Why Every Day Should Be Cheat Meal Day

Cheat meals.

You know, that meal you look forward to having all week long. To indulge in on the weekend. Denying yourself that slice of pizza, bowl of ice cream, bagel smeared with cream cheese, stack of waffles.

Whatever your cheat meal is, I’m going to tell you to stop thinking of it as a cheat meal. That your cheat meal is actually hindering your weight loss. And that every days should be cheat meal day.

Stop thinking of your “off limits” foods as cheat meals

There’s actually two really important pieces in that heading:

• Off limits food
• Cheat meals

That’s maybe the first problem in all of this. That a food is considered off limits.

Whether it’s by your diet or someone once told you, you should never eat, I want you to throw that out the window.

When something is considered off limits, it honestly makes you want it even more. You can’t stop thinking about it, because you know you can’t have it.

That’s the problem with a cheat meal. You’re constantly thinking about it. Which causes you to go overboard when you actually allow yourself that cheat meal/food.

Why your cheat meal is hindering your weight loss

Going overboard on that cheat meal is what’s hindering your weight loss.

You may think that because you’re being so good during the week (80% of the time), and only indulging in your cheat meal on the weekends (20% of the time), that it works.

But that’s where the problem lies.

How do you know what 80% of your day/week looks like? How do you know what 20% of your day/week looks like?

Sure, you can track every single bite of food you put in your mouth. But sometimes tracking gets cumbersome and overwhelming. Which leads you to just wing it.

I used to wing it on the weekends. I did Weight Watchers for five years. Being really good during the week and letting myself go on the weekends.

But then the guilt, stress and anxiety over eating my cheat meal{s} would set it.

I would feel terrible for eating over my points limit. For feeling like I didn’t have the willpower to just eat one cheat meal. For thinking that I wasn’t good like everyone else because I couldn’t seem to control myself.

All of that mental state was what was hindering my weight loss.

The combination of mental guilt and stress plus going overboard on a food that was off limits during the week kept me in a constant weight flux.

Which is why every day should be cheat meal day instead.

How to make every day a cheat meals day

The first step in making every day cheat meal day is to let go of thinking that foods are good, bad or off limits.

The second step is to allow yourself to eat all of those foods. Yes, you’re going to go through a stage of feeling like you’re gorging yourself on the once off limits foods.

But that’s okay!

Because your body will reset. It will start to tell you what it needs and what it’s craving.

When I first stopped dieting, I ate all the foods that had once been off limits. Pop Tarts. Pasta. Pizza. Burgers with buns. Ice cream.

But, my body started to reset after that. It realized that those foods weren’t fueling it to the best of their ability. My body started to crave nutrient-dense foods. It wanted veggies and brown rice. Sweet potatoes and grilled lean meats.

That’s the third step. Taking off the noise cancelling headphones that were once your diet, and really start to listen to what your body needs.

When you do that, you’ll start to realize that every day can actually be cheat meal day because you’re listening to what your body needs.

It also allows you to no longer feel guilt, stress or anxiety around food. One of the biggest pieces to achieving consistent and lasting weight loss.

Ready to have cheat meals every day?

If the thought of a cheat meal every day still scares you, or you’re struggling mentally with it, come join my membership experience: Eat for Life Collective.

The Collective helps rewire your brain to help you stop yo-yo dieting and in turn see consistent and lasting weight loss.

It will help you start to see food as fuel and something that blesses your body. Instead of a calorie, macro or point value.

It will help you ditch the stress, anxiety, frustration and guilt around food and your body.

The Collective {and myself} are here for you to if you’re ready to learn to truly love yourself and see lasting weight loss…oh and have a cheat meal every single day!

Looking for more ways to stop feeling guilt or stress around food? Check these out:

Mindful Eating: What is it and how to do it

What does an intuitive eating coach do?

Feeling guilty after eating: how to get rid of food guilt