Did You Cheat On Your Diet? Don’t Worry Too Much About It

In this world where we expect perfection, it is all too often the case that people who “made a mistake” when following a specific diet would feel a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. In some instances, these negative feelings are enough to make the person quit following their plans entirely, think “what’s the point?” and berating themselves over it.

Truth be told, anyone who has ever tried to follow a specific diet before would have fallen off the wagon at least a few times, and this includes myself when I first started my weight loss journey. I mean, our creator gave us many senses for a reason – because it leads and guides us instinctively into what is good for us. So when we smell the tantalising chicken burger or slice of pizza, we can start feeling hungry.

Although most of us worry that the one unhealthy meal that we consumed would have undone all your hard work, the reality is that it wouldn’t. Put it into perspective. How long did it take for you to get big? How many calories did it take? A lot, right? How many calories have you consumed with this out of control cheat meal? Would that make you put on a lot of weight instantly?

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You see, when we are psychologically focused on something and our emotions take control, we can sometimes end up being slightly illogical about things. When you are emotionally affected by poor self-esteem and body image, and have somehow linked your value as a person with your body size, of course a cheat meal would make you feel ashamed and like a failure.

So the question remains – how much damage can one binge eating episode do? The simple answer is how often you do it. You see, if it was a one-off or an occasional occurrence, then you can simply brush it off, as its effects are only short-term. If you do it too many times, your body will make changes and this is when the problem starts. To use an analogy, think about how you would feel about your neighbours having a wild party once a month vs a perpetual drunken partying household?

If you constantly consume unhealthy food, the amount of fats consumed will accumulate, so will the amount of sugar in your muscles, and so will the clogging of your arteries. Now we have a problem. If it is an occasional cheat meal, these issues will not occur. So if you are feeling bad after cheating on your diet, relinquish the thought that you are a failure and it is the end of your journey.

In fact, I’m about to release one bombshell that can make you feel better. It is now accepted that having a cheat meal once in a while is actually good for you. This is because you won’t feel deprived of your favourite meals. In fact, I had covered this in a previous blog post entitled “Don’t deprive yourself of your favourite food”.  You might enjoy that article too. In fact, it will strengthen you psychologically!

Some fitness experts even say that everyone’s body is different and therefore react to “blow-outs” differently. One even said you should “keep tabs” and experiment to find out how many “blow-outs” you can get away with. Personally I would advise against this because it does not resonate with my philosophy. Why tempt fate? Just do the best you can and you’ll be fine! And remember that when you make a mistake, get back up on your feet and dust yourself off! Then press the reset button.

Mark

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