Bodybuilders cheat days what is it

The Solution! Not all is lost, and your future is brighter then ever, if you follow this simple concept. The concept of having a " " once a week. To me, Cheat Days or meals are necessary to not only emotionally calm your cravings, but to jump start your metabolism and provide extra energy. Eating foods that are higher in calories, or are not normally in our food plan, will increase our metabolism since our bodies are forced to work harder at burning the calories ingested.

The key is to cheat only when necessary, and this skill can take time to learn. Many people I know have a cheat day every Sunday, however I work better on cheating a few meals or snacks each week.

Devoting an entire day Sunday to cheating doesn't work for me emotionally since I know I would want something naughty by Wednesday or Thursday. Through trial and error, I know my body and mind works best when I allow myself to have a cheat meal when I truly need one. This may mean a Frappuccino, a small bowl of ice cream, or some toast with peanut butter. Whether you have reached your fitness goals or have 20 pounds to loose, having a cheat meal will keep your sanity and rev up your metabolism so that when you return to your clean eating you will burn calories faster, now that your metabolism is working harder.

If you have been dieting down for a contest, and training twice a day for 10 weeks, you want to be sure everything you consume is what you need, gram for gram. Having a cheat day at least three or four times can help keep your sanity during your contest prep. The final two to four weeks before your show are crucial to your chances of winning, and here is what I did during that time. Competing to win means sacrifice, and when I was dieting for my bodybuilding contest, I didn't cheat the last four weeks.

These thoughts which I ran through my mind is what helped me maintain my focus:. Lighten up. One splurge will not ruin your progress. In fact a healthy diet can include all food in moderation. After you train larger muscle groups, such as back, chest or quads, your body is particularly depleted of fuel. Rebuilding fuel stores by including a lot of carbohydrates in the post-training meal is essential in starting the muscle- repair process.

Fast-acting carbs, such as those in cake, are as good as any. Just watch how much frosting you consume. A little is fine, but thick globs of frosting take you from cheating on your diet to undermining it. For building mass, a high-carb diet is superior to a low-carbohydrate plan for most bodybuilders.

Carbs work in conjunction with protein to create an anabolic state. However, many bodybuilders experience periods of little growth despite a high-carb intake. In fact, a chronic high-carb intake could lead to an increase in bodyfat for some trainers.

One solution is to cut your daily carb intake in half for a week to 10 days. When your carb consumption goes down, your muscles undergo enzymatic changes that help support growth when you return to a high-carb intake. During this time, you can increase your intake of protein and dietary fat to help keep your total calories up. In fact, one study showed that dietary fat, when combined with low- carb intake, could ultimately increase the ability of muscles to utilize carbohydrates.

When you eat fewer carbs and a little more fat, your body actually increases its ability to use carbohydrates for growth when you return to a regular diet higher in carbs and lower in dietary fat. During the seven to 10 days when carbs are reduced, feel free to eat fattier meats, such as bacon.

Three or four slices of bacon lean or regular can help jump-start muscle gains. He found, calorie for calorie, pepperoni pizza to be far more effective in stimulating the fat-storing enzymes in the body than any other food item. You can choose any cheese pizza. Of course, there are even more tips and tricks. According to Alan Aragon, the post-workout period is your best time to cheat. During the post-workout window, the cheat meal stands a greater chance of being utilized by your muscles instead of being stored as fat.

Even when you do a low-intensity workout, your muscles can sponge up a lot of extra carbs , preventing them from being converted to fat. There is no single research study that says cheat meals can speed up your metabolism , but eating them can help you psychologically. It is difficult for someone to be on a diet 7 days per week without cheating. You may go crazy trying to do that, particularly if you are dieting for 12 weeks or longer. In other words, a little junk food might go a long way to help your mental game.