When you’re looking to shed extra pounds, a cheat meal can be a valuable tool in maintaining long-term success. Along with being a mental break from the monotony and restriction of most diets, occasionally indulging in your favorite foods can reignite your lagging metabolism. In this article, I’ll tell you about the benefits of cheat meals and the proper ways to enjoy them. First things first, let me define a cheat meal. A cheat meal is a single meal, dessert, or snack that you enjoy infrequently. A cheat meal is not an all-day eat-a-thon. Choose your meal, enjoy it, and get right back on track. Cheat meals have two main benefits; the first being a mental break from eating clean to enjoy something your rarely allow yourself to have. Studies have shown that having an occasional cheat meal leads to greater long-term success in losing weight and keeping it off—the key is not to over-indulge. As was mentioned before, a cheat meal is a single meal, dessert or snack. Don’t let it turn in to binge eating. The second benefit of cheat meals is the boost that it gives your metabolism. A calorie-restrictive diet eventually causes your body to use less energy in an effort to maintain the body mass that you currently have. This evolutionary mechanism that our bodies created to help us survive in the Stone Age has little use to us in the days of fast food chains and supermarkets. However, having an occasional high-calorie day can trick your body into thinking that food is abundant, which will cause you to burn more calories for your activities throughout the day. The timing of your cheat meal can greatly influence its effect on your body. For example, choosing to consume a high-carb/calorie meal shortly after an intense weight training session improves the chance that those extra calories and carbs will be stored as muscle rather than fat. So, if at all possible, schedule your cheat meal soon after a workout—or at least on the same day as a weight training workout. Your cheat meals can be impromptu or planned; however, I recommend limiting them to a maximum of three times per week, or one-two times if you plan on having a bigger cheat meal. Here’s the way I do it; eat clean all week with two cheat meals. My cheat meals usually aren’t planned, but I generally have one during the week and one on the weekend. Use this guide to help you with your long-term weight loss success, and look out for more NextPhase advice! You can stay connected with my fitness ideas by going here: http://www.nextphasefitness.com/blog/ In this article, A Unique Twist! Bikram Yoga - Eric Flores provides you with proven techniques to meet your fitness goals. For Eric's NextPhase Fitness blog, click here!
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