What is cheating in weight loss and is it necessary when dieting?

What is cheating in the diet , and what is it eaten with? How to properly use cheating for weight loss and be sure that the extra pounds will not return after the next double diet?

The term “cheating” appeared quite recently; translated from English it means “deception.” But how can deception serve one's own good? - you ask. This is what I am going to tell you about in this article on cheating .

How does this method work?

Surely you have noticed that when you diet, the body gets used to the new regime and begins to store “fat” in reserve. Yes, yes, our body is so cunning that it is able to bypass diets, because it does not know that we are losing weight on purpose. A long hunger strike and a constant lack of useful elements are perceived by him as torture and a threat to life, so weight gain is a completely adequate reaction.

But what to do if you are overweight, but you need to lose weight? In this case, the method of deceiving the body will help when, after several weeks of dieting, we begin to treat ourselves to something harmful. This action confuses our body, and it completely changes the vector of its direction, beginning to intensively shed excess.

Rule No. 2 What can you load with?

On the one hand, you can eat anything while cheating , but on the other hand, you still need to make sure that the foods are not too fatty and rich in complex carbohydrates and proteins. This would be the perfect cheat day. But we all, including myself, understand that on such a special, long-awaited day, you want to treat yourself to forbidden foods. And that's okay. You can allow yourself a piece of your favorite cake, but it should be one piece, not 10. I think you understand that the goal of cheating is not to stuff into yourself everything that you haven’t eaten in a week during your diet, but to carefully introduce deceiving your body in order to unhindered release of fat reserves. So, controlling yourself during fasting days is one of the most important points in this difficult task, especially when you are on a strict diet and many foods are prohibited for you.

Cheating to cheating - discord

It would seem, what could be simpler? Just eat whatever your heart desires and don't have to worry about anything. But it turns out there are a lot of variants of this method, and each has its own subtleties and features. Let's look at the most popular of them.

Joel Marion Method

American athlete Joel Marion decided to try an interesting experiment on himself: for a whole week he ate low-calorie protein foods, and after the cycle he went into a break and enjoyed his favorite sweets and carbohydrates.

As a result - a beautiful body for only 15 weeks, success in bodybuilding , the bestseller “Cheat for Weight Loss” and the love of Hollywood celebrities: Megan Fox, Chris Hamsforth and many others.

The principle is to completely exclude carbohydrates from the menu on the first day of the diet and gradually increase it in subsequent days.

Marissa Lipert Method

The blogger and presenter's book, Life's Too Short to Eat Celery, suggests losing weight in just six weeks. Moreover, all this time you can not deny yourself delicious food, because twice a week you can eat whatever your heart desires. The author of this technique also allows a little indulgence in alcohol: a glass of wine or whiskey with ice.

Heidi and Chris Powell Method

A married couple of trainers researched nutrition in sports for a long time until they offered their clients the following scheme:

The diet begins with a loading day: what’s not good news? For 2500 kcal you can eat anything;
Next comes a protein day of 1200 kcal;
Then a carbohydrate day of 1500 kcal.

Protein and carbohydrate days alternate for six days, after which you can again treat yourself to goodies.

Paul Rivas Method

Well, here we come to the author of the concept of “cheating”. The nutritionist for the first time suggested that those losing weight dilute their boring and dull diet with pizza, ice cream and candy. You can walk for two whole days - Saturday and Sunday, and then go back to working dietary routine.

Cheating and strength training

For people who train, cheating has a different meaning. Filling muscles with glycogen allows you to train more effectively. Preserving muscle mass is the main goal of such people.

This part of the article will be useful to those who perform strength exercises with weights.

Typically, cheating is done on the day before a heavy leg workout or deadlift, if the athlete practices it. Fans of high-intensity interval training can cheat about 8-12 hours before it.

But there is a theory that you can arrange a load after, then the muscles will simply recover faster. Much depends on the macronutrient composition of the diet. People with a balanced diet may be more free to choose cheat foods. Those who lose weight on a low-carb diet are concerned about replenishing glycogen.

Cheating protocol for losing weight on a low-carb diet:

From Monday to Thursday you need to eat 1-2 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, and 1.5-2 g of protein. The rest of the calories should be supplemented with fats, but not less than 1.2 g of fat per kilogram of current weight.
Products and dishes - omelet with vegetables, chicken fillet with vegetables, 1-2 servings of brown rice or buckwheat per day, lean fish with vegetables, maybe half an apple or grapefruit from time to time. Drinks include water, black coffee, green tea.
On Monday and Wednesday, high-repetition strength training is performed with medium weights and in a high-repetition mode. For example, you can squat with dumbbells on your chest, do push-ups, do pull-ups with your legs supported on a low bar, do push-ups with a narrow palm position, and do lunges and bend overs with dumbbells while standing.

Each exercise is performed in 15-20 repetitions, at an average pace. The workout ends with 2-3 sets of abdominal crunches to failure. Cardio - optional, with this diet, 30 minutes of walking uphill on a treadmill, or a regular walk, is enough.

On Thursday morning, high-intensity interval training is performed to use up any remaining glycogen. For example, this could be alternating 30 second sprints on an exercise bike with 1-2 minutes of relaxed pedaling. Complete 10 of these rounds, plus a warm-up and cool-down. On Thursday evening, we add carbohydrates to dinner, in an amount of no more than 70 g at a time.
Friday is cheating day. You need to eat 4-6 grams of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, depending on individual sensitivity to them and the volume of the training load.
Saturday is a day of heavy strength training, no more than 5 reps in 5-6 sets of heavy compound exercises, ideally back squats, bench presses and deadlifts. If there are contraindications, heavy work in the gym - leg press, vertical and horizontal rows and presses.

On this day, the amount of carbohydrates is reduced to 3 g per 1 kg of body weight, and you need to exclude all sources of simple carbohydrates from the diet, except fruits, and get the main amount of energy from cereals and pasta.

Sunday is the day of returning to the low-carb regime and rest. Happy new week, new cycle.

In this regimen, it is important to monitor your calorie intake as well as your macronutrient intake. If the portions of allowed food are too large during the week, a cheat day will only help exceed the deficit.

To control, you need to add up all the energy received during the week and divide it by 7 days. If the number of kilocalories per day is more than needed, you will not be able to lose weight.

Is there a risk of gaining weight?

We understand, it sounds quite suspicious: eat to lose weight? We have been trying for so long to forget the taste of cakes and fried potatoes, and have almost come to terms with this loss, but we are offered to turn around the past and plunge into the abyss of gluttony.

Don't worry, we give the following arguments in favor of cheating:

You will insure yourself against future breakdowns. An unplanned departure from a diet is much worse than thoughtful indulgences;
After a week of dieting, there will be no harm from one-day gluttony;
Even if an extra kilo comes to you, you will lose it without any problems in the following days;
Your metabolism will speed up several times, thanks to which you will lose much more;
A feeling of joy and a positive attitude, which is so necessary when following a long-term diet.

And finally: you will get psychological pleasure and quench your thirst for unhealthy, but delicious food.

Making up a diet

Cheating has repeatedly proven its effectiveness, and reviews from those losing weight are excellent confirmation of this. These days you are allowed to eat whatever you want. This way you give your body a psychological recharge, motivating it for the following days of following a strict diet.

An approximate diet on cheat days looks like this:

For breakfast you need to eat slow carbohydrates, so give preference to cereals. For variety, add pieces of fruit, berries or candied fruits. A small cup of coffee or herbal tea is allowed.
Snacking is a real treat on cheat days. You can eat a few pieces of dark chocolate.
For lunch you can try soup, a meat dish prepared according to your favorite recipe, as well as vegetables.
For a snack, choose your favorite treat. A portion of ice cream, cake or fruit pie will give you a boost of energy and vigor for the following days of the diet.
You won't have to go hungry at dinner. You can prepare a vegetable side dish and a seafood dish. Baked or boiled fish fillets are ideal.
Hungry before bed? You can drink a glass of kefir or natural yogurt.

After cheating, the body needs to prepare for a further strict diet. It is imperative to arrange fasting days. Drink kefir or eat low-fat cottage cheese throughout the day. If you do not consume dairy products, you can steam fish or chicken fillet. Apples are ideal for fasting days. Don't forget about your drinking regime.

Why might the method not work?

Well, you ate a lot, sit, wait for the result, and instead of losing weight, you have a couple of extra pounds and a bad mood. What is the reason? To avoid such troubles, follow the rules of cheating.

Don’t go to great lengths – everything should be tasty in moderation. As soon as you remember the taste of long-forgotten sweets and baked goods, you may “blow your mind”, after which you will begin to absorb everything that comes into your field of vision. A few days of permissiveness will spoil you, and you will not be able to return to your usual routine. To prevent this from happening, always control yourself - even on days of “gluttony”;
Watch your excess weight - if you deceive your body for just a day or two, then you can easily afford to increase your daily intake by 1500-2000 kcal, which means that you can afford absolutely everything! If you decide to extend the holiday by 3-4 days, then the limits of what is allowed will have to be tightened - only plus 400 kcal, which, you know, won’t go much faster;

The more you eat, the more liquid you need to consume in order to easily digest everything you eat;
No one is talking about every girl – don’t overeat at night. Unless, of course, you want to wake up with a swollen face, a bad mood and a heaviness in your stomach;
Pamper yourself once a week and no longer than 25-48 hours. The optimal time is one and a half days;
The most strong-willed can try to completely eliminate instant carbohydrates and focus on proteins;
You will have to forget about coffee and alcohol - this will increase the load on the heart and kidneys.

If used correctly, you can achieve good results, namely: speed up metabolic processes, lose more than usual and stop overeating on normal days.

To be even more convincing, here are reviews from girls who were helped by cheating to lose weight:

Anya, 20 years old:
Hello everyone! I love sweets very much, so any diet is like torture for me. Once a week I take a day off and eat whatever my heart desires. In just a few weeks of this regime, I not only did not gain weight, but also lost five kilograms.

Alexandra, 32 years old:
Hello! As a mother of two children, I often have to visit cafes and prepare sweets. Of course, sometimes it’s simply impossible to resist! Therefore, from time to time I arrange a “belly celebration”, and on the second day I go on a diet. So far, my weight loss has not suffered a bit from this, but my mood has improved significantly!

Rule No. 1 In what cases should you use the cheating method?

When we talk about such a concept as “cheating” , especially cheating in a diet or, as it is also called a loading day , then its use is appropriate for long-term diets. I personally don’t like the word “diet” itself and evokes ambiguous and contradictory feelings in me... And when this word is also accompanied by the phrase “diet for weight loss,” then a fountain of negative emotions arises in me! How many girls go on diets, and then suffer from the fact that the lost weight returns, this is at best, and in most cases, the “native” kilograms return not alone, but with their new “friends”. But still, no matter how much I personally like the principle of losing weight with the help of various diets that the entire Internet is simply teeming with, many girls try to lose weight in this way.

But I deviated a little from our topic of cheating.

So, when you are on any long-term diet, designed for 1 to 3 months, then you are simply recommended to have a cheat day . This will allow your body to be in a state of complete rest, since it will know that there is no threat of hunger, and you can safely give up fat reserves without worrying about your survival. All you need to do is spend a few loading days during your diet. And everyone is happy about it: both you and your body.

Cheating rules: it’s better to have too little than too much

When choosing foods for cheating in your diet, give preference to their quality rather than quantity .
Do not rely on low-fat foods , as this magic word can completely turn off your vigilance, so you may eat more than planned.
Distribute additional cheating calories according to the principle : 70% - what your body definitely needs, and 30% - everything you wanted to eat all week, but you didn’t allow yourself.

At the same time, the body, accustomed to a meager diet, is able to get enough of a very small amount of food during cheating, so it’s not worth forcing the missing calories into it. Really enjoy the food you miss and leave the table at the first sign of satiety.

Eat only your favorite foods so that you have the momentum and motivation to make it through to the next cheating session. A cheat diet can be maintained for up to 12 weeks, while a clean low-calorie diet is recommended for no more than two weeks. Cheating in a diet is quite insidious, so be honest with yourself and don’t delay loading longer than the time you planned.

—— Author – Ekaterina Maksimova, website www.sympaty.net