How To Prepare For a “CHEAT Day”

We’ve all been there…

You have plans for the weekend (i.e. birthday, family get together, social event, BBQ, etc.) and you know darn well that all of these events revolve around FOOD.

What do you do ???

Do you skip the event and be a social outcast? (No Fun)

Or do you just throw caution to the wind and eat everything in sight?

Is there a better way?

In this blog post you are going to learn how to prepare for a cheat day so that it actually works with your muscle building and fat loss goals, rather than against them.

The truth is that no one can stick to a strict bodybuilding diet plan perfectly without getting off track at some point. Sooner or later you will cheat on your diet. Either because you planned to do so (the best way), or because things beyond your control affected your eating plans, or because your food cravings got so bad that you just lost control of yourself and binged (the worst way).

But the good news is that with a little planning you can use cheat days or cheat meals to your advantage and actually have them help with your fat loss and lean muscle gains. In the 21-Day Fast Mass Building Program we purposely cycle our diet from low calorie primer phases to high calorie overload phases for the purpose of maximizing lean muscle growth and minimizing bodyfat.

Before competition bodybuilders and other athletes will often “carb deplete” and then “carb load” in order to maximize glycogen storage in the muscle cells.

And many fat loss diet programs incorporate high carb days, re-feed days, or just plain old cheat days to help prevent slowing down of your metabolism and to optimize your metabolic hormones such as insulin, thyroid, leptin, testosterone, etc.

So how do you make the best use of a “Cheat Day” in a way
that helps your progress, rather than setting you back?

Simple, when you know that you are going to “cheat” (i.e. birthday party, Sunday dinner with the family, BBQ, Christmas dinner, etc.) just diet extra strict for the week leading up to your planned cheat day. Cut back on your carbohydrate intake and increase your cardio that week. This will deplete your glycogen stores and make your muscle cells more receptive to the influx of calories that you are going to provide during your “cheat day” (i.e. the calories will be more likely to get stored as glycogen rather than bodyfat).

Then right after your cheat day get right back on your bodybuilding diet ASAP. If you do this than your cheat meal / cheat day will actually help move you closer to your fitness and fat loss goals, rather than hindering you from reaching them. Not only that but it’s a lot easier and more fun to attend family & social functions when you can enjoy the food like a normal human being.

Keep this in mind for the next time you have a big event planned that revolves around food, just plan ahead, enjoy yourself, and move yourself closer to reaching your fitness & physique goals.

P.S.
If you haven’t already done so, I’d recommend that you download a FREE copy of…

“Bodybuilding Nutrition Made Simple” (FREE PDF Download) I’ve been involved with the bodybuilding and fitness game for over 20 years and during that time I’ve coached literally thousands of people. And hands down the most common frustrations that folks have is with proper bodybuilding nutrition. So that’s why I’ve put together this easy to follow bodybuilding nutritional guide to help simplify the process and make eating for a lean muscular physique as easy and pain free as possible.

And I’d like to send you a copy of this e-book for FREE.
Just Click Here to download your copy!