Most diet plans today are restricted in some way. They may restrict fat, carbs, meat, sugar or whatever.
What many of them have in common is that they suggest a “cheat meal” or a “cheat day” once per week.
They say that a cheat meal will boost metabolism, and reduce cravings for unhealthy food. I disagree.
Below I’ve listed 10 reasons why having a cheat meal may not be a good idea.
The cake might taste better than the apple, but is it worth it?
1. Feeding the Junk Food Addiction
I believe that junk food addiction is real, and that many people can not succeed in eating healthy because of it. Having a cheat meal every week basically feeds that addiction, and may lead to full-blown relapse.
Now, you wouldn’t tell a nicotine addict only to have cigarettes on Saturdays?
2. Doesn’t help reduce cravings
This is kind of similar to tip 1 above. If you are physically or psychologically dependant on something, having it every now and then will not reduce cravings, but actually keep them coming back again and again.
3. Eating way too much
It is common when people cheat, that they completely lose control and destroy a week’s worth of dieting. I might be unusual, but I’ve eaten 5000 calories in a single meal. That’s TWO DAYS of calories.
4. Guilt afterwards
After doing really well on a diet for a few days, it can cause a lot of guilt to have that cheat meal, unless maybe if the person manages to keep self control and not completely overeat.
5. Doesn’t raise your metabolism
I’ve read it countless times that eating a cheat meal will raise metabolism and should therefore help with weight loss. I haven’t seen any evidence to support this and I don’t really believe in it.
Also, do you think that when scientists are doing research studies on diet plans, that they allow people to cheat once per week? Of course not!
6. Junk food is unhealthy
Junk food is unhealthy. That is probably the reason why you quit eating it in the first place (duh). Having it once a week is clearly worse than having none at all.
7. Some things take a while to leave your system
There are many nasty things in junk food, such as trans fats. They can take a long time to disappear from your system, and if you keep eating them every now and then, they will never completely leave your body.
8. Taste sensation doesn’t manage to adapt
When you stop eating junk food, one of the things that happens is that with time your taste sensation adapts, and food that isn’t overly processed starts to taste good. Cheating once a week interrupts this.
9. Body doesn’t manage to adapt to the new fuel
When changing the diet, one thing the body does is ramp up enzyme production in order to start using a different fuel. This is especially important for eating plans that don’t allow sugar and grains.
If you keep cheating once in a while, the adaptation won’t fully complete.
10. Knowing that cheating is not an option makes things easier
Trust me on this.. when a cheat meal is not an option, it makes sticking to a diet much, much, much easier.
Anything else?
If your cheat days/meals have been causing you problems, or downright preventing you from being successful in the long-term, then these tips above should really do you good.
After all, what we should be after is not try to go on a “diet”, but to actually make a lifestyle change in order to live a healthier, happier life.
If there are any other reasons you can think of why not to have a cheat meal, or reasons why you believe cheat meals are essential, please post them in the comments section below.
Good Article,
I always liked to have a cheat meal; however, you have provided a few great points on why it may be doing more harm than I thought.
Will have to quite having those cheat meals.
Thanks
Bryan
During my athletic training days, I operated by the “cheat day” principle and, exactly as you mentioned, while I was really fit and trim, I did not fully change the habits and cravings that were so detrimental. Now, I eat whole and living foods daily with very little wiggle room, which has served me much better for overall health and long term stability.
I couldn’t agree more. I know a bunch of people are talking about some 4 hour diet/4 hour body plan or something similar to that. I voiced my concern that a cheat weekend would do nothing but set them up for disastrous results, but no one wanted to hear it. I haven’t ever been back to that blog so I don’t know how they’re doing, but it won’t matter because until they’re on this cheat type program for a year or more, they probably won’t know the extent of the metabolic damage it will do, not to mention the psychological damage. A cheat day sounds wonderful to those considering dieting, but you’re right about the fact that it is much easier to continuously eat a certain way if you follow a healthy food regimine in the first place and a cheat day won’t be necessary.
Great post on the realities of the “Cheat Day” mindset. As an experiment (we’re prone to do those) I have my husband doing the 4-Hour-Body plan. We’ve been paleo for about a year now and he still can’t seem to shake the last few inches of belly fat, so we thought meh – why not give the plan a shot. When we started eating paleo, we never did the “day off” thing, so this is a really novel concept for us. We had our first “cheat” on Wednesday night – some candy at the movie theater (and he had a diet Dr. Pepper), and woke up with a serious candy hangover the next day. We both agreed that the next free day (which, per my rules, must be gluten free no matter what) would involve watermelon, not PB M&Ms.
Great post!
Thanks a lot for the comments guys :)
There are really mixed opinions about cheat meals, I think a lot of people, especially those who have a real hard time cleaning up their diet, would do well to skip the cheat meals.
I completely understand and value all your points, although I do still support “cheat” meals.
I personally like to use cheat meals as restriction-less meals, not necessarily unhealthy (although it does happen), but meals that are free from worry about having too much of “x”.
I don’t think having a cheat meal requires that the food necessarily be unhealthy, but I do believe that it can be a nice psychological break to allow yourself more of a healthy food that you love, a nice addition to the meal you don’t consistently indulge in, ect…
BTW, I’m glad you’ve selected an opposing view to what many fitness bloggers would say today, helps us all learn (coming from someone who just put an article up on cheat meals ;) ).
Good points, I agree that if the cheat meal actually has healthy food then it’s all good :)
For example some people on a low-carb diet like to do carb-ups every now and then and eat a bunch of carbs in a day. If the carbs are healthy starches, great. If the carbs are coming from sugar, refined wheat and possibly with some trans fat mixed in, then that is baaad.
I disagree with just about everything that you say here. Your first mistake is not stating that diets, diet plans and work out routines vary with everyone. Cheat meals are essential to bodybuilding. You are giving out twisted info. Obviously if you have a weight problem, a cheat meal is out of the question. But what about those of us who work hard? I lift weights 4-5 times a week, I spin 4 times a week, and I also play three soccer games a week. This work load demands calories, and to keep my lean muscle,(and even gain muscle) and LOSE fat at the same time. While I eat a perfect meal schedule(egg whites, brown rice, spinach, chicken, flax etc.) my body uses this food to refuel, by the end of the week, I am “tired” in a way, almost physically drained..I also notice that, “hey, my muscles look a little smaller”. My body has now entered starvation mode. Although I sustain high caloric intake daily, with the work load and constant diet of low sodium foods , the body almost gets “immune” to your diet. At this point, I have my CHEAT MEAL. It is essential!!!! And a wonderful reward for hard hard work! Fast food, pizza, Chinese food. These are the big 3. Pig out, because your body will love u for it. Immediately your body will
Feel relieved and now knows it is not in starvation mode. (extra calories from cheat meal). The next day? Sure you’ll be a little
Bloated, water will be kept inside from all
The sodium, but if u work out hard, lift, do intense cardio, then eat PERFECT, all week, the water weight and whatever u gained from that cheat meal will fly off u so fast, u will
Be looking forward to the next cheat day when u have a ripped six pack 4 days later, thus proving the cheat meal is essential to bodybuilding.
All based on diet plan of 5 meals
Consisting of chicken or fish
Brown rice or sweet potato or whole grain bread
Asparagus or spinach or broccoli
Flax seed, organic peanut butter, or olive oil or nuts
Occasional fruit. Banana, apple, strawberry grapefruit,
Blueberries
Ron: If you would have read more of this blog, it’s not really catered toward the bodybuilding crowd.
I’m more in the business of trying to find ways for regular people to achieve optimal health without killing themselves in the gym and becoming obsessed with diet. You obviously exercise more than 99% of the people out there, so what applies to them might not apply to you.
For people looking for optimal health, and especially those who have a hard time cleaning up their diet because of cravings and such, I believe those cheat meals do more harm than good.
However, like another commenter said here above, the “cheat” meals can be fine if they are still made of healthy food but not sugar and trans-fat laden junk.
P.S. I don’t believe in the fact that only eating healthy food, not junk, will lead your body into “starvation mode”. That’s just not true.
Sorry Muscle guy, your not the Norm ! There is no way I can have a Cheat day, food is like a drug and once I cheat thats it for me. Cheating with food is like telling a drug addict to take your drug once a weal to carve the craving. Im not the brightest color in the crayon Box but what I know is, sticking with my paleo way of eating with out “cheating” is the best thing to do for people.. Keep in mind, eating this way is not a “Diet Plan” its a healthy way of eating 7 days a week.. There are many recipes s out there (primal/paleo) to kill the sweet cravings.. okay, I feel better now :-)
[TO QUOTE Ron Conte :
All based on diet plan of 5 meals
Consisting of chicken or fish
Brown rice or sweet potato or whole grain bread
Asparagus or spinach or broccoli
Flax seed, organic peanut butter, or olive oil or nuts
Occasional fruit. Banana, apple, strawberry grapefruit,
Blueberries [end QUOTE}
If this is all you're consuming, no wonder you need a cheat day. Where's the beef? Where's the butter and the good, healthy oils? Where's the eggs? Where's the health-building raw milk? I can see why you're body is entering starvation mode.
How can someone who is a body builder (which I am not, by the way) exist on a "diet" made up of those foods you listed? I mean, those all are good and wonderful foods, but where's the protein? Do you take handfuls of supplements? If not, where are the nutrient-dense foods needed to make up your nutritional profile of necessary proteins, enzymes, probiotics, minerals and vitamins? Those should be coming from the foods we eat, but they won't be coming from the list you provided.
I just think it looks like you're "diet" is lacking in a lot of areas.
Wait, what?
The proteins are in the chicken and fish.
The carbs are in the sweet potatoes, rice, whole grains and fruits
The fats are in nuts, peanut butter and olive oil
And spinach and broccoli gives you vitamines and iron.
What more do you need, really?
I mean, if you work out like this guy, you’re gonna need a lot of it, but it sounds like healthy low-carb food to me.
Well said, D :)
Since I’m right in the middle of a whole30, I can completely identify with this post – including the idea that it’s so much easier if cheating just isn’t an option.
I think having “relaxed” days or meals is important. Otherwise one can become very stressed over their diet and as we all know, stress leads to wait gain ;) I have relaxed meals at restaurants or occasionally when I’m hanging out with friends. I’ll have very dark chocolate, or sometimes potatoes, I’ll eat a little more than usual, or I’ll eat foods cooked in butter at a restaurant. This keeps me from falling into that obsessive way of thinking about food that so many women I know suffer from. As an ex-super strict calorie counter this is really important for me, eating disorders leave some nasty psychological scars that even paleo may not fix. Great post though, really well done thank you.
Hey,
Just happened to stumble on this article today and it makes sense to me in a few ways but there may be something to touch on that’s missing. I think for some people that do have a difficult time with food “addictions” and unhealthy habits that cheating in the form of junk food and crap probably should be avoided. Constant calorie restriction for the purpose of losing body fat (notice I did not say weight) however, can render the body in a deficient state. And without delving into hormones, cortisol/insulin responses, leptin and all sorts of other complicated chemical/hormonal pathways there are things to be said for having a hearty, overthetop, calorie dense day to spike leptin levels and reset the body into “happy” mode. It allows the body to recover from gym time/hard workouts/calorie restriction/stress/etc. There are multiple resources online and in published peer-reviewed literature to support the hormonal response that comes from a once a week or one meal per week refeed (so to speak) when on a calorie restricted diet. I’m sure we have all known several women and men that while cutting back calories in an effort to lose weight….that after a while the weight loss has diminished if not stopped alltogether after some time. Constant “dieting” and calorie restriction all day every day is not the best, nor the most efficient way to health.
For a lot of people out there who are watching what they eat…… those of us who do eat “real” unprocessed vegetables, fruit, nuts and other healthy fat sources, “happy” meat and dairy and eggs aka organic, pastured, grass-fed, free-range, etc….I will say this – eating real food and allowing fiber, vitamins, minerals, water into the body and putting down anything in a box/wrapper and with an ingredient list more than one line long will do more for you than writing down calories in everything and restricting yourself all day every day. If I want a steak or a burger, I have it….if I want an omelet I have it and if I want to go out for ice cream, I’ll do it. Do I make this a regular habit, hell no because I like the way I look – strong and fit. I eat to train, I do not train to eat. I enjoy food and going out but I also eat my way to stay healthy, not get sick, work two jobs and get through some hellacious workouts.
Thanks for the article and for allowing us to comment!
Depends on how you define cheating. I *never* eat grains, but about every six months I have a dish of vanilla ice cream. Occasionally I have a bit too much dark chocolate
(70% or higher) Incidentally, many years ago I went from smoking two packs a day to smoking about two packs a month. I did this for 7 years. 20 years ago, I had my last cigarette.
Thanks for a lot of great comments, I really appreciate it.
I do agree about the relaxed days and re-feeds. When restricting calories it does make sense to eat more than usual once in a while, and as long as it comes from healthy food instead of junk food then I think that’s a great thing to do.
When I refer to a “cheat meal/day” in the article, I’m more thinking in the ways of complete junk laden with sugar, trans fat, refined wheat and other similarly horrible things.
This is so right on, no cheat meal. When you are on a healthy diet you detox to some extent. Why put the garbage back in, this isn’t a good policy. Also, it isn’t easy to jump back on the wagon. If you are a sugar or carb addict it’s like one drink will hurt you.
Cheating means you didn’t close the account. The problem with a cheat meal it usually is made up of everything you liked or were addicted to. Having said that there are some people that can do it once in awhile. However, when the cheat meal is once a week it can make a difference on how you do.
Fortunately, because the type of exercise I do (HIT) completely depletes my body of glycogen, my “cheat meal” isn’t a small step backwards in physical health for the sake of some psychological or social step forward, but an essential part of my physical health.
Mostly opinion. Those parts that are testable are not backed up with any data. Useless article, unless your goal was to cause controversy to up pageviews and discussion. In which case, well done.
Graham,
this isn’t really a scientific type of article but I believe everything in it to be true. Do you have any data yourself to prove that any of it is wrong?
If you can be more specific then we can talk about it.
Great article.Keep up the good work Kris. As with anything there will be opposition to your view points. Don’t let it hinder you. The fitness industry is saturated with tons of information (most of which conflicts with each other). You’re a med student so I do believe you do a bit more research on the topics than most of us,(as you need extensive research to form a definitive thesis), but I digress.
We all need to remember that everything doesn’t work for everyone. Our bodies respond differently than the next man or woman. Carb depleting might work for this person but the other person’s metabolism may slow down to compensate for the shortage. Certain things work for certain people.
Keep doing whatever works for you!
While I agree with some of your points and understand the spirit of the rules, I will stick with what has been working for me. I lost 25lbs last month and I have a cheat meal every weak. I eat less than 1500 calories a day and I don’t eat pasta, rice, potatoes, or fried food 6 1/2 days a week so I like to have something I like to eat as a reward. A hamburger, some fajitas w/ flour tortillas, or maybe some chips and salsa. The biggest thing is I never stuff myself or go crazy. Like yesterday during the football games we had homemade cheese enchiladas with homemade turkey chili on top. Anyway, just wanted to say that for some people cheat meals don’t always mean eating a whole fried chicken and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream.
Kenneth, I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you :)
I’m a little foggy on what you consider a “cheat meal” Please clarify if you can. Do you mean eating well for a week and then for instance going to McDonalds on Saturday and having Big Mac, large fries and soda? You see you never explained it well enough.
What I like to do is go to someplace like Outbacks Steakhouse and order a 9 oz (or less) Sirloin which is the leanest and less fattiest cut of steak plus it is small, order mash potatoes thus cutting out the unhealthy oil soaked french fries, have salad, some little bread they give you on the side, drink water and naturally have no desert at all. Is that destroying my diet? I’d love to know because I know better than to binge on fast foods, drink tons of soda, eat sugary crap, etc but like I said whatever a “cheat meal” is, you were kinda vague on what you think it to be.
Btw, that picture of you above looking at the plate with the apple and the brownie is a bit misleading. While I understand you’re trying to make a point, all I can conclude from it is “Ok I get the point, don’t eat brownies, etc” But then again an apple or a brownie on one hand or the other wouldn’t be considered a “meal” of any type and you ARE talking about meals here aren’t you?
By cheat meal I mean an unhealthy junk food meal. Eating more than usual of healthy food like you described is absolutely fine.
I think that cheat meals can definitely have an adverse effect on diets, especially on the average person. Most people who try to lose weight don’t properly understand nutrition, and simply cut calories without cutting out simple carbs. I agree with a lot of your points and feel that people who exercise 3-4 times a week, even at what most people consider an “intense level”, don’t exercise enough to warrant a cheat meal. If you jog a mile in 10 minutes, you’re likely to burn around 100 calories. Most people can’t jog 5 miles a day to compensate for the 3000 calorie cheat meal.
I went from being physically unfit (had not exercised in over 5 years) straight to lifting heavy weights 6 times a week, coupled with HIIT cardio. I didn’t even have a transition period where I gradually increased exercising. I literally walked into a gym, signed up, and began my work outs. The body adapts very quickly, and I feel like people, women in particular, do not work out or push themselves hard enough when they do. The ‘light weights, high reps’ is bullshit. In order to stimulate any muscle growth at all, you need to create small muscle tears by pushing yourself. If the average person did indeed burn about 500 calories per workout, and ate healthily the rest of the week, it would be fine to have a cheat meal once a week to alleviate the stress that accompanies dieting. It gives people something to look forward to, and I think that’s very important. It also gives people the option of eating out with friends once a week. Dieting is honestly a matter of discipline, and the problem with cheat meals is that a lot of the time people don’t just have a meal. They’ll have an entire day where they just pig out on crappy foods and that’ll wreck your diet for sure. If you have one meal with some red meat, some refined carbs, a soda or dessert even, it might set your calorie count back a bit, but if you have a proper exercise and diet regimen, the pounds will still come off. I lost over 12lbs in a month and a half and I wasn’t even overweight to begin with. I also had giant cheat meals every week. I reduced my body fat % from 27% to 21% in that time.
I do believe that calories affect your weight. If you eat a ridiculous amount of calories a day, you’re going to gain weight unless you burn it off. And if you eat too few, you’re going to lose weight. That’s the simple truth of the matter. Otherwise, starvation and anorexia wouldn’t be an issue. In the end, I don’t think cheat meals are really a problem for someone who is truly pursuing a fit lifestyle. I think people just have a warped sense of what’s considered healthy, a warped sense of portion size, and a warped sense of what’s considered adequate exercise. (It has to be intense, or it has to be for a long period of time. The first is better.) Running a mile a day is a joke when it comes to weight loss, and most people can’t even do that. People grossly overestimate the number of calories they need for their sedentary lifestyles (even while dieting), underreport how much they eat, overestimate how hard they’re exercising, and then pig out on their cheat meals, which often turn into cheat days. The cheat meal itself isn’t really the issue; its our lack of discipline and our skewed perspectives.
Thanks for a great comment.
I think one cheat meal per week is fine. I went from 19% bodyfat to 10% in 2 months by having one cheat meal per week. I think the important thing to really remember is to not cheat with sugar like candy, cakes, etc, foods that convert to fat in your body.
I agree! It’s the distinction between “cheat meal” and a “carb refeed”.
Oh, my God!!! I always knew that sweets are my downfall. But now, I realize that I’m a recovering sugar addict. For that reason, a cheat meal will not be good for me. This is compatible with the recovering alcoholic. It’s not how many drinks he/she may have, to blame for the relapse, but it is the first one. Thanks for the enlightenment. I have lost over 15 pounds in a 2 months period and have reduced my waist by 1 inch every 10 days. I’went down 2 sizes and am not about to throw that out for a cheat meal (poison in my body). I don’t like to call this a diet plan but rather “changing eating habits” for a healthier lifestyle.
I have a cheat day after ever 5 pounds and it really depends on the person my craving for sugar and carbs allows me to wait and stick with my diet.
My cheat days are only 75carbs
25grams of sugar
Also still get about 25grams of fiber to get rid of it.
What I don’t understand about the cheat day is why do you have to do it all in one day?
Would you get the same metabolic effect (preventing your body from going into starvation mode) if you spread out your cheat foods over the week? Instead of eating ice cream, candy bars and white bread all in one day, why can’t you have an ice cream bar on one day, a candy bar on another, some white bread on another day, etc.
Well, I looked at all the different opinions below and agree a bit with all, this is my humble opinion; If you are trying to loose weight you have to consistantly have less calories than you burn. So, have a cheat meal (not the most healthy) (only if you can handle it) but count it on your calorie intake for the week or that day (track workouts too). I use fitnesspal to track or another free website is sparkspeople. If you don’t, you will counteract all of the work you have done during the week. I would definately say I am a recovering food addict. I can not have chips and a few other foods for my cheat food or I loose it. Don’t eat you trigger foods!!! And get right back to healthy eating.
Hope this helps?
I disagree.. cheat meals can be used as a way to enjoy a social function. Everyone is going to be invited to a party or a birthday. You can’t live in a bubble but yes, you can make better choices. To be honest, when I have a cheat meal or day I end up losing weight more than just being strict all week.
Having a cheat meal and the idea of cheating is part and parcel of “diet thinking”. The very thing that made a lot of people fat in the first place and one of the first things one ought to drop.