Here is a repost of mine about Cheat Meals, and my take on the whole idea... Should I have a free meal or cheat meal, and which one is better? I am going to keep my opinion short and sweet as this is from my personal experience and what I favor. So take it as it is! First, my definition of a free meal is simple. Just a meal that you dont have to count every single macro and a time to relax about the actual meal. This can go a long way mentally for those who need the break. In addition, its great for balance. And for myself like many others, balance is needed because we have a significant other, and or children. But this meal is not a time to pig out and go nutz. You are still picking healthy choices and can be a little bit more in volume. The timing is usually once a week and can be used throughout the entire prep depending on the person. Last time I competed, I kept this in until about 1 month out from my show. And a typical free meal for me was going out for dinner, and getting a chicken breast or two on lots of greens with a diet soda! Now was I really going to count all those little veggies and stuff, heck no! But the value was most greater with keeping things sane. LOL. Now I am not going to expand on a cheat meal, since I think they are garbage. To have an excuse to eat junk and then hopefully bounce back, is not my style of coaching. I dont care if you try to defend this, I am not going to listen!! lol. I know plenty of coaches that allow this and I do not agree. These can do harm in my opinion. I do believe in strategic re feeds of carbs to keep the metabolism going, but again, this is from healthy foods and not junk. It all depends on the person though and usually works very well if planned accordingly. Again, person dependent. The next question is should I have them or not? In the grand scheme of things, it really does not matter because if you are consistent one way or another, the totals for your week will be the same week in and week out. And when changes are made to the plan, the grand totals will change. You see where I am going? An issue with many is that they just look at there plan meal to meal and not week to week. There are so many variables to consider that get lost in prep. So in a nut shell, if you think a free meal is not best for you, that is fine. But they can be a great tool to get you started in the right direction. And not to mention, I am a fan of flexible dieting and not just three foods. So really it depends on the person and what will give you the most success for your prep and results. You can achieve them either way you like as long as you stay true to your plan.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 16:20:58 +0000
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