The Cheat Meal, or cheat mealIt is a food that people use to skip the diet for its benefits on a physiological and psychological level.
The problem is that making a Cheat Meal does not carry any of these benefits and even, can be harmful.
Cheat Meal does not activate metabolism
All of us who have been in it for many years fitness world, we have lived this part when it comes to dieting. Waiting a whole week to puff up to eat everything for dinner on a Friday or Saturday.
People have a false belief that at the time of doing a definition phase, the metabolism is reduced because we are in a caloric deficit and that the body goes into “reserve mode”. This is not the case at all, what happens is that, obviously, it is not the same to maintain a body of 90 kilos, than one of 80. But this does not mean that our metabolism has slowed down, but that it is a consequence of having lost 10 kilos that you no longer need to maintain.
For this reason, do a Cheat Meal will not get our metabolism “back on track”. There is no serious study to prove this.
Possible psychological problems
On a psychological level it cannot have any kind of benefitSince waiting with anxiety and stress for a week, a hamburger, a pizza, an ice cream, is nothing positive.
Have compulsion (not to be confused with drive) for food is a trait or introduction to a TCASo if you have food cravings all week until your Cheat Meal arrives, there is something in your diet that is failing.
Alternative to Cheat Meal
An alternative to Cheat Meal, is the famous refeed or carbohydrate load.
The refeed consists in that during one, two and even three days, we increase in a moderate-high way (depending on its duration) the consumption of carbohydrates.
This yes we would psychologically relieve being controlled and at a physiological level, it would have positive effects due to the simple fact that our glycogen stores would fill, allowing us to train even stronger and, therefore, reduce our loss of muscle mass.
An example of a refeed would be having 200 g of bread for breakfast, instead of 100; eat 100 g of rice, instead of 50, etc.
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