cheat day

Alchol on low calorie, is hard..... fat in your diet, and on your body both have positive effects on helpnig you handle alcohol. When I went from 28% body fat to 17 -- I went from being able to drink a bottle of jack daniels and be coherent and at work the next day, to feeling just 2 glasses of wine and being done with 3.

A lot of diet books are now coming out with this theory....... eat 300-500 calories below your base metabolic rate 4 days a week. Eat at your base metabolic rate 2 days a week, and eat 400-500 calories above your base metabolic rate 1 day a week. This tends to maximize weight lose, and gives you your cheat day. The problem so many people have is that as you cut calories, your decrease your metabolism and your body fights hard to store the little bit of fat that it can.

I have a base metabolic rate around 2500 calories a day, and I find that I can maintain a 1200 calorie in take. It requires a lot of vitamins because I am working to keep my metablism high despite the low calorie diet. I lose about 2-3 pounds of fat a week, and with my high intensity training I convert another 1-2 pounds of fat to muscle every week. I don't use the cheat day method, the results have been so great for me -- that they have kept me motivated.... though I don't drink very often any more, I do feel guilty when dinner consists of just some vitamins and some wine to stay within the calorie count. Don't feel guilty or worry about eating a desert once a week! Do work hard not to eat negative carbs late in the day as often as you can through.

While your body adapts to the 1200 calorie diet, it can be helpful to use weight management fiber --- it will only consume 4 calories, and explodes in your stomache to make your body think you ate much more.

I'll be honest... cheat meals or cheat days are too "diet-ish" for me. I would much rather enjoy what I am craving when I'm craving it - I simply do it in moderation. Instead of an entire package of cookies, I'll have 1 or 2. It satisfies my craving NOW vs having to wait. This isn't a diet to me, it is a lifestyle change and changing the way I live my life means eating better and working out - but it IS my life and I want to enjoy the small things... like a cookie or a Reese's peanut butter cup and I want to do it NOW. I'm all about instant gratification.

does anyone find it helps to have one cheat day a week on your diet?

I think it's perfectly okay to have a cheat MEAL once a week. But I wouldn't expand that into an entire cheat DAY. I can easily eat 4,000 calories if I cheated all day long (that's how I gained 30 lbs.!). But if I did that, I would potentially blow nearly a week's worth of progress. See what I mean?

Tonight, for example, I had very few calories up until 6 p.m. and worked all day long on a project that involved a lot of physical labor. That was the perfect excuse for a cheat meal, since I never would have caught up to my 1,900-calorie daily goal otherwise (not to mention the calories burned by my higher-than-expected level of physical activity). So my wife and I went to our favorite Mexican place, and I had some chips and salsa, a cheese enchilada, some rice and beans, and a half a taco.

I don't feel the least bit guilty! But again, you should probably limit yourself to a cheat meal, not an entire day's worth of cheating.

Aaron