Are Cheat Days OK?

As weight loss experts, people don’t usually ask how they can lose weight…

…they instead say "what do YOU eat?  Do you ever eat anything "bad"?  What’s your favorite cheat meal?"

And this again happened the other day when we were presenting in California at the IDEA Conference.  After our talk, someone asked … are "Cheat Days" OK?

To be honest, we’re not fans of talking about "cheat" meals …

…maybe it’s just semantics, but we prefer to call it a splurge.

Cheat implies bad.  You’re sneaking food, hiding in the corner eating it, maybe keeping it hidden from your co workers in your desk so you can "sneak" it as if you’re bad.

On the flip side, splurge implies you enjoy a meal then get right back to where you were without worrying.

The Splurge foods are part of the 10% of what we recommend in our 90/10 rule (eat clean 90% of the time and leave the other 10% to let down the reins, so to speak).  If you do the math, that comes out to a couple meals each week.  Maybe use this for when you go with your spouse or friends.  Or for a lunch meeting at work.

Just plan that splurge into your week like you would plan anything else.  Planning is the key to success!

But keep that positive mindset.  Food shouldn’t be about hiding, cheating, lying, or sneaking…

We need to enjoy what we eat. 

With that said, here are our favorite ‘splurges’:

For Chris: Pizza or homemade lasagna, with crusty Italian bread and good olive oil.  Pizza is a little easier than making lasagna, but they’re both in the same realm of "splurge" foods.

For Kara: Wine and pasta with homemade sauce and meatballs and great Italian bread with olive oil.

For Ella: Well, she hasn’t quite gotten there yet, but we’ll surely report back.

So what’s your favorite splurge food?

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