Cheat meal: how to eat junk food and lose weight

Diets always bring the emotional stress due to the necessary limitations. People often fall of their diets because they want to have a piece of their favorite junk food really bad. Nevertheless, these breaks are allowed and moreover, they are necessary while dieting. Eating junk food and high-calorie foods, which aren't a part of healthy eating or a diet, called cheat meal.

Cheat meal could help you meet your weight loss goals. These facts are attested to in the research published in The International Journal of Obesity. According to this paper, people who sometimes deviate from strict diets lose up to 50% more fat when people stuck to the diet.

Benefits of cheat meals:

Emotional stability

You stick to a balanced diet, excluding many of your favorite meals from it. Especially at first that is always stress for the entire body. Cheat meal will help to not to go all over with junk food. You will bear in mind that once a week you can afford to eat badly desired burger or something else from the "not allowed" list, as a sort of feint for your brain.

Acceleration of metabolism

That is scientifically proven fact. The point is that while dieting, we consume much fewer calories. When the body adjusts to calorie deficit, our metabolism starts to slow down. All in all, the thyroid hormone, which is responsible for metabolism, is synthesized in smaller quantities. Cheat meal helps to shake up the slowdown.

Junk food calories won't accumulate in body fat

Cheat meal helps to increase ghrelin and leptin production, two hormones which are responsible for the feeling of hunger and satisfaction. After sticking to a diet our body adopts to digesting food in small portions. If you eat something that's high in calories, such food won't be fully absorbed. That means it won't lead to excessive fat deposition.

There are some things to keep in mind in order to benefit from cheat meal:

• Cheat meal can be taken once a week
• Decide in advance what you are craving the most
• Alcoholic beverages can't be included in cheat meal
• Having your cheat meal home and especially in front of TV isn't the best idea. This way you can lose self-control and consume more calories than you're supposed to
• Don't blame yourself for eating something off your diet. Take into account that it all was planned. If the decision is informed, it won't do any harm

In conclusion, cheat meal is an opportunity to eat your favorite junk food even when being on a diet. It takes off emotional stress, has positive effects on hormones and helps you on the way to weight loss goals.