How to Cheat (and Get Away With It)

by Darrin on March 11, 2011

Big MacIt’s time to talk about something that all you guys are interested in: how to get away with cheating.

Whoa, buddy. Hold up, there. You can take your philandering ways over to another site if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m talking about how to occasionally eat your favorite junk food without worrying about getting out of shape as a result.

Cheating Defined

I remember being younger and following all those bodybuilding nutrition guidelines (which was all that was available for guys looking to get into shape) that preached eating a terrible diet of unsalted chicken breasts, unsweetened oatmeal, egg white omelettes, and protein shakes. Yuck!

These plans gave me one cheat day per week, which basically meant a day where I could eat only ONE meal that didn’t taste like cardboard, and even then I had some restrictions on what couldn’t make its way into my belly. Jeez, that was rough. What works for the pros is rarely what works for average guys like you and me.

In most diets, it’s all about the quantity of food consumed. So either calories are strictly counted, or a massive energy deficit is forcefully imposed (both of which are bad ideas). But here, it’s all about the quality of food eaten. So microwave dinners, soda, and “low fat” foods are out, unprocessed meat and vegetables are in.

Here at LMVM, we do things a little differently than everywhere else, and as a result, we have a different definition of “cheating.” Instead of defining cheating as eating high-calorie meals (which is how most people do it), I describe it as eating “bad” food: highly-processed stuff made in factories, loaded up with sugar, flour, vegetable oil, and lots of corn and soy products. The kind of food that has caused us as a society to become overweight and sick.

No diet can succeed if the dieter feels deprived, and it’s important to cut loose on occasion. It’s all well and fine to impose a strict diet on people, but I do live in the real world, and everywhere that I turn, there’s tasty “guilty pleasure” food that is cheap and requires no preparation. I love burgers, pizza, ice cream, cookies, and deep-fried Snickers as much as the next guy, and want to have a way to keep eating them without worrying about it giving me a beer gut.

The good news is that this is possible, but it’s important to know how to do this strategically so that you don’t derail your plans.

The 90-75 Principle

‘Round these parts, we have a saying: 90% is perfect, 75% is good enough. Meaning, the costs of trying to maintain a very strict diet and exercise regimen are far greater than the benefits you’d get if you just dialed it back a bit. There’s just no point in burning all of your most precious resource–willpower–in a Sisyphean task to be the fittest man in the world.

There may or may not be health benefits to occasionally pigging out on Big Macs. But the main point of cheating is to eat just enough junk food that you can still enjoy your life without being a slave to a strict diet, and to enjoy all of your favorite foods, no matter what they may be.

Don’t be the fussy guy who never goes out to eat with his friends because he’s on a strict diet. It’s important to find a way to have the best of both worlds.

How Much Cheating?

So how much cheating can you get away with? I know it sounds like a cop-out, but it really depends. As a general rule, the better shape you are in, the more you can get away with. Of course, the better your eating habits are, the more you outgrow your taste for junk food, and the easier it gets.

So it’s a pretty circular situation, with the biggest hurdle being the first step, but as soon as you can make strategic cheating a habit you’re good for life.

As a general rule, I say one day of cheating per week is optimal. Make it a little less if you are looking for faster results, and a little more (perhaps up to 2 full days) if you are in great shape and are happy to stay where you’re at.

The Three Cheating Strategies

Here’s the good news: there are many ways to cheat, and there’s certainly one that suits you and your lifestyle. The bad news is that you’re going to need to figure out what works best for you by rolling up your sleeves and experimenting with all of them. Here’s a look at the three strategies.

  1. Do all of your cheating in one day. Call it the “all-or-nothing” strategy: six days a week, you eat mostly unprocessed meat and vegetables, with some fruit, nuts, seeds, and eggs as needed. On the seventh day, you let it all hang out. From sunup to sundown, anything goes. Strategy one will work best for those of you with big junk food cravings who are positive that one day of bingeing won’t lead to two… and three… and seven… Depending on your style, this might be the best one to try at first. Just make sure you get enough of a “fix” that you won’t feel deprived by cutting the junk out completely for stretches of six days.
  2. Or, you could spread your “cheat meals” throughout the week. Perhaps one Friday night, one Saturday night, and one during the week sometime. Whatever works best for you! Strategy two is what I follow, and what I would suggest for most people. I think this strategy is the one that you will naturally “grow into” over time as your taste buds get used to enjoying hearty and savory food instead of sweet and lightweight. Your desire to binge is smaller at this point, and you are flexible to go out to dinner with friends and family without being a pain in the ass.
  3. The third way would be to never have a real cheat meal, but to be a little more lenient with the strictness of your diet. I’m not too big on strategy three, but make sure to give it a shot if the other two didn’t work out. The thing I don’t like is that it’s difficult to measure your cheating this way. With strategies one and two, you can easily keep track of your cheating and see how it measures up to your goal of cheating one day per week (3 meals). With the third strategy, things are a bit more difficult to quantify. This is the strategy for the person who’s committed to eating well all the time, but who wants to still drink a couple of cans of soda every day, or drown their salads in sugary dressing, or put ketchup on their steaks (the horror!). Only fall back on this one if you’ve tried the other two and failed.

Different people require different strategies to effectively cheat on their diets without the physical consequences. As the ancient Greeks said: know thyself.

{ 9 comments }

Sam- Look Like An Athlete March 11, 2011 at 2:45 pm

What this isn’t about relationships and love life??? I’m disappointed…

Cheat days are tricky for so many of us. I really don’t follow them much simply because I try to eat as clean as possible on a daily basis. For some that is very easy to accomplish but many times even that requires discipline.

The important thing is to practice moderation. I think that going to extremes, like not allowing a cheat day, is a recipe for failure. Feeling bad that you slipped a bit here and there is also not a good thing. If you slip a bit here and there just regroup, make the commitment to stay on task and chances are you will have less diet slip ups along the way.

Getting in shape is a lifelong process and will require some work here and there but it gets easier. So if you cheat on food it’s no biggie. Just don’t cheat yourself out of a healthy and fit life.

-Sam

Darrin March 13, 2011 at 10:04 am

@Sam

Haha. Yeah, the main goal of strategic cheating is trying to find the “sweet spot” where you aren’t burning up all your willpower by abstaining from the foods you love while still maintaining a high degree of health and fitness.

Dave - Not Your Average Fitness Tips March 13, 2011 at 12:31 pm

Cheat meals are an important part of any diet…of course it’s not really a diet with cheating which is the whole point. When I want to get in the best shape, I like the once per week approach. However, the majority of the time I have some cheat foods every day. Now, without junk food that includes refined sugar, cheating just means eating a lot of calories…definitely not as fun…but for a limited time I think it will be a useful experience.

Kelli @ FitnessBlender.com March 13, 2011 at 5:55 pm

You have some very interesting posts! I found your website from my search analytics- you had posted a link to one of our workout videos! Thanks 🙂

I think that cheating days or meals are what can help from getting into an “all or nothing”, “100 % perfection or total failure” kind of mindset. This is a smart post and I think it could help a lot of people. Kudos.

KLS

Raymond - ZenMyFitness March 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Great post I would love to get away with it all the time. I sort of do by keeping my cheats pretty clean still as I feel guilty but what better way to reset your mind and body?.
Love that rule 90-75 I havn’t heard of it before but it makes good sense.
These days I don’t worry so much about my weight so I probably cheat now quite a few days a week but I still keep an eye on the mirror just in case!
raymond

Darrin March 14, 2011 at 12:04 pm

@Dave

True. I’ve tried the very strict approach and just ended up burning out.

@Kelli

Not a problem, thanks for dropping me a line!

@Raymond

Yeah, it’s nice to know the better shape you are in, the more “leeway” you have in keeping your body composition constant.

Kelly-Fitness Overhaul March 14, 2011 at 7:29 pm

I think I kind of do the third way of cheating. I am pretty slack on my diet as a whole and use intermittent fasting to clean up the mess. That being said, my idea of being slack is better than most peoples diet though!
-Kelly

Alykhan - Fitness Breakout March 15, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Darrin,

Great pointers! Cheating is definitely an art and I like to think I have nearly mastered it. I use strategy 2 for the most part but with most of my cheating done on the weekends. I sometimes cheat up to two full days per week, but I’ve been able to maintain my weight by eating mainly Primal during the week and throwing in additional strategic fasts when I know I’m going to go out for a big meal with friends.

Alykhan

Darrin March 19, 2011 at 10:29 am

@Kelly

True. It’s awesome to get to the point where you are eating pretty well, but you are doing it naturally.

@Alykhan

Sounds just about how I roll too. My fasts tend to be more sporadic and just happen when I’m too damned busy to take a meal break!

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