Cheating: losing weight on your favorite foods

Sticking to a diet is always very difficult. Every now and then you have the urge to eat something “forbidden.” And allowing yourself such weakness, you begin to suffer from remorse. Sound familiar? It turns out that there is no need to worry about this, there is nothing terrible in it, neither for the soul nor for the body. Moreover, this method has its own name - cheating. And they say it works well!

What methods do nutritionists and nutritionists invent so that overweight women can say goodbye to it as quickly as possible? There are a great many different tricks. One of them is cheating.

The essence of cheating is as follows: imagine that all week, when you eat a limited calorie diet, the body begins to think that hard times have come and therefore no longer wants to lose extra pounds. If on one day you increased your caloric intake and ate unauthorized foods, the body decided that there was still no threat, and you can continue to lose weight further, explains our regular expert, nutritionist Ekaterina Pavlova.

Basic Rules

Translated from English, the word cheating means “deception.” In dietetics, cheating is understood as a deliberate violation of diet in order to deceive the body and force it to get rid of extra pounds.

One should not naively believe that during cheating one can absolutely not restrain oneself in the amount of food. Cheating is not gluttony, it is a technique that will help you lose weight, which means it has its own rules!

Firstly, you should know that it is only appropriate to talk about cheating if you are on a long-term diet. Ideally, your diet will last for two or three months. Then you can safely arrange cheating once every two weeks.

Secondly, during the so-called loading days, your portion should not double or even triple. When cheating, there are special restrictions that you should never exceed. If your cheating lasts only one day, then you can safely increase your diet by 50-70%! If you want to extend cheating for two days, then the diet should be increased by no more than 20%.

Food during cheating should be, if not dietary, then at least healthy. It is best to increase your normal diet. This doesn't mean you can't treat yourself to chocolate or a piece of cake, but you shouldn't overeat! Also remember to drink enough water while cheating.

Psychological moments

The psychological aspect is the main component of the diet. If you always deny yourself everything, then the chance of “breaking” will be very high. In this case, cheating is precisely the method that can solve this problem. However, there are pitfalls here.

You can't divide foods into good and bad. Any product can fit into a diet, it all depends on its quantity. Therefore, if you have an unbearable craving for sweets, allow yourself this on one of the loading days. But know when to stop!

How not to get caught in desires

Drink more water. We often confuse the feeling of thirst with the feeling of hunger. Water will only bring benefits.

Inspect your kitchen and get rid of temptations.

Walk the “safe” route, avoiding places with fresh baked goods.

Dine at a restaurant where portions and prices control your desires.

Brush your teeth more often, this will help discourage the desire to eat too much.

Expert opinion

Ekaterina Pavlova, nutritionist:

1. Cheating can work if used wisely.

2. It’s better not to have a whole day, but one meal every 2-3 weeks.

3. Don't overdo it with the amount of food you eat while cheating.

4. Do not practice cheating if your diet is too strict and you are overweight.

5. The main thing is to observe the measure and write down what you eat in your food diary.