of which takes time to digest. So, your stomach needs to work harder in the morning to digest the food.
And breakfast is said to be healthy. Therefore it’s better to eat something light in the morning.
9. Compensation
Try to compensate for the meal you ate, for the next cheat meal. It will balance the count of calories and will avoid weight gain.
10. Eat slow
Eating slowly prevents overeating by increasing fullness hormones and decreasing calorie intake.
What not to do on a Cheat Day?
With dos also come don’ts. Do not forget your diet on the cheat day.
Things that you strictly should not do are,
1. Overeating
Do not eat more than your body can take on a cheat meal. Have self-control and do not go off-track from your diet and workout.
2. Starving
A cheat day is a scheduled break in your diet. But, do not starve for food of your choice before the time for a cheat meal. Also, do not work out the whole week waiting for food of your choice.
3. No guilt
Do not feel guilty about the food you had as your cheat meal. The purpose of having a cheat meal is to reduce weight. It doesn’t matter what you eat on a cheat meal. Just work out intensely later to neutralize the body needs to keep it healthy.
Also, it is your choice to indulge in cheat meals; therefore, do not feel guilty about it.
4. Stick to cheat meal
Do not turn a cheat meal into a cheat day or month. It is a one-time meal a day, not three times.
Extending a meal might result in weight gain.
5. Exercise
Do not skip your workouts on the day of the cheat meal.
6. Goal
Do not forget your goal to achieve a perfect and healthy body. And stick to a proper diet again the next day of a cheat meal.
7. Hunger
If you are not feeling hungry, do not eat the meal for the sake of a cheat meal. It will result in weight gain and also an unhealthy body.
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Best Foods To Avoid For Weight Loss
Conclusion
A cheat meal is a planned indulgence that improves metabolism and helps in losing weight. There are some essential do’s and don’ts to eat a proper cheat meal.
Listen to your cravings rather than starving, and do not feel guilty about a cheat meal. Even in a cheat meal, it is essential to maintain a nutritional balance with a rough plan. And eat slowly with mindfulness, and do not eat until you feel hungry.
Do not go off-track of your diet plans, and feel free to ask any questions regarding this article in the comment section below.
