Cheat days

For me personally cheat days are a waste. They provide an excuse to get out of the habit of eating healthy and eating for a purpose. Some people would argue that "I would go insane without a cheat day", I would say why not make it a cheat meal? or a cheat dessert? I will not dedicate an entire day every week to cheating, it just doesn't fall in line with my goals. I can't work as hard as I do through the week with my diet and training only to spend an entire day shoveling 4000+ calories into my body, and trust me once you've done this after eating so clean it only makes you feel ten times worse physically.

Super Bowl Sunday came up pretty quick and while my fiance and I got our chicken strips with garlic spicy sauce ready, I realized that even on a full cheat day we were planning ahead and not making excuses as to what we were going to eat. We did cheat a little, but I made it worth it. My step mom makes this pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting that I made sure to have a slice of. Outside of that one slice I kept it pretty clean, eating shrimp cocktail and munching on lean deli meats for the most part. The point is I try to keep my cheat meals to once a week and keep it moderate. Did I feel bad about that slice of cake? not at all, would I have felt bad about 4 slices of cake? absolutely.

The last thing about cheat meals is this, when you eat clean for long enough you begin to crave healthier foods. Your body is provided with the nutrients it needs and your cravings for fatty, salty, or calorie dense foods drop way down. I look at foods like pizza and donuts and think "I could have that, do I want it though?" not really. It took about a month of eating clean for that change to full take effect. When you do finally allow yourself to indulge once or twice a week, it's a reward and a treat. It does taste better than when it was a ritual to eat such foods.

Progress: Since eating clean my workouts have skyrocketed in energy and progress. I've lost a LOT of weight in my mid section and I'm almost two notches down on my belt. Visibly in the mirror I look leaner, stronger and just more fit. I was worried this morning because I felt that maybe I've gone down too much in weight to look this fit, (thinking I've sacrificed muscle). I got on the scale expecting 189-191 ish. To my surprise I was 195, the same weight as 2 weeks ago but significantly leaner. The protein rich diet is keeping my muscles from being sacrificed. What a boost for the day!