Cheating during a diet, its varieties. Pros and cons of boot day, rules and menu options. Cheating in the diet is a newfangled trend among those who want to lose weight. A specially agreed time, when it is allowed to pamper yourself with the desired goodies, the fasting day is the opposite.
The pros and cons of cheating in weight loss
Fans of computer games know very well what cheating means. This is the name given to obtaining any advantages over other players through the use of appropriate programs or special actions. The word itself is borrowed from the English language (cheating) and literally means "cheating, cheating."
What is cheating in weight loss? This is misinformation of your body when you allow yourself to eat a small amount of forbidden food during the diet. And such a planned violation, oddly enough, contributes to the successful further weight loss.
In addition to the fact that such a deception of oneself and one's body does not violate moral norms at all, there are several more positive aspects in it:
- Psychological comfort … Those who are on a diet often have nervous breakdowns due to the desire to eat something tasty. Planned breaks can help you avoid these experiences because you can be sure to relax on the weekend.
- Lack of deficiency of nutrients … For normal functioning, the body needs various components and trace elements, including fats and carbohydrates. Long-term low-calorie diets can be harmful to health precisely because of the deficiency of such substances. Cheating is the solution to this problem.
- Elimination of the "plateau effect" … A boot day boosts metabolism, and it becomes possible to avoid stopping weight loss, often even with the strictest diet.
- The ability to increase the duration of the diet … Cheating, by depriving the monotony of the diet, by bringing variety and psychological comfort to the diet, makes it potentially longer.
There are few downsides to a diet with scheduled loading days:
- The risk of breaking loose … A rather serious minus of food fraud during a diet is the risk of falling out of it, forgetting about your desire to lose weight. The main thing is not to lose your head and remember: permission is everything you want, on a cheating day does not mean at all that you can eat it in any quantity.
- The risk of overeating … The portion of high-calorie goodies should be small. In general, for such a loading day, you can eat no more than 2500 calories, which, by the way, may seem insufficient for athletes, and for miniature women it may seem overly satisfying. It is important to remember that overeating after a low-calorie diet can be harmful to health (the work of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, gallbladder will be disrupted).
Cheating days should be carried out regularly, and women also need to track the phases of the menstrual cycle. The fact is that the desire to eat something tasty in women is often associated with ovulation and the influence of hormones. On special days of the cycle, when the body needs fats and carbohydrates for the formation of the so-called corpus luteum in the female body, it is difficult to tear yourself away from a dish with a cake and a bag of fries. But it is important to remember that for the full functioning of the female body, kilograms of high-calorie food are not needed. It will be enough to eat something extra nutritious in a timely manner on the right day of the cycle.
Please note! Any kind of physical activity is not contraindicated during a cheating diet.
Types of cheating
There are different approaches to exactly how and on what diet you should introduce cheating days. Here is a list of the most famous cheating versions:
- The Deceiver's Diet … The concept of cheating in dietetics was introduced in 2005 by the American Paul Rivas, who described its principles in his book The Cheating Diet. He developed the metabolic swing: a diet followed by days of over-indulgence. According to Rivas, for five days, the diet should be low in calories, with a reduced amount of carbohydrates (something like the Mediterranean diet). On the weekend, you can eat whatever you want, cheese, ice cream, nuts, pizza, but within reasonable limits.
- Bodybuilder cheating … In 2008, athlete Joel Marion described carbohydrate slides that he personally tried. According to Marion, supported by a large number of interesting medical facts mentioned in his book "Cheating to Lose Weight", six days a week you need to follow a low-calorie diet and eat a variety of healthy foods. At the same time, you need to increase the amount of carbohydrates in the diet a little every day. On the last day of the week, you should relax, allowing yourself everything you love and taste. Sports activities with such a diet are required. In 16 weeks, you can turn from a powder to the owner of a magnificent athletic figure.
- Classic cycle … It was developed by fitness trainers and nutritionists Heidi and Chris Powell. Their plan is for 3 months, during which it is necessary to carefully calculate the calories eaten. The diet begins with a cheat day, when you can afford anything, for 2500 kcal. Then, six days in a row, you need to alternate protein and carbohydrate days by 1200 and 1500 kcal, respectively. The seventh day is a boot day, for 2000 kcal, after which the cycle repeats.
- The hedonic approach … This cheating option was suggested by New York food blogger Marissa Lippert. In her opinion, you should not devote your life to eating celery. Her 8-week diet consists of low-calorie but varied and tasty foods. Two days a week, you can "sin" by indulging in something high in calories. But on condition: do not eat nasty things like chips, forbidden food should please both the eye and the taste: a wonderful dessert fits perfectly into its concept.
Basic rules of the boot day
Cheating has rules, following which you will be able to restrain yourself and not break loose, relax and forget about your desire to lose weight.
You can eat whatever you want, but remember that half of the daily diet should be vegetables, a quarter - proteins (eggs, seafood, fish or meat), the rest - carbohydrates (potatoes, cereals, baked goods, etc.). A prerequisite is to drink a lot, at least 1.5-2 liters per day.
The amount of food is within reasonable limits. If you want to eat the cake, then allow yourself not the whole whole, but one piece. During the day, you should consume no more than 2500 kcal.
Terms - 48 hours, no more. This is the period reserved for loading days in all major types of cheating. Usually a "belly party" is planned for the weekend.
The frequency is one or two cheating days a week, it depends on which diet option you have chosen. If the diet is short-lived, then the loading days should be arranged less often.
Sometimes it is difficult for those who are losing weight to stick to a diet, even if they have a day of cheating ahead of them. And it happens that he becomes the cause of an unplanned breakdown. To avoid such problems, follow these tips:
- Drink a lot … If you feel the urge to grab a snack, drink some water first, you may be confusing thirst with hunger.
- Take away temptations … There should be no sweets, cookies, cakes and other forbidden joys in your home. Buy goodies strictly according to the plan on the day of the cheating. Do not go to the store on an empty stomach, try to plan your route so as not to meet pastry shops, stalls with fresh pastries, etc. along the way.
- Brush your teeth often … After each meal and when you suddenly want something tasty - and you psychologically do not want to stain your clean mouth with food.
Cheating menus and examples
Undoubtedly, everyone's taste preferences and forbidden foods, which one so desires on a diet, are different. But having a ready-made version of the cheating menu, it is easier to navigate how exactly to organize meals on a loading day.
Menu for a boot day for 1 day
The cheat day menu might look like this:
- Breakfast … The porridge you love. Fruit or berries (apple, pear, orange, banana, kiwi, strawberry, grape).
- Lunch … A piece of chocolate, preferably black.
- Dinner … Green borscht, meat baked with vegetables.
- Afternoon snack … A piece of muffin or cake, or a serving of ice cream.
- Dinner … Fish baked with lemon and herbs. Vegetable salad with feta cheese (you can season with olive oil).
- Before bedtime … A glass of yogurt or kefir.
Remember! During the diet, the use of ordinary tea and coffee is not encouraged; it is better to drink green or herbal tea. On a cheating day, you can pamper yourself with your favorite drink, even a glass of good wine is allowed.
Weekend cheating menu
Here's an example of a weekend cheat menu.
Saturday:
- For breakfast - oatmeal, seasoned with nuts, seeds and pieces of fresh fruit or dried fruit, a glass of yogurt.
- You can eat candy for lunch.
- For lunch - vegetable soup with meatballs and a piece of fish baked with vegetables.
- At an afternoon snack, pamper yourself with a cappuccino and a slice of your favorite pastries.
- For dinner - chicken breast with light vegetable salad.
- Before going to bed - green tea.
Sunday:
- For breakfast - buckwheat porridge, fruit salad, a glass of yogurt.
- For the second breakfast - a portion of ice cream.
- For lunch - vegetable puree soup with garlic croutons, seafood salad, juice.
- At afternoon tea - a cake.
- For dinner - fish and mashed potatoes, fresh cucumber.
- Before going to bed - an apple.
When developing a menu for yourself, keep in mind that during the loading day you can eat no more than 2500 kcal. That is, all planned products cannot be consumed in unlimited quantities. Calculate how many sweets you can in the morning so that it turns out that for dinner, in order not to disturb the calorie intake, the piece of chicken you are entitled to should be the size of a match head.
Menu for a boot day for the week
This is a variant of the menu of the classic cycle, when protein and carbohydrate days alternate for six days for 1200 and 1500 kcal, and on the seventh day you can pamper yourself and increase the number of calories to 2500 kcal.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday (protein, 1500 kcal):
- For breakfast - buckwheat, rice or oatmeal (100 g) with nuts and dried fruits, a glass of kefir.
- For the second breakfast - any 2 fruits or a handful of nuts (or rye croutons prepared at home), green tea without sugar.
- For lunch - fish (hake, cod, pollock) or meat (chicken, beef) fillet steamed, boiled or baked, vegetable garnish without potatoes.
- For an afternoon snack - any fresh fruit or vegetable, or a loaf with a piece of cheese and green tea without sugar.
- For dinner - cottage cheese or boiled eggs or a piece of boiled meat.
- Before going to bed - kefir or yogurt.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (carbohydrates, 1200 kcal):
- For breakfast - muesli with honey, milk and dried fruits.
- For lunch - an apple.
- For lunch - buckwheat or rice porridge, vegetable salad, rye bread, as an option, pasta, seasoned with tomato sauce.
- At afternoon tea - any fruit.
- For dinner - meat or fish, lettuce.
- Before going to bed - kefir or fermented baked milk.
Sunday cheating (2500 kcal):
- For breakfast - 2 pancakes with syrup and a piece of butter, 2 pieces of bacon.
- For the second breakfast - oatmeal with a banana.
- For lunch - 100 g of turkey with a vegetable salad of tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, bagel, cheese, mustard.
- For an afternoon snack - a glass of yogurt, half a glass of raspberries, 30 g of salted crackers.
- For dinner - chicken fillet (100 g) with rice and mushrooms, soy sauce, boiled egg, sweet pepper and onion salad, seasoned with olive oil.
- Before going to bed - curdled milk.
Know! Medicine claims that the Mediterranean approach to food (promoted by Paul Rivas's "Cheating Diet") prevents heart disease and diabetes.
Cheating Diet Results
What will the person who decided to follow the cheating diet get in the end:
- Weight loss … Moreover, it is significant, because you can follow a cheating diet for a long time, it is easily tolerated.
- Variety in the diet … Whatever the fasting days of your diet, on cheating days you will get all the substances, vitamins and microelements your body lacks.
- Psychological comfort … A cheating diet allows you to lose weight without psychological discomfort, because on the weekend the cheater is waiting for the coveted loading day.
- Metabolic swing … They deceive the body, and it does not give the command to make supplies. They also help to avoid the "plateau effect" when the weight, despite the continued diet, does not decrease.
What is cheating for weight loss - look at the video:
Cheating in a diet is a planned breakdown, when a person who is losing weight pampers himself, thereby allowing to prolong the diet for longer, diversify the diet and significantly reduce weight without psychological discomfort.
