We know you’re probably deep into ‘Summer Shred’ mode right now.
Everyone at JOE certainly is. *slowly slips chocolate biscuits back in drawer.
You want to look good for those two glorious days of summer we get in Britain every year.
If you’re eating clean, dieting hard and cramming tasteless chicken fillets and rice down your gullet six times a day then this will be music to your ears…
You need a cheat meal in your diet. Yup, we said it – a cheat meal.
Cheating is good 1-2 meals per week (remember: a cheat meal – not a cheat day or treat week).
Here’s some reasons why…
1. Metabolism
If you’re hitting some hardcore dieting week in and week out your wily fox of a body will get wise to you.
Often what happens is your metabolism will slow and therefore your fat loss will too.
Not great if you’re in week one of a 12-week plan. This is where a cheat meal can help.
If you ingest a huge dump of carbs, a mucky pizza or some fast food it will actually spike your metabolism, boost your leptin levels (the fat burning hormone) and stabilise ghrelin levels (the hunger hormone.)
Your fat burning furnace will be cranked up to 11 again.
2.Calories
Any fat loss plan requires you to be in calorie deficit (basically expending more energy than you take in.)
This can take its toll on you.
So the idea of a cheat meal is to stick some calories back into your system with a meal that is higher in calories and carbs that your normal diet plan.
If you’re going to wolf down a cheat meal the best time is normally after a big workout.
Your body is much more likely to use up those calories in your muscles rather than storing them as fat.
If you’re still not keen on a free and dirty ‘cheat meal’ you can keep it clean with what’s called ‘carb re-feed’.
This is a planned increase of carbohydrates in a meal which will boost your metabolism and fill your muscles’ glycogen stores back up.
Whether you choose a carb re-feed or a cheat meal, make sure it is planned into your diet and not just whenever you fancy a Big Mac.
3. Energy boost
If you have been dieting all week and training super hard you will be pretty depleted.
Your body will be aching, your leptin levels will have dropped and your metabolism may have slowed.
Carbohydrates are often dropped or cut out of your diet completely too.
This can leave you tired, sluggish and struggling through workouts because your muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate) levels are low.
Basically you feel zapped.
But a cheat meal can fire you back up ready for another week of hardcore training.
Two quarter pounder burgers deep, you will be fired up and straining to hit the squat rack.
4. Keep you sane
If you look up the word ‘diet’ in any Ancient Greek dictionary, it literally means ‘way of life’.
You really we should all be eating clean all the time – not just the three weeks before Ibiza.
But with a McDonald’s on every corner and temptation everywhere, that’s not going to happen.
Even the most shredded athletes and models would crumble without the odd bit of mucky grub.
It’s what keeps them from going insane from salad, chicken and rice in an endless cycle.
A cheat meal will help keep you on track on your diet psychologically, curb your cravings and stop you capitulating and ending up sitting in your pants at 2am eating ice cream from the tub.
If you still don’t believe us, check out physique model and Geordie Shore star Joel Corry’s diet and training plan…he scoffs two pizzas in one sitting and he’s in razor-sharp shape.
