Wouldn’t it be great if you could have one ‘Cheat Day’ a week off your healthy eating regime. Wouldn’t it be even better if this cheat day actually helped you lose weight!

First things first. Being able to take a ‘Cheat Day,’ is totally dependent on the other 6 days being healthy. Whatever you do, don’t just eat how you would anyway for the rest of the week and then overindulge on a Sunday. That is not going to help you lose weight.

Secondly ‘Cheat Day’ doesn’t mean stuff your face until you pop! It means allowing yourself a treat, something you wouldn’t have normally. Perhaps a dessert, perhaps bread or whatever. Treat yourself, yes, but don’t go crazy.

Taking a Cheat Day works from 2 points of view;

1/ It means you are less likely to overindulge or ‘fall off the wagon’ during the rest of the week. Research shows that people who allow themselves a little freedom for 1 day a week lose more weight in the long term than people who try to be healthy 24/7.

The Cheat Day gives you something to look forward to. I take my Cheat Day on Sunday so I have that to look forward to during the week.

2/ There is research that actually shows eating more food on a particular day (as long as it is no more than 1 day a week) actually boost/tricks your metabolism. The theory is that for the next couple of days after the Cheat Day your metabolism isburning more calories as your body is expecting you to be eating more food than you actually are.

Today’s Takeaway – It is important to let yourself have a day off your healthy regime, it will benefit your weight loss in the long run.