Pop quiz: how long does a cheat meal affect you?
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Did you answer?
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If you guessed, between 48-72 hours[*], you’d be right!
Surprised to see that?
After all, the treat only lasts about 5 to 10 minutes to eat at most, yet the damage lasts so much longer than that.
What’s worse is if you’ve spent Monday through Friday “being good,” you’ll end up blowing your hard work to the point that it swings in the opposite direction and leads to weight gain instead.
But, let’s face it.
Deprivation doesn’t work either.
That’s part of why you could be binging on the weekends instead of treating yourself without blowing your hard work.
To help you break the cycle, I’m sharing my top tips in this guide, starting with the first bad habit to break here:
Choosing a Treat Day Over a Cheat Meal
Have you ever started your day with a stack of pancakes or headed to brunch and found yourself ravenous for junk food all day?
It’s like being on a sugar high that you can’t quite quench.
So you end up craving and eating crap throughout the day.
Or maybe your weekends are a little more social and you decide to grab a flavored latte in the morning with a friend and some wine and dessert later on with your significant other.
With this, you’re eating a treat here and there, but, it’s all throughout the day.
The problem with these routes is that they can quickly add up to more than the effort you put in all week.
So if you steered clear of alcohol all week only to have 6 or more drinks over the weekend, you’re basically having a drink per day.
And if that’s happening, it’s no wonder you’re not losing weight or seeing results.
I hope it’s clear that this strategy won’t work.
So what will?
To reverse this situation, you have to think in terms of one treat meal.
Not an entire day, or a whole weekend.
And certainly not a three day binge where you promise to sweat it out and starve yourself on Monday.
This doesn’t work, and you know it.
Avoid the treat days and stick to enjoying a treat meal only.
I’ll share a few specific tips on this next too, along with some more strategies that can help here.
9 Ways to Prevent a Cheat Meal From Ruining Your Progress
Use these strategies and you’ll be able to treat yo’self guilt-free.
And you won’t wreck your health by doing so.
#1: Save Your Treats for Later on in the Day
I know how tempting sweet flavored pancakes and endless mimosas can be.
But starting your day with these or anything similar, including your latte or croissant obsession, is a recipe for ruining your whole day.
Not only will you jack your insulin levels up early, but your body will also try to chase the high all day long.
And nothing will compare to your morning hit, which means it’s a losing battle, one where you just eat junk all day.
Instead of starting your day starving, load up on some protein and healthy fats and save your treat meal for later on in the day.
And before you enjoy it, make sure you’re not guilty of making this next mistake.
#2: Eat Some Food Before Your Treat Meal
Raise your hand if you decided to forgo eating all day knowing you had a big event mid-day or in the evening.
While intermittent fasting may work for some people, many often end up becoming so ravenous that they overeat as soon as they get anywhere near food or the smell of it.
This is why juice fasting can have the opposite effect by causing people to gain weight.
A better approach here is to not let yourself get so hungry to the point that you eat your treat meal and everything else in sight.
To balance this, make sure you’re eating plenty of leafy greens, low-carb vegetables, healthy fats and protein before your splurge so you have less room to overeat the junk, which is also the next tip.
#3: Portion Control is Not Optional
Unless you want to keep gaining weight, you have to start practicing portion control even though most of us really don’t want to.
I get it.
It’s no fun to have a few bites.
But it’s also no fun trying to lose weight — it’s easily 10x harder as you and I have already experienced.
One tip that I’ve learned that’s easier said than done is to take a few bites, put the fork down, and savor.
Don’t wolf your treat down so fast that your brain doesn’t even recognize you ate it.
Instead, take some breaths and really be present with all of your senses.
By doing this, you’ll start to realize that nothing is going to compare to the first few bites.
Get to this point and you’ll be able to enjoy those bites while also walking away from the rest.
And if portion control is really one of your biggest challenges, don’t buy the large size of something only to test your willpower later on.
Buy the child-sized version instead.
Chances are, it’s still more than anyone should be eating.
And for readers really struggling to say no, remember the inner child I talked about in this guide and think about what you’d tell your kid if they were asking to eat an entire box of something.
Don’t forget, this is for your health, not just your waistline.
The next few tips are ones you’ll want to use pre-cheat meal.
#4: Probiotics Before Treats
Anytime you’re talking “treat meal,” you’re essentially saying that you’re sending a dose of chemical warfare straight for your gut.
This can be in the form of sugar, artificial ingredients, or a high dose of carbs in one sitting.
Whatever the case may be, all of these things upset the important balance of bacteria in your gut, which has also been rightfully called your second brain.
And if you’re not doing anything to restore the balance, your cheat meals could wreak havoc on your gut and overall health for days, or even longer if your gut is really badly damaged.
A proactive step you can take is to use probiotics everyday, and especially on those days you plan on cheating.
Keep in mind, these aren’t a get out of jail free card.
Nor will they erase any of the damage.
What they will do is help to get your body back to the proper balance so the bad bacteria doesn’t overpopulate and turn into unwanted negative symptoms like gas, bloating, and fatigue.
The next tip can also help to get you back on track.
#5: Be Even More Active on Days With a Treat Meal
Another mistake I often see is people busting their butts at the gym or going for an extra long walk in order to treat themselves later on.
The problem is with this strategy most people overestimate how much they’ve burned and underestimate how much they eat.
This faulty math leads to weight gain faster than most realize.
The point I’m trying to make here is that your treats should not become your prize for a good workout.
Instead, you should look at working out as a way to help offset and process the extra treat you’re eating.
Plus, by being more active, you’ll be less tempted to overeat and ruin your hard work and you’ll help your body use the extra energy instead of storing it.
On the flip side, if you’re not burning enough calories on the days you add your treat meal, you will end up seeing the scale slowly creeping up each week.
Speaking of creepin’, if you make this next mistake, you’ll see the same result.
#6: You’re Strict During the Week & Can’t Take it By the Weekend
I also made the mistake of being so restrictive during the week that I couldn’t help but overindulge by the weekend.
Don’t make this mistake.
If you want to avoid having a cheat day or three day binge, you can’t be so strict that you feel deprived all the time.
But, instead of making this a routine thing and having dessert everyday, consider doing it every three days or 1-2 times per week at most.
By breaking up how often you treat yourself, you won’t rely on needing something sweet after dinner every night.
The breaks will also help you savor the treat when you do get it.
And when you do treat yourself, always remember this next tip:
#7: Make Your Own Treats Whenever Possible
As I touched on in this article (where I also stress portion control), if you’re going to treat yourself, which I’m totally saying is okay as long as you take these precautions to heart, at least make the food yourself.
Before you roll your eyes and tell me how you’re not a baker or a fancy chef, there’s plenty of easy recipes online, including single-serving desserts you can make that don’t come with all the carbs, sugar, and artificial ingredients that you’d find in store-bought options.
Here’s why this strategy works well on another level: it’s hard work making treats.
And by the time you’re done cooking and cleaning up everything, the last thing you’ll want to do is eat all of them.
Instead, you’ll want to save them and savor them for later. Can you see a trend here with the whole savor and be present mantra?
With processed foods that use fake ingredients, you won’t be able to help yourself.
These foods were designed to make you overeat and that’s exactly what happens.
On the flip side, when you make your own treats, using real, whole-food ingredients instead of Frankenstein ones, you’ll be able to feel satisfied and you’ll kick the craving. #DoubleWin
Find some dessert recipes online and plan your treat meal ahead of time so you really have something to look forward to.
While you’re looking up those recipes, you can also tack on a few more:
#8: Make Most of Your Meals At Home on Treat Meal Days
Another problem with the weekend is that the food supply and energy to cook usually runs low.
After 5 days of doing it, most of us are over it.
But, the issue here is that, what ends up happening is you wind up eating all of your meals out instead.
Even if you’re ordering “healthy” options on the menu, there’s still added sugars and extra flavors you can’t control.
While a pat of butter at home is a good idea, in a restaurant it could be a 200-300 calorie dump if you’re not careful.
Because of this, you should avoid the temptation to eat all of your meals out and instead have some simple options on hand.
I usually choose proteins that I can throw on a skillet and veggies that can be baked in 20 minutes or less since that’s about all I can handle on the weekends.
I also make sure to have protein rich snacks and nuts to settle any boredom grazings during the day.
These are also great for keeping on hand during a busy weekend too.
My last tip is one for anyone that enjoys the occasional drink on the weekends.
#9: Be Smarter When it Comes to Booze
For many people, alcohol is a huge obstacle preventing them from losing weight, especially around the midsection.
Here’s why that’s happening: When you drink, your body spends all of its energy on processing what it sees as a toxin (the booze) out of your system.
It also favors this task over other ones like digesting the beer munchies you snacked on while drinking.
So instead of helping the food move through your system, it sits there until your body has a chance to get to it post-booze.
On top of that, when alcohol lowers your inhibitions, you’re more likely to eat and drink more without hesitation.
Do this and you’ll quickly erase the booze and junk-food-free 5 day stretch you created over the week.
To avoid this, you have to be more mindful when you drink and eat.
This is another tip that’s not-so-fun in practice but certainly pays off.
First, understand the calorie, carb, and sugar hit that your go-to drinks have in them.
You can find plenty of articles that include this information and ones with better-for-you options.
Then, consider how many drinks you can have per night to stay within your macro limits for the day.
This may end up being your cheat meal’s worth of calories.
Don’t forget to adjust these figures by making room for any food choices you’ll pair with the booze.
And finally, after reading this, it may seem like a good idea to drink on an empty stomach, but that’s not what I’m stressing here.
You’ve probably already heard this already so I won’t rehash it too much now.
Alcohol on an empty stomach wreaks havoc on your gut lining. It’s not something you should be doing.
If you’re hitting up a happy hour after work, don’t start drinking until you get some food in you first.
And you shouldn’t carb-load before drinking either.
Most drinks are heavy in carbs as it is which means you have plenty of that macro hitting your system.
No, this isn’t a healthy carb or even a safe replacement, but, the fact is, you’re still getting carbs when you drink.
To slow down how fast these carbs hit your system, you should add protein and healthy fats to your pre-drinking meals instead of more carbs.
By doing this before a night of drinking, you’ll slow down the effects of the alcohol, which can help you keep your willpower in check.
And you’ll keep your macro balance in a better proportion than eating a bowl of pasta and pairing it with drinkable carbs.
Enjoy Cheat Meals the Smart Way
Now that you have a better idea of how to treat yo’self guilt-free and without ruining all of your hard work, there’s no excuses not to practice these tips.
I’ve seen too many people, including me, who’ve spent their whole weekends unwinding everything they’ve worked for during the week.
Don’t do this.
If you want to make some real progress, you need to face the difficult choices of saying no to temptations, even when you don’t want to.
We both know that’s not going to be easy, but it is possible.
By finding a balance of giving in without overindulging or restricting so much that that happens either, you’ll be one step closer to your goals and finally getting rid of that unwanted belly fat.
Sending you the ability to enjoy treats without ruining your progress,
Devan
Have a question about today’s topic? You can email me direct (devan@behappynothangry.com) or ask a question in my private Facebook group.