{"id":9559,"date":"2021-12-01T18:22:19","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T00:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/?p=9559"},"modified":"2021-12-22T11:17:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:17:26","slug":"should-i-eat-a-cheat-meal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/should-i-eat-a-cheat-meal\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Eat A \u201cCheat Meal?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Is a &#8220;cheat meal&#8221; a necessary part of a diet, or something you have to earn? Here&#8217;s how to make the most of a &#8220;free meal&#8221; to crush cravings and even burn fat faster!<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute;\" title=\"Should I Eat A \" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/players\/kZBAxZz2-5L2UHiXt.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get straight to the point. Yes, it\u2019s OK to have a \u201ccheat meal.\u201d However, the term &#8220;cheat&#8221; is pretty loaded, and sends an unnecessarily strict message about nutrition. For this we prefer to call them &#8220;free meals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you call them, for most, an occasional higher-calorie meal where you don\u2019t have to eat your planned meals, or order grilled chicken and steamed veggies off the restaurant menu&#8211;\u00a0 won\u2019t derail your progress.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, research shows an occasional diet break can assist in <a href=\"https:\/\/sculptnation.com\/products\/burn-evolved\">boosting your metabolism<\/a>, especially if you are on a low-calorie diet for an extended period.<\/p>\n<p>Free meals can also provide a much-needed mental break. Constantly trying to resist your cravings can be stressful! Allowing yourself to let loose and eat what you want for one meal is often exactly what you need to continue to stay on track!<\/p>\n<p>None of this means you should start planning out your &#8220;free&#8221; meals on day 1 of a diet, though! There&#8217;s a strong argument for waiting a while first.<\/p>\n<h3><b>When And How To Incorporate A Cheat Meal<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>In our <a href=\"https:\/\/vshred.com\/programs?ref=home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>V Shred custom meal plans and fat-loss programs <\/span><\/a>like <a href=\"https:\/\/vshred.com\/sp\/move\/v7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Move<\/span><\/a>, Fat Loss Extreme For <a href=\"https:\/\/vshred.com\/programs\/fat-loss-extreme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Men<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/vshred.com\/sp\/fat-loss-extreme-f\/sku_CKcwR4TEg54IeG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Women<\/span><\/a>, we usually have clients commit to a full month of pretty dialed-in nutrition before they have a refeed, free meal, or cheat.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why: When you\u2019re just starting out, your body is still primed for fat gain, not fat loss. If you start out by cutting back 1500 calories a day, 6 days a week, but still feast on 5000 calories on the seventh day, it will catch up with you. Sorry, that\u2019s just how calories work.<\/p>\n<p>But after at least a month of eating right and exercising consistently, you&#8217;re going to be in a much better place.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span><\/span>Your blood sugar is more stable.<\/li>\n<li><span><\/span>Your metabolism is boosted.<\/li>\n<li><span><\/span>Your body is better equipped to take some extra carbs and calories from a big meal of all those foods you\u2019ve been craving and use them to help you refuel and recover.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You will also be in a better mindset, which is also important when considering free meals. You have to be mentally ready to eat foods that could potentially trigger old eating patterns.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Remember, It\u2019s A Cheat Meal, Not A Cheat Day<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Now, to be clear, when you are given the green light to have a free meal, we\u2019re talking about one meal, not an entire day.<\/p>\n<p>One other thing. Don\u2019t confuse a cheat meal with a treat.\u00a0Say your coworker brings donuts to work, and you have one. Have you &#8220;cheated&#8221; or broken your diet? Definitely not!<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re tracking calories or macros in our V Shred App for<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/v-shred-diet-fitness\/id1442111093\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span> IOS<\/span><\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.vshred&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Android,<\/span><\/a> you can just track that donut and fit it into your daily &#8220;macro budget.&#8221; That&#8217;s one of the big advantages of a flexible dieting approach and why we recommend it.<\/p>\n<p>Now, some of our clients complain of a little GI distress when they indulge in a free meal. To help with this, we suggest taking some quality <a href=\"https:\/\/sculptnation.com\/products\/enzymes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>digestive enzymes<\/span><\/a> that can help assist in breaking food down so it can be easily digested.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Still Confused On How You Can \u201cCheat\u201d And Still Lose Weight?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>If\u00a0 you\u2019re struggling to make sense of all these words&#8211;cheat, treat, refeed, etc.&#8211; we get it. You\u2019re not alone.\u00a0The confusion of \u201ccheat meals\u201d is one of the most discussed topics in our Facebook Group for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/vshredformen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Men<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/vshredforwomen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Women.<\/span><\/a> We suggest jumping into these conversations and asking questions!<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s also why we have a team of certified personal trainers and nutritionists at V Shred. They build custom diet plans to help make sense of nutrition and speed up our clients\u2019 results every day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vshred.com\/sp\/custom-diet-plan\/reup\">Get your plan here<\/a> or email <a href=\"mailto:coaching@vshred.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>coaching@vshred.com<\/span><\/a>, and we can get you the help you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is a &#8220;cheat meal&#8221; a necessary part of a diet, or something you have to earn? Here&#8217;s how to make the most&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":7851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,7508,27,26,18,29,20,40,23],"tags":[7489,7488,7476,7466,7490],"yst_prominent_words":[351,3689,6182,170,386,118,1244,6003,423,892,1893,4718,5760,5739,3270,1185],"class_list":["post-9559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-build-muscle","category-frequently-asked-questions","category-fat-loss","category-get-toned","category-goals","category-healthy-lifestyle","category-nutrition","category-nutrition-tips","category-weight-loss","tag-cheat-meal","tag-free-meal","tag-nutrition","tag-nutrition-tips","tag-reseed"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/AdobeStock_300239831.jpeg?fit=6720%2C4480&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NWy7-2ub","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9559"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9567,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559\/revisions\/9567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9559"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vshred.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}