Cheat meals; the answer to dietary adherence and faster fat loss?

We all know that, just like changing any habit, sticking to a new dietary protocol can be tough. Here at Phoenix Pro, we recommend an adherence level of 80-90% to the set diet depending on each individual's goals and starting point. This means that each of our members is allowed at least 1 cheat meal per week where they can have anything they like, and we do this for a number of reasons.



Benefits of Cheat Meals:

• Psychologically it really helps to stick to a healthy eating plan for the long haul if you know that you have a day or a meal where you can have anything you like. This means that you can still go out to a nice restaurant, a wedding or other event and not feel deprived.

• Secondly, an increased intake from the daily norm actually induces an increase in basal metabolic rate, which means that your cheat meal/day will BOOST your metabolism and increase your rate of fat burning. Indeed, studies have shown that the caloric surplus of a cheat meal can elevate BMR by 9%, and potentially more.

• Thirdly, those on a reduced calorie diet tend to produce less of the metabolism regulating hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine (T4 and T3) and a strategic overfeed helps to upregulate production of these hormones from the thyroid gland.

• Finally, being in caloric deficit tends to result in a decline in the hormone leptin, which plays a key role in the regulation of appetite, energy expenditure and metabolism. Once again, a cheat meal increases leptin production, with the knock on effect of increased thyroid activity (see above), increased BMR and increased thermogenesis (heat production resulting in increased caloric expenditure).
It's obviously important to remember that in order to benefit from cheat days, you have to adhere to a calorie moderated, healthy diet in the first place. And whilst it is fine to have a little of what you fancy on your cheat days/meals, binging your head off on high fat and high sugar articles isn't advised purely because it will probably make you feel rubbish.

Generally speaking, the stricter your diet, the more frequently you can schedule cheat days. A good rule of thumb for those aiming for general fat loss is 90% adherence, which means that if you are eating 6 times per day as you should be for optimal fat loss, you can have 4 cheat meals per week.

To Your Success!

Charlotte

www.phoenixprofitness.com

Follow us on twitter at @charlotteord and @phoenixprofit