Fitness - Cheat Day

Hello dear Community,  

next I want to discuss the topic – Cheatday!

• Level 1
  Alarm off => chocolate in
• Level 2
  Since the alarm is already off, we'll just continue until everything is gone
• Level 3
  I regret everything I just stuffed myself
• Level 4
  whoops! * Switch on the alarm system completely unobtrusively again *

Nevertheless, life goes on and we have to get along with it. But how?

Widely used in the fitness community, there is a word - with this word, all sins are justified!

Circle of friends: "Didn't you say you're on a diet?"

Cheater (While rolling his Nutella pancakes and full mouth chocolate chip cookies) „CHEATDAY!!!“

„Cheatday“ or „Cheatmeal“

The basic idea of cheating is to pretend to the body that there is enough food and that he does not have to start creating reserves (in the form of fat depots).

Very simple example:

Each body has a daily basal metabolic rate of Kcal that it needs to maintain its weight. This is calculated according to different parameters and varies depending on the activity. Now suppose I have a basal metabolic rate of 2100 kcal. If I go below this now and take only 1800 kcal today, I lost weight that day. If I exceed this, I have increased.

Let's assume I weigh 140kg and want to get down to 90kg. According to the theory, I only have to come under my basal metabolic rate every day so that I can reach my goal sometime in the future.

In practice, this does not look quite so easy, because the human body is a bit more complicated. In the first days and weeks, this tactic will certainly work well and the first pounds will tumble. In the beginning, even very fast. Then it gets harder and it starts to stagnate.

Why is this happening?

Unfortunately, our body has no button with which we can tell him that we are going into a diet phase and he should kindly rid the problem areas of fat. Our body only realizes that it does not get as much food as before and after a certain time switches to "survival mode". He unscrews the basal metabolic rate and it will be harder to lose weight or reduce body fat.

Here comes the cheatday in game. The basic idea of cheating is to pretend to the body that there is enough food and he does not have to switch to survival mode and start creating reserves (in the form of fat deposits). Thus, the diet can continue on its way without being thwarted by the body.

The only thing that is always misinterpreted is that you should eat all day long, eat (especially unhealthy). Basically, it's enough if you take 500-700 kcal more on this day.

I think that this day can be rewarded with a few of his favorite sins, because let's face it, 95% of us do not do it professionally or are paid to walk around with 3-4% body fat (What by the way, in the long run also not healthy).

Important to mention! Cheating brings an advantage only in the diet phase. In the build-up phase you eat enough kcal and have completely different goals.