Cheat meals are they a do or a don't?
I believe it all depends on your goals and what personally works for you.
I stay away from cheating all together during my prep for competition and its completely out of the question now that I am about a week out from the big day.
However what about everyone else and what about after the competition "season" is over?
I've heard of athletes staying away from cheat meals no matter how far away the competition and on the other hand I have heard of people who swear by the one cheat day a week system.
For some people including me a little nibble here and a drink there is enough to send me down a slippery slope of bad habits. Sure nothing happens overnight but especially if your JUST starting to clean up your eating habits, I would avoid cheat meals all together for the first three weeks.
Now, for the cheaters... this does NOT give you permission to overindulge all day on junk food in large quantities. (You can literally ruin a whole weeks worth of training and dieting on a binge of one day!)
Pick ONE meal of the day to eat a not so good for you item. Keep the portion reasonable and keep a clean eating schedule for the remainder of the day. Eat slowly and enjoy.
After three to four weeks of straight clean eating you will actually stop craving the junk and start craving REAL food when your hungry. Just remember if you do choose to enjoy occasional "cheat" meals stop yourself from thinking it was a REWARD from the good habits of the week. This turns the focus on eating crap as a REWARD and we are not dogs, we do not reward ourselves with food. Do something for yourself instead like going and getting a massage :)
Happy day everyone xo
