All of us have tried out different diets at some point or the other in our lives. Diets go in and out of fashion just like clothing styles do. In the ’80s and ’90s, fat-free diets were all the fad, now very opposite is true with the high fat keto diet. In fact, the keto was so popular that it was Google’s most searched diet last year.
The thing with diets though, is that they are hard to stick to. We start out all motivated and willing to see it through, but somewhere along the way, we start faltering and then we break down and go on a junk food binge. Human willpower can only go so far.
Cheat days are the answer
How do you deal with this pesky problem of losing the will to continue on a particular diet? Cheat days. For once in your life, cheating will actually be good for you.
We need to remember that we are not machines. We can’t just readjust our settings and recalibrate how we live our everyday lives. Human beings are adaptable but we’re not automatically so. We need time and space to adjust to changes, especially to lifestyle changes.
This is why having a designated cheat day (or two) is the best way to avoid ruining a well-set diet plan. Give yourself a day where you can eat what you want. It could be a Friday where you want to celebrate the end of the work week or a Saturday so you can enjoy a night out.
A cheat day lets you blow off steam. By the time we’re almost done with a week on a regimented diet, most of us are like a pressure cooker ready to blow its lid off. Instead of letting ourselves explodes, we should gently release the pressure. A cheat day does exactly that.
Another important reason to observe a cheat day is that it keeps you motivated to stay on a diet. If you expect yourself to follow a strict diet every single day 100% of the time, when you do crack and end up binge eating, you immediately end up feeling demotivated. Most people give up on a diet as soon as they slide and end up junk food bingeing.
You shouldn’t let one setback make you quit altogether. As clichéd as it is, failure is a stepping stone to success. We’re human and we should cut ourselves some slack. Nobody can be perfect, especially a person on a diet. So, give yourself a cheat day and chill.
