How to recover from an unexpected cheat meal

If you’re human you’re going to cheat on your diet at some point it happens to everyone. Having a cheat meal can boost your moral and have you feeling better physically but it will usually come with guilt as well. If you have a cheat meal this is an easy way to make the repercussions far less severe or non existent.

1) If you unrepentantly fall off the diet and have that big plate of pasta with alfredo sauce and bread sticks and fried calamari, go light for the rest of the day. Don’t not eat because that will have you feeling terrible and possibly make you want to binge. Try only eating lean protein for the rest of the day and maybe a very small portion of complex carbs if you really need them for satiety. Eat slowly so your body can tell when its getting full and stop eating. Doing this will cut down the calories of the day and produce less spill over.

2) go to the gym the day of the cheat if possible. This will burn off some of those extra calories and leave you feeling far less guilty for eating something bad.

3) the day after the cheat is where you can shine. That cheat is going to have you motivated to go to the gym to work it off so really try to get in there. Try doing a little more than usual if you can but if not that’s fine. I don’t want you associating the gym with being miserable. For the day after the cheat also go lighter on food than usual. Have a normal breakfast but cut down your lunch and dinner. Eyeball what you think would be a couple hundred calories less than what you would normally eat and this will help cancle out the extra calories from the day before.

Tony isn't a licensed nutritionist yet, so he can't give anyone advice on what  to do.  Please consult your doctor for his professional opinion on a diet/nutrition program that will work for you.

Tony's blog is a journal of his experiences and what has worked for him.   He lists general guidelines and suggestions only.  He is NOT a professional.