So there will be a lot of people dieting right now not knowing whether they should cheat meal, refeed or even have a cheat day & I’m here to discuss the pros & cons of those options & to help you understand which one of these options will be more beneficial to you!

Refeeds

A refeed is definitely my favored approach with clients. This is to simply up the foods your within your current diet for a day or a single meal to spike metabolism and possibly increase leptin levels. There are various reasons why this is my favored approach but the main reason is to avoid binging, by giving someone a refeed and upping the amount of food within their current diet there is no issue with having to resume the diet the following day. Refeeds should also be calculated and not just up your portion sizes by any amount, you should always set your stall out and have a plan of what your reefed amount will be! This will not only make your refeed more effective but help avoid the chronic hunger feeling you’ll get the next day should you overindulge on your refeed.

Cheat Meal/Day

I personally don’t believe these are the most effective methods when your aim is to maximize a slight increase in food intake however, there’s a time & a place for everything so when I’m programming for my clients I like to keep these cheat meals for family social events. They can be beneficial in times when you are in real need of a mental break from the plan you’re adhering to, however, there should be boundaries as to portion size to make sure you don’t wipe out a total week’s worth of your hard work!

I personally don’t ever believe that a cheat-day will be needed for 99% of the people reading this so I wouldn’t condone this approach with my clients unless it was a social event such as a wedding. In this case, we would sufficiently plan by removing a small number of calories from their diet 5 days before to bank the calories for their social event.

You should never feel upset or disheartened by having a cheat meal or day & these can be completely harmless or even beneficial should you sufficiently plan for the meal.

Conclusion

I’m not to keen on the phrase “Cheat Meal” as it gives most people a deflated feeling after consuming when it should be a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. Remember this a meal to aid you in adhering to the weekly plan and can be beneficial in this process!  So as long as you have a coach that’s planning ahead and programming precise refeeds or cheat meals for you then consume them with this in mind!

If your someone that has a habit of binging or breaking away from your diet in the past then id favor a refeed to avoid slipping into old habits however if you’re in desperate need of a mental break from adhering to the food choices on the plan then a cheat meal may be the option for you.

#TEAMPRICE