FYI : Make your cheat meal rewarding

Maintaining a proper healthy diet is a big task in and of itself. During our diets, we crave our favourite foods, whether they are pani puri, pizza, or pasta. And so we end up with cheat meals, a “cheat day”, or a day off from strict dieting.The Pioneer’s Tejal Sinha spoke with a nutritionist and fitness trainers about how to avoid letting cheat meals or days affect your tough grind diet.

Let’s not deny the fact that maintaining a strict diet along with your workout is a big task in itself. Whether you’re on a specific diet or just being aware of eating healthy, everyone is familiar with the demonic temptations.As a result, we end up craving even more for our favourite dishes, and there is this longing to have them. Well! That is called a cheat meal, which you savour on cheat days. Diet 6 days a week, and on the seventh, eat absolutely anything or everything. The idea of a “cheat day”, or a chosen day off from strict dieting, stirs up some serious debate in the health world, too.

Let’s begin first by understanding the philosophy behind cheat meals. A cheat meal basically emphasises rewards (“good”) and punishments (“bad”) around diet and exercise. While some people end up having everything during their cheat meal day, that would turn into a punishment.

This is because you consume a lot of calories and all your hardcore dieting goes to There are generally three beliefs about what constitutes “cheating” on your diet:
Focusing on a specific time frame: The idea that cheating means eating anything during a set period (one meal, one day, etc.) Cheating on occasion means eating specific things you’d usually avoid for health reasons, like fructose to prevent a glucose spike, caffeine to boost energy, and so on, or having sweets during festivals.

Intuitive eating: Accepting that cheating is a natural part of dieting and therefore isn’t really “cheating” at all.

One must think positively and apply mindful eating to foods that are less healthy as some kind of punishment, one must think positively and apply mindful eating. Slow down and recognise “unhealthy” foods for what they are: a source of calories and a satisfying flavour. Perhaps we can learn to appreciate cheat meal items for what they are and consider these foods acceptable as long as we eat them mindfully.

As weight loss continues, some may look for foods that provide more pleasure. This pleasure-seeking is expected and it is a normal part of weight loss.What is this alternative to cheating meal dieting? A good lifestyle goal for working on weight loss would be to focus on mindful eating and not overeat any one meal, even if it is considered a cheat meal or a less healthy meal for you.

What goes on in your body on a cheat day depends on what you’re eating, how much, and how often. “For a few decades, researchers have known that restricting calories, as most people do when dieting, can cause leptin to dwindle. Leptin is important because it balances your energy and signals to your brain when it’s time to stop eating.

Using a cheat meal or cheat day to satisfy a craving can help people stick to otherwise restrictive diets. There have been studies that state that people who occasionally strayed away from their meal plans felt better about the diet process and stayed motivated to lose weight. However, it’s always recommended that you do whatever works best for you, just be mindful of your body and your mindset in the process,” shared Dr. Shyla Chaturvedi, a nutritionist.

Cheat meals work when planned for, says the nutritionist, and further goes on to explain that after several days of consuming fewer calories than you burn, splurging can rev up your metabolism while stocking up glycogen for tomorrow’s workout. It should also satisfy cravings that may nag at your daily diet.

Planning to eat some of your favourite less-than-healthy foods — cookies, pizza, beer — permits you to enjoy your splurges rather than feel guilty. If you’ve allowed for a cheat at some point during the week, you can loosen up a bit when you get to the office party on Friday.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Reddy, an actor and fitness model, said, “Everyone has their own cravings and we should not kill them. Once you kill them, your body needs more and more. So, instead of killing it completely and keeping your goals in mind, cheat, but in very small quantities. For instance, if you crave biryani, instead of having a full biryani, have a cup of biryani. When you have your cheat day, work out and burn your calories the next day. Anything too high or too low is bad for the body. It depends from body to body on how they would adapt to a diet. While some may not want to compromise on their regular healthy diet, some might need to have their favourite food in some amount to be motivated to do their workout or training. Being fit is not only a monthly or yearly goal but also a lifestyle goal.”

Meanwhile, Vikram, a techie based in Hyderabad, who has been doing his fitness training for around a year now, believes that instead of having a high-calorie meal, one can just have a cheat meal in a much healthier and tastier way. He went on to say, “There’s always a notion that plain foods like veggies cannot be tasty. But then the truth is, a little change in the dish can be much tastier. Having high-fibre foods that are low in calories helps you with your diet and also satisfies your cravings.

You can simply re-create the food or dish with a healthy twist. It’s equally important for one to have strong willpower. In your fitness journey, there’s no point in maintaining a strict diet if you are going easy on the intake of simple carbs on a daily basis. However, if they do an extreme level of cardio the next day, one can take the pleasure of having a very small portion of the food they are craving.”

It is the need of the hour to understand that what works for one person might not work for you!