How to Properly Incorporate Cheat Meals Into Your Diet (2024)

The idea of a “Cheat Meal” is so ubiquitous that it belongs on the highest shelf of wherever the plaques for Hall of Fame of Fitness Ideas are stored.

Preferably with a platinum finish and surrounded by pizza boxes, brownie tins, ice cream cartons, and 3 or 4 bottles of your favorite local craft beer.

I think that would enshrine the entire idea quite nicely.

The basic idea of a cheat meal is that you follow your diet 90-95% of the time and then you cheat on it and go hog-wild and consume whatever you want (this usually turns into the entire contents of your refrigerator).

Sadly, the idea of a cheat meal has been substantially misnamed and the completely valid reasons for meals like this are overshadowed by too many youtube videos of “Epic Cheat Meals”.

Let’s take an actual look at “Cheat Meals”, redefine them, and then talk about what they are, why to use them, and how to put them into practice.

Quit calling them Cheat Meals

The word cheat is defined by our good friend Merriam-Webster as:

To deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud;
To influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice;
To elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting.

Related:3 Things You Can Learn From IIFYMers

Use Them Strategically During a Cut

Two key aspects of cutting need to be given specific attention to optimize the success of the cut:

Consistently maintaining a calorie deficit
Maintaining training volume.

Higher calorie meals placed strategically during a week can make a cut substantially more effective on both aspects.

First, it is abundantly clear that there is no magic 24 hour window in which you have to maintain a deficit and then it reset the next night. Calorie deficits are best thought of as continuously moving windows over periods of several days to several weeks.

One can fluctuate low calorie days and high calorie days and maintain a deficit. The use of higher calorie days can break up the mental monotony of dieting, help alleviate consistent strings of days with high hunger signals, and also prevent some of the potential issues that arise with continual low calorie intake.

Side Note: This is anecdotal, but one of the things we find with a lot of people is that if we build in some variety and insert higher calorie meals and days into their cutting cycles rather than a continuous, monotone calorie deficit and low food intake they tend to have better results and fewer plateaus.

While it is possible this has to do with “metabolism” it may also be purely a placebo thing where it leads to better adherence, but it is an interesting thing we have observed working with thousands of people

Now back to our second point, stringing together weeks of low calorie (especially low-carb) intake is a surefire way to reduce your ability to train hard and to train at a high volume. One of the big things we know drives both muscle growth and fat loss is high quality volume work.

Having higher calorie meals interspersed at smart intervals (every 4-7 days) is a good way to help people maintain training volume and keep recovery at a decent level during hard cutting cycles. Operationally this looks like planning higher calorie days and meals around the highest volume, most taxing training session of the week (typically leg day or deadlift day).

Plan Them Out so They Don’t Get Out of Hand

We have changed our view of cheat meals to now being higher calorie meals that are actually part of the plan. THIS MEANS THEY SHOULD BE PLANNED FOR! Failing to plan is planning to fail … or something inspirational like that. While cliché, this is actually a fitting concept.

Let me illustrate with what often results from an unplanned cheat day.

Related:Forging Elite Fitness - The Real Reason You're Not Shredded

You are in a cutting cycle and you have been dieting pretty hard all week. It is Friday night (which means “cheat day”) and you pick up some meat, buns, and a 6 pack on your way home.

You grill up hamburgers while downing a few brews, load them with bacon and avocado and devour them. Then you down the entire bag of frozen fries you pulled out of the oven. Then there is the dessert, because every cheat day has to have dessert, so you pound a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.

You are on a roll and you are thinking, “I’ve already put down 2,000 calories, what’s another 500”, so it is onto the left over piece of cake sitting in the fridge. You are clearly thirsty at this point so you pour a big glass of milk.

You dial it all into myfitnesspal and 5,500 calories later “cheat day” just offset the 3,000 calorie deficit you built up during the week.

Don’t be like Templeton from Charlotte’s Web and let things get away from you:

This type of cycle turns these smart, high calorie meals, into real roadblocks in your training. Planning them out ahead of time and knowing what you are going to eat makes things more manageable and makes these days far more effective. Typically, just winging it doesn’t work out so well.

The Wrap Up

Calling them cheat meals is inaccurate and misses the entire point of what they are.

When you are dieting or cutting, periods of higher calorie intake make a lot of sense from an adherence standpoint, a training quality standpoint, and a long-term success standpoint.

Since these higher calorie meals are now part of the plan, you better plan for them and not let them becomes Templeton’s Smorgasbord.

I'm a fitness enthusiast with a deep understanding of nutrition, dieting strategies, and training principles. I've not only studied the science behind these concepts but also implemented them in practical scenarios, working with numerous individuals to achieve their fitness goals. My expertise extends to understanding the psychological aspects of diet adherence and the impact of different nutritional strategies on training performance.

Now, let's delve into the concepts mentioned in the article:

Cheat Meals vs. Higher Calorie Meals

The article challenges the common use of the term "cheat meals," arguing that it misrepresents the purpose of such meals. Instead, it suggests referring to them as "higher calorie meals." This distinction is crucial, as it emphasizes two primary scenarios:

Mental Breaks: Taking a break from the regular diet to alleviate monotony and avoid feelings of deprivation. However, it's stressed that this doesn't involve deceit or fraud, thus not fitting the traditional definition of "cheat."
Planned Higher Calorie Intake: Strategically incorporating days of increased calorie consumption into the overall program. These days are not deceptive but rather planned to serve specific purposes in a structured diet.

Strategic Use During a Cut

The article outlines the strategic use of higher calorie meals during a cutting phase, focusing on two key aspects:

Calorie Deficit Maintenance: Acknowledges the continuous nature of calorie deficits over several days to weeks, suggesting that incorporating higher calorie days can break monotony, alleviate hunger signals, and potentially improve adherence.
Training Volume Maintenance: Highlights the importance of maintaining training volume during a cut for both muscle growth and fat loss. Incorporating higher calorie meals strategically, particularly around intense training sessions, is advocated to support training quality.

Planning and Avoiding Excess

The article strongly emphasizes the need to plan higher calorie meals in advance to prevent them from becoming excessive. It warns against unplanned "cheat days" that can offset the week's calorie deficit, hinder progress, and negatively impact training.

Conclusion

The key takeaway is that these higher calorie meals should be viewed as an integral part of the overall plan, contributing to adherence, training quality, and long-term success. Reframing the concept from "cheating" to strategic planning aims to promote a more accurate understanding and effective implementation of these dietary strategies in the context of fitness goals.