Are those french fries flirting with you? Does the donut demand to be eaten? A new study says you should just relax and dig in.
Cheat days are every dieter’s dream. They’re the days when you can eat whatever you want whenever you want it and still be sticking to your diet. Sure, it’s only for a day a week but it sure is a good time, isn’t it? Think gorging on pizza and beer, tacos and margaritas, whatever it is that tempts you, until you have had your fill. And definitely don’t skip dessert! Bring on the ice cream and fudge.
We have long known that giving dieters this kind of mental break can help them stick to their guns the rest of the week. It makes discipline more doable when you know that relief is in sight. Just wait and you will be rewarded.
But now, a new Australian study published in the Journal of Obesity shows that dieters who take cheat days lose MORE weight than dieters who restrict consistently, as the Daily Meal noted.
Lead study author Nuala Byrne believes cheat days help fight the body’s tendency toward adaptive thermogenesis, which previous studies have proven “creates the ideal situation for weight regain” after dieters have lost initial weight.
As the Independent reported, this process is largely prompted by the body’s deprivation of the hormone leptin, a satiety hormone which helps to regulate our energy levels when we’re hungry. Those levels get very low on restrictive diet regimes, which can force the body into starvation mode, slowing the metabolism and holding onto every last calorie to ensure survival.
That’s a fancy way of saying that cheat days are food for your body as well as your mind. Bon appetit!
