A Cheat Day May Be Good For Your Diet Plan

On a diet plan? Personally I feel diets don’t work because they have too many impractical restrictions. No wonder so many dieters give up and fail to lose weight. I mean what do you expect?

However, if you are on a diet plan and it is working for you, I say stick with it. On the other hand, if from time to time you are cheating on your diet plan well…it’s OK.

That’s right. Having a cheat day is OK.

As a matter of fact, having a cheat day may actually help you stick with your diet plan until you slim down to your desired size and weight.

Sounds unreasonable?

Not really.

Here are my 3 personal reasons why every dieter should have a cheat day on their diet plan.

Forbidding a Cheat Day on a Restrictive Diet is Unrealistic

As I mentioned before, I don’t like diet plans because I find them too restrictive. Not only are diet plans restrictive, but they are unrealistic telling people ‘they can’t eat this’ and ‘they can’t eat that’ where many dieters completely give up the foods they love.

First of all, most diet plans don’t teach people how to eat healthy as part of a lifestyle change. Diet plans like the 7 Day diet, Atkins Diet, Cabbage Diet, Banana Diet, Zone Diet, South Beach Diet and more are full of if with their promises to “lose 10 pounds in a week” or “lose 20 pounds in a month.”

Losing weight is not about dieting based off diet plans that only offer short term results. Losing weight is about making healthy lifestyle changes where long-term weight loss and weight maintenance takes time, patience, and hard work.

Besides, do you intend to stay on a diet plan forever where you’re not going to eat a slice of pizza or a slice of chocolate cake for the rest of your life?

That’s just plain unrealistic.

Instead, why not figure out how many calories you need to lose weight and try to stick within your daily calories? That way you won’t have to give up the “bad foods” you love and still lose weight.

As long as you can stay within your daily calories and be discerning of the types of “bad foods” you choose to eat, you can have a cheat day without sabotaging your diet.

 

A Cheat Day Can Teach You Self-Discipline

Another reason why I say it’s good for dieters to have a cheat day is because doing so can teach dieters self-discipline when it comes to eating bad foods.

Portion control, meal planning, moderation, and weight control are all part of self-discipline that’s crucial to losing weight for long term results and weight maintenance.

Again, diet plans don’t teach people how to properly eat healthy as part of a lifestyle change. However, dieters are expected to eat a “clean diet” free of bad foods forever. Then when dieters go to holiday functions, family gatherings, or hang out with friends, they don’t know how to practice self-discipline when the bad foods are in front of them and consequently they “cheat” on their diet.

Likewise, what do you suspect happens when dieters stops dieting?
Unfortunately, dieters return to their old eating habits that made them overweight in the first place.

Therefore, if you can learn self-discipline by having a cheat day, once you stop “dieting” you will be in a better position to maintain your new weight.

 

A Cheat Day Can Fight Off Mind Games That Diet Plans Play

The last reason why a cheat day may be good for your diet plan is because it can help dieters to realize they are not perfect and that they are only human.

Ever notice the bad foods you can’t have you want the most? Then if you eat the bad foods you feel guilty because you “failed” on your diet plan.

That’s the psychological mind games the weight loss industry plays on dieters. Dare to go off your diet plan for just one minute and SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!

Rubbish.

To reiterate once more, diet plans don’t teach people how to properly eat healthy as part of a lifestyle change.

That said…and to be rather blunt, if you are a dieter who has had little success on diet plans, there is no one to blame, but yourself because you chose a temporary solution to losing weight.

I can't stress this enough; losing weight is not about dieting. Losing weight is about making a lifestyle change…and a permanent change at that.

While there are dieters who do have some success on diet plans, they typically gain all the weight back plus more simply because they didn’t learn how to eat healthy as a new way of living.

In any event, if you want or have a cheat day on your diet plan, don’t feel guilty about it! Unless you plan to stay on a diet plan forever, I suggest to stop dieting and instead learn how to eat healthy as part of a lifestyle change.

And remember portion control, meal planning, moderation, and weight control for self-discipline. If you can do this when it comes to the bad foods, it’s totally fine to have a cheat day where you can still lose weight and have the lasting results you want.

Good Luck!

Weight Control

Start Taking Responsibility for Your Weight

Weight control is a problem for many dieters, but how much of this problem is the fault of the dieter? Yes I know there are people out there who have problems with their weight due to a health condition, but what about the rest of the dieters? Why are they overweight?

In order to get thin and stay thin, one has to first take accountability for getting and being overweight. To put it bluntly, unless you have a medical condition, being overweight is your fault. That may sound harsh and in your face, but it’s time to be honest with yourself; how did you let yourself get to your undesired weight?

In my article Don’t Be Afraid to Weigh Yourself, I mentioned how thin people are extremely cautious about gaining weight. There’s no such thing with a thin person to go from 130lbs to 140lbs and then to 160, 180, or over 200lbs because they lack weight control. Thin people are always in control of their weight.

That’s why I say being overweight is mainly the fault of the dieter because again to be frank, at what point did you realize you were overweight? By no means am I trying to make anyone feel bad about themselves or to point fingers, but what I am saying is that if you can accept being overweight as being your fault, you will be half way there to getting the body you want and finally have weight control. Honest!
 
For your next step, start getting proactive about stopping additional weight gain. Again, thin people are always, always in control of their weight. Now it’s time for you to have weight control too. While there will be things in life you can’t control, you can control your weight like being meticulous about what you put into your mouth and control the number of times you exercise per week.

Do you have to become a slave to the gym or fitness? Of course not. However, if you led an inactive lifestyle for many years, you will now need to do some form of physical activity regularly in order to slim down. With that said, workout with a fitness routine at your own pace and be realistic about how much weight you can expect to lose weekly.

Don’t fool yourself into exercising 5-6 days per week if you know you won’t stick with it or fool yourself into thinking you can lose 10 pounds in a week or lose 20 pounds in a month. If you can honestly only workout 2-3 days per week, that’s OK.

You will still lose weight, but it might take you a little longer to slim down to the size you want. Big deal. The key here is to not lose weight quickly, but to lose weight naturally and again, at your own pace so you are not stressing or obsessing about losing weight.

If you can lose weight naturally through eating healthy, counting calories, and exercising, you will be more successful at keeping the weight off long term. Dieters who rely on diet pills and extreme fad diets to slim down and get thin will only set themselves up for failure. Sure they may have some weight loss at first, but it will only temporary.

To lose weight for good and finally have weight control, you will need to make eating healthy and physical fitness a part of your new lifestyle. It’s that simple. Once you can commit to a lifestyle that’s healthy and adopt a habit or two from thin people, slimming down and getting the body you want won’t be so hard. I promise!

Good Luck!

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How to Maintain Weight

Maintain Weight by Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle!

I have had many friends and family members who were able to lose weight quickly using various diet plans and weight loss supplements, but to be honest, I can count on one hand the number of those people who were able to keep the weight off permanently.

That said, if you are not taking the proper steps on how to maintain weight once you slimmed down, you risk the chance of gaining all the weight back, plus more, as quickly as you lost it. Weight control will have to be your number one priority if you want your weight loss results to be long term.

Unfortunately, many dieters don’t have lasting results once they get thin because of this crucial reason:

"Healthy Eating Has to be a Part of Your New Lifestyle for Weight Management"

Diets don’t work! They just simply don’t because fad diets and weight loss supplements don’t teach dieters anything about weight management and how to keep the weight off long term. To be successful at keeping the weight off for good once you slimmed down, you absolutely must change your eating habits and make eating healthy a part of your new lifestyle. Only then will you be able to have true, lasting results after getting the body you want.

Finding easy ways to lose weight fast is not the hard part. Weight management is. If you lose weight naturally by eating healthy, counting calories, and working out regularly with a fitness routine, managing your weight will be a lot easier. However, if you are losing or lost weight through fad diets or weight loss supplements, managing your weight will be more of a challenge because to be frank, you took the easy way to lose weight.

Losing weight fast, especially too fast, only provides a temporary solution to your weight problems because again, fad diets and diet pills don’t teach dieters anything about good eating habits and exercising as a lifestyle.

To maintain your weight, I suggest using a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need for weight control. What you don’t want to do is go back to your old eating habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place. If you lead an inactive lifestyle, counting calories will be extremely beneficial to help prevent you from consuming useless, extra calories that will turn into fat and cause you to gain weight.

I highly suggest you workout regularly with a fitness routine, but if you choose not to, then make sure to not consume extra calories that you won’t burn due to inactivity. As mentioned earlier, eating healthy for weight control should be your number one priority.

Therefore, avoid foods that are processed, and high in calories, sugar and fat. Does that mean you have to give up junk food and sweets forever? Of course not. However, moderation is key. That’s the main weight loss secret on how to get thin and stay thin!

Accordingly, if you can make eating healthy, counting calories, and exercising part of your new lifestyle, you will be one of the few dieters that will be successful with weight management.

Good Luck!

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