Are You Binge Worthy?

Cheat meals, calories and your workout. Yes, MAXIM fitness guru ALEXA TOWERSEY gives you the lowdown on diet control and how to get wasted without wasting your gains…

- Alexa Towersey

Some would say that if you have to “cheat” on your diet, then you’re on the wrong diet. However, cheat meals — or Treat Meals as I refer to them — can actually be planned. Kind of like a reward for being a good dieter, and also a much needed mental break from eating the same chicken and broccoli day in day out. Plus, everything you eat on your birthday is calorie free, right?! As a general rule, if you’re already lean then you have less to worry about. And even if you’re not, a couple of cheat meals won’t break the scales or the mirror for that matter. But if you’re eating a cheat meal every meal of every day, then it’s not a cheat meal pal — it’s a binge.

TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT

Your body is all about procreation and survival, not getting party pumped for the beach, even though one could argue that this would most likely increase your chances for procreation. If you restrict calories for a long period of time, the body will make adjustments to some key metabolic functions leading to you holding on to fat so that essentially you die at a slower rate – it’s a protective thing. On top of this, dieting can be pretty stressful. When you’re chronically stressed the hormone cortisol is elevated again, making fat loss more difficult.