How to Lose Weight Even If You Cheat on a Diet
In order to lose weight, you need to cut back on calories. Not only that, but you need to limit certain types of foods, and load up on other healthier choices. Don’t fret if you’re on a diet and you cheat – you can still lose weight.
It’s extremely difficult to follow a diet exactly, down to the calorie, for an extended period of time. No one is perfect – you will most likely end up cheating a little. This is perfectly normal, and is still conducive to losing weight. Sometimes it actually helps to indulge in your favorite foods once in a while.
Don’t Be Too Strict
It may be true that diets that are too strict and don’t allow a little comfort food once in a while will actually drive dieters to cheat more than they should. Many times people will focus on what is strictly prohibited on a certain diet, and can become obsessed with that particular treat. This in turn increases your temptation, making it almost impossible to stay away from these foods.
Allow Yourself a Cheat Day
Allow yourself a cheat day once a week in which you are permitted to eat what you are craving. Just make sure not to over-indulge. Eating the odd slice of cake or donut will not make much of a dent in your weight loss progress. In fact, it will get that craving out of the way, and allow you to re-focus on what you should be eating for the rest of the week.
Try to aim to eat properly at least 80% of the time. Even if you eat the wrong foods in the wrong quantities 20% of the time, you can still lose weight.
Be Aware of the Quantity of ‘Cheat’ Foods Your Are Eating
Many diets do not allow the dieter to eat whatever they want every so often because many times these sessions turn into gorge-fests. People will get a taste of their favorite treat, and not know when to stop. It’s like having only one chip – many people simply cannot stop at just one. You have to remain focused on the task at hand – which is losing weight.
Everyone has a different level of self-discipline. If you are one of those people that is very disciplined and will only allow yourself one cookie, then go for it. If, however, you are one of those people who gets a taste of a donut, and can’t stop until the box is empty, perhaps you should stick to the diet as strictly as possible without torturing yourself with only one portion of cake.
Whatever your discipline level, just remember that it is OK to cheat once in a while. As long as you are following the diet most of the time, you should still end up losing weight.