How I Do “Cheat Meals”

People on diets often want to know “how many cheat meals can I have?!”.  When you are on a diet, this might be the only thing you are looking forward to. I personally have tried many diets throughout my life, and the problem with them is that you can “fall off” of a diet. You often feel the need to “cheat” on a diet because they are so strict that they are difficult if not impossible to maintain long term.

Thankfully I’ve gotten rid of the diet mentality, so I no longer have to call a meal a “cheat” if it isn’t perfectly healthy.

Check out another post of mine if you would like to see more details on how I maintain a healthy lifestyle rather than diet.

In short, I eat rather healthy most days, and I really do love the food I eat.  I don’t eat boiled chicken and steamed broccoli with no flavor. I enjoy egg omelets with tons of my favorite veggies and spices, turkey meatball salads, protein brownies and crispy chicken. Since I love everything I eat, I don’t feel the need to “cheat” or have ice cream after a week of eating healthy. I eat plenty of my favorite healthy treats, so I don’t feel deprived. Don’t get me wrong, I love ice cream. I just don’t crave it daily or even weekly like I once did. Check out this post on “how I cut out processed sugar” to see why I enjoy other goodies in place of processed junk.

So, for the purpose of this post and to show how my mentality with food has switched I will call “cheat meals” “re-feed meals” instead because that’s usually how I see them. There are times that I just eat something unhealthy and don’t think much about it. However, I often use “re-feed meals” to my benefit: to help my overall mentality as well as benefit my fitness goals.

Here are some ways I eat “cheat meals”… or in my case “re-feed meals” to benefit my health and fitness goals:

• I try to eat protein with every meal: I’m less likely to go overboard with a meal if I eat some protein because protein fills me up. Also, I’m most likely going to eat a bunch of carbs when re-feeding (or enjoying foods some may consider a “cheat”) so I might as well utilize my re-feed meal by getting some protein into those muscles. On the same note I try to eat veggies with every meal (even re-feeds) for that same reason. Not only are veggies going to help me to get the micro nutrients I need, but they are also filling and will help me to not go overboard when eating. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t do either of these things (eat veggies or protein). Sometimes food is purely for enjoyment, and I don’t worry about the macros.

• I sit down when I eat. If I stand and raid the fridge or I am eating while I do other things (like if I eat while teaching the kiddos) I might “go crazy” and overdo it. Sitting while I eat helps me focus on what I’m doing so that I don’t eat more than I realize. Which leads me to my next tip…

• I focus on what I’m eating. I stop, sit down, and enjoy every bite of my meal. I do eat pizza or ice cream about twice a year. So when I actually eat it, I don’t want to scarf it down and be done before I can even register what I ate. I don’t hide in a closet and stuff my face shamefully… I sit down on the couch or at the table and slowly enjoy every second of some of my favorite foods. My all time favorite pizza is Giordano’s deep dish. I ate it at a “girls night” a few months back. My friend was cracking up at how much I was enjoying it, but this was a win for me. I used to feel guilty when I ate something like pizza or a cheeseburger, but now that I eat clean and healthy I know that pizza on a girls night is not going to throw off my personal fitness goals. I know that when I enjoy my favorite Dairy Queen ice cream cake on my birthday I didn’t “fall off” a diet wagon because I was never on a diet to begin with. I enjoy the healthy food that I eat on a daily basis so that one piece of cake (no matter how massive it is) isn’t going to set back my nutrition in a detrimental way. Now if I ate that every weekend I may not hit my fitness and health goals. My “re-feed” meals are based on what my goals are. My hubby can have a bowl of ice cream every Sunday and still stay on track. I end up getting into a sugar craving cycle and have a hard time getting back to healthy eating if I eat sugar every week. Knowing what you can handle is half the battle.

• I like to orient my “re-feed meal” around my workout if possible. I like to eat a “re-feed” meal after a killer workout when my metabolism is revved up and I’m going to get the most out of my meal. I know this isn’t always possible. I like to enjoy dessert late at night after the kids are in bed and I can truly enjoy what I’m eating, or I may be celebrating my birthday on a Sunday (my day of rest when I don’t workout). When it’s possible I like to eat big on days that I had a really difficult workout so that I can restore the glycogen I just used up. A full body resistance workout is the best workout to do before a “re-feed” meal. This workout encourages glucose uptake so that the sugar and carbs you eat on your re-feed meal can highly benefit muscle growth if you eat within about 2 hours of your workout, but don’t overthink it. This is just one of my strategies to benefit my personal fitness goals.

What I DON’T do after I eat a “re-feed” meal:

• I don’t hate myself (anymore). I used to feel so incredibly guilty. I would get down on myself when I ate too much junk food. You would think that because I have a health and fitness blog I wouldn’t want to be caught eating ice cream these days, but it’s quite the opposite. I don’t feel like there is any food I wouldn’t eat if I really wanted it. Especially since most days I eat quite well.
• I don’t say “Well, I messed up, I might as well keep eating crap.”: I used to do this one as well. One junk food meal does not ruin a whole day, and one whole day of junk does not derail your whole week or all of your fitness goals. I used to think “Well, I ate ice cream, I might as well have a candy bar too.” The truth is, I may crave a candy bar more after having ice cream because I may have “opened the sugar flood gates”, but now I know to expect that feeling and to have other healthy food on hand that I can enjoy so that I don’t keep eating junk.
• I don’t run 10 miles the next day. I think that a common mentality after a big Thanksgiving meal or Christmas holiday feast is that you have to go do a TON of cardio to work off all those calories you just consumed. While I DO like to get some (emphasis on some) cardio in and a great weight training session the next day, I don’t feel the need to over exercise to compensate for what I just ate. I can use what I just ate to build muscle and end up with some awesome muscle gains if I get in some great workouts that week. Running mega miles or spending hours on the elliptical isn’t going to do much to combat what I overate.

I used to do a lot of these things. I’ve struggled with body image issues most of my teenage and adult life. I would be lying if I said I don’t still have to battle those old negative voices from time to time, but over the years I have developed a more positive relationship with food. I truly enjoy the healthy food I eat. If I didn’t, I couldn’t stick with a healthy eating lifestyle. Honestly, my re-feeds usually are not even processed foods. I just eat more of the healthy foods I love… like an extra slice of gluten free banana bread or an extra “healthier” date sweetened peanut butter brownie (or two). When I choose to eat less healthy foods I try my best to just enjoy them for what they are… delicious!

Let me know if you have any comments or questions. Feel free to write in the comment section below. And thanks for reading my posts!

Some other posts you might enjoy:

• A Beginners Shopping Guide to Clean and Healthy Eating
• 20 Tips to Eating Healthier on a Budget
• I Eat Chocolate Almost Every Day
• Eating Cleaner in the New Year