Month: March 2021

In this article we are going to cover the question of what is reverse dieting.

I am going to lay out what is reverse dieting, what are the benefits of reverse dieting, who should reverse diet, and more.

Reverse dieting is a relatively new concept in the dieting / physique world and it can be a secret weapon for you in your weight loss journey.

Unfortunately, so many people have absolutely no clue what is. If they do know what it is, they have probably been bamboozled or hoodwinked by some instagram influencer telling them they got shredded from reverse dieting.

I am here to lay out exactly what is reverse dieting, simple and plain.

Just be sure you read each section in its entirety. I want you to leave here knowing how this secret weapon can be used in your specific journey.

First let’s touch on what reverse dieting is and isn’t.

What Is Reverse Dieting

Fact vs Fiction

Before we dive into the rest of the article let’s briefly explain what is reverse dieting and what it isn’t.

In layman’s terms,

Reverse dieting is slowly adding calories back in over a period of time with the goal in mind of not gaining fat.

It is essentially it’s name, the reverse of a diet.

When you go on a diet you normal subtract calories to find your calorie deficit .

You go from eating 2000 calories, to 1800, to 1600, maybe ending at 1400 calories.

Reverse dieting is the exact opposite. This time you are adding calories back in from the 1400.

We will get into specific examples and how to’s a bit later in the article.

Before we dive into that, now that we know what reverse dieting is, let’s talk about what it is not.

What Reverse Dieting Is Not

Oftentimes people come to me asking something to the effective of.

“Eric, I am not losing weight!! It is because I am eating too little calories?!”.

This then brings up the question of if I eat more calories then I will lose weight, right?!

Let me break this down to you.

First off, no, the reason you are not losing weight is not because you are eating “too little”.

If this is what you think is going on, I want you to take a look at the starving kids in Africa or anywhere else in the world.

They, unlike you, are actually eating too little. They are starving and far less fortunate than you and I.

Are they obese? Are they holding on to fat? No, they are skin and bones.

What about the victims of the holocaust?

Again, they weren’t being fed anything. Were they obese and overweight?

No, they were skin and bones.

Two extreme examples I know but I want to use them to prove a point. Eating too little never made anyone gain weight or hold onto body fat.

“Starvation mode” is not a real thing.

Now, here is what may be happening if you are “eating too little” and not losing weight.

Not Tracking Calories Accurately

I would venture to say out of 10 people I communicate with on a daily basis, 8/10 are tracking calories inaccurately.

I was going to say 9/10, but I thought that sounded too pessimistic (yet probably true).

The reality is if you think you are eating 900, 1000, 1200 calories and not losing weight, you are more than likely not tracking calories accurately.

Which is okay, that’s nothing against you. You may just not know how to!

Lucky for you, I made an entire YouTube video on how to count calories the right way.

It is totally free. It is the same video I give to my clients.

I will link it HERE. I would strongly, strongly urge you to watch this video if you think that is the case.

Binge – Restrict Cycle

Another reason you may not be losing weight from eating “too little” is because the restrict – binge cycle you find yourself in.

Four days out of the week you are indeed eating 1200 calories. But, because this is “too little” by Friday you are starving, tired, and just want some f*cking sweets.

This leads you to then eat 3000 calories on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

You feel like sh*t so you just “get back on track Monday!” With this same over restrictive plan.

Thus you create this cycle of restrict for a few days, binge for a few days, and never make any real progress.

If you want to fix that and start eating more in moderation, you can head here to my free calorie calculator.

Metabolic Adaptation

There is something called metabolic adaptation in which when you go on a diet your metabolism slows down.

This is 100% true and does indeed happen. Yet, it is not what most people think it is.

If you are alive and reading this right now, your metabolism is likely more than okay.

If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be alive.

Yet what can happen is you can lower your metabolism when you eat very few calories for a long period of time. This mainly happens to body builders and physique competitors after a show.

This also happens to individuals who just get to a fairly lean body fat % and have been dieting for an extended period of time.

To the general public, it is not something I would be too concerned about.

It is also something that is not irreversible. People often tell me they “ruined” their metabolism.

No, you didn’t. In the same way your metabolism slows down when you decrease calories, your metabolism speeds up when you increase calories.

So simply by increasing calories you can “Fix” this issue at hand.

Point being, this is likely not the reason you are not losing weight, especially if you have a good amount of weight to lose.

With that being said, when it comes to what is reverse dieting, metabolic adaptation can be a reason why you would want to reverse diet.

What Is Reverse Dieting : Not A Way To Eat More To Lose Weight

Well, kind of. Let me explain.

Most fitness influencers are going to try to sell you on the fact that themselves or their clients got super shredded by increasing their calories.

It is almost like it is too good to be true!

Well, that is because it is.

If you see anyone losing a significant amount of body fat, it is because they were in a calorie deficit. Not because they were reverse dieting.

You don’t get lose more body fat by increasing calories. You may lose some body fat or you may change the way your body looks, but losing a significant amount of body fat does not come from reverse dieting.

Now that you know what is reverse dieting and what isn’t, dive into the benefits of reverse dieting.

What Is Reverse Dieting : Benefits

There are a few main benefits to reverse dieting. Let’s talk about them here below now.

Boost Metabolism / Reverse Metabolic Adaptation

We touched earlier on metabolic adaptation and how your metabolism slows down when you are on a diet.

This is 100% true. While it is something not to be too concerned about, reverse dieting can help boost your metabolism.

This is because if you recall when you increase calories you also increase your metabolism.

Let’s say at the beginning of a diet you start your maintenance calories at 2500 (the amount of calories your body needs to maintain it’s current weight).

Let’s say you start to eat 2000 calories in your deficit. 6 weeks in your weight loss may have stalled or plateaued a bit.

This is because through 6 weeks of eating fewer calories, your metabolism slowed down, and your maintenance calories dropped to say 2250 (Total random number btw).

You then drop to 1700 to keep the fat loss going.

Stall out again in 6-8 weeks, decrease calories again. Maintenance calories drop a bit lower.

As you can see the more you decrease calories, the lower your maintenance calories are going to drop, and the “slower” your metabolism is going to be.

Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for two reasons.

Number one is because this is necessary to lose weight. This is actually the only way to lose weight.

Number two is when you lose weight, your body needs less energy (calories) to maintain it’s current weight.

Therefore as you lose weight your metabolism is going to drop, and that is okay.

Someone who is 300 lbs has a higher metabolism than someone who is 200 lbs. This is because their body just has more work to do. More work = more calories burned = higher metabolism.

Yet it is all relative.

Insert Reverse Dieting

Now that you have lost weight and you have been on a deficit for a while, you want to increase your metabolism back up.

This is where reverse dieting can come into play because if you slowly but surely increase calories back into your diet, your maintenance calories and metabolism will increase as well.

Let’s say you finish your diet with a maintenance calories of 1800. That is a 700 drop from your previous maintenance calories since you lost weight.

When you reverse diet, you may be able to increase this maintenance calorie number to 2150 (again, total random numbers).

This way after a diet, you can increase calories slowly, and not gain body fat along the way.

You also have a better chance of maintaining the results you see because you can now eat 2150 calories and still maintain your current weight.

This is why long term thinking is so important. You are doing this to sustain what you have been able to achieve or you will achieve by eating more calories over a period of time.

Make sense?

Potential To Lose More Body Fat

The second main benefit of reverse dieting is you have the potential to lose more body fat.

When you are slowly increasing calories back from your diet (we will go over examples shortly) you are still technically in a calorie deficit.

If you end your diet around 1500 calories and you reverse diet to 1600, 1700, 1800, all 3 of those numbers are still going to be a calorie deficit.

It will be a less aggressive calorie deficit, but it will still be a deficit. Therefore during your reverse diet you have the potential to lose more body fat.

Side Note.

This is why the scale can go down as well during a reverse diet. Even though you are increasing calories you can very well still be in a calorie deficit losing body fat.

As well as what sometimes happens, especially with stressed out females I have seen, is that when you go on a diet for a while your cortisol levels increase.

With increased cortisol comes increased water retention.

When you add calories back in, your body gets de stressed, decreases cortisol, and flushes out water weight.

This can lead to a drop down on the scale.

Prevents Yo Yo Dieting

This one is huge because normally when people get to their desired goal body weight or body fat, it’s like.

“Alright well.. what now?”.

They then think they can either A. Go back to eating however they were before or B. They are so scared to eat more food and not gain body fat that they develop a very unhealthy relationship with food.

Insert reverse dieting once more.

Now you have a strategic plan of what to do after you get to your desired level of leanness.

Mental Break From Dieting

This one doesn’t have much to do with physique based goals. This has more to do with the fact that dieting is f*cking exhausting.

Mentally and physically it can be taxing on you.

Therefore if you say have been on a diet for 12 weeks, but maybe you have summer coming up and you want to be able to be a bit more flexible and take a break from dieting, this is where what is reverse dieting can come into play.

You can implement a reverse diet here. It can give you a mental break from such low calories, you won’t gain body fat (you actually may lose some!) and you can reach maintenance and chill out for a bit.

Those are the 4 main benefits of reverse dieting.

Now that we covered what is reverse dieting, let’s talk about who should reverse diet.

What Is Reverse Dieting : Who Is This For?

There are three main scenarios of people who can look into reverse dieting.

Achieved Goal

The first is going to be someone who has achieved their desired level of leanness.

They got to their goal body weight or their desired body fat % level.

This individual now wants a strategy to be able to come out of their calorie deficit without gaining body fat. They would like to now maintain their current physique.

Reverse dieting would be perfect in this scenario.

Need To Increase Metabolism / “Tone Up”

The second one is going to common especially amongst women.

I have had plenty of ladies come to me who were not overweight, but they did not look the way they wanted to look.

They were also eating very few calories.

They don’t have the definition in their arms, legs, glutes, etc.

This scenario is a great one for reverse dieting because this individual does not need to lose anymore body fat.

Rather they need to build lean muscle mass. Reverse dieting can be a great way to get their metabolism ramped back up by introducing more calories.

As well as preparing them to go into a muscle definition phase (calorie surplus).

This will help give them that “toned”, lean, defined look they are looking for.

Side Note

We talked earlier about how some people could lose more body fat along the way during a reverse diet.

This is a situation where I would not expect an individual to lose body fat along the way, rather, they will likely increase their lean muscle mass which will have their bodies look better as a result.

Someone Who Wants A Break

We briefly touched on this earlier but reverse dieting can be used for someone who just wants a break from dieting.

They don’t want to completely say f*ck it and gain all of their weight back. Rather they want a strategic way to reach maintenance calories with ensuring they don’t gain back body fat along the way.

Now that we know what is reverse dieting, what it isn’t, and who should do it, let’s tackle how to reverse diet.

What Is Reverse Dieting : How To

When it comes to reverse dieting there are two main ways you can go about implementing one.

The first is going to be the most practical way, especially if you are looking to gain as minimal body fat as humanly possible along the way.

This is slowly adding back in calories week by week.

Let’s use our example from earlier.

Let’s say you dieted down to 1400 calories.

A reverse diet from that may look something like this.

Week 1 – 1400 calories

Week 2 – 1500 calories

Week 3 – 1600 calories

Week 4 – 1750 calories

Week 5 – 1900 calories

Week 6 – 2000 calories

In this example, 2000 calories would be your new maintenance calories.

If you are wondering how do you know what your maintenance calories are or when you are there, you can check this video out I did HERE .

The second option is to jump straight to maintenance calories.

This would essentially look like

Week 1 – 1400 calories

Week 2 – 2000 calories

In both of these scenarios, you are adding calories back in primarily via carbohydrates.

Carbs are the bodies main source of fuel as well as they are the 2nd hardest to store as body fat (behind protein).

Therefore adding calories back in via carbs can help boost performance, energy, workouts, sex drive, hormones, all while minimizing body fat gain.

Now, let’s discuss each one.

Fast Vs Slow

When it comes to which one is “better” it really just depends.

With the slower option, adding calories week by week, that can pretty much assure you that you do not overshoot maintenance.

You will be adding calories back in week by week and you can get a better gauge on when you are at maintenance.

This means you will have minimal to no body fat gain at all.

On the flip side, the faster route can increase metabolism at a faster rate because you aren’t waiting to add calories back in.

Remember, all of those 5 weeks prior to being at 2000 calories you are still technically in a calorie deficit.

Here is my two cents on it.

When deciding on which route you should take, I would go by your biofeedback.

What I mean by that is if you are feeling good, sleeping good, still having good workouts, I would more than likely take a slower approach.

This is going to be optimal for minimal body fat gain but also there is no real reason to rush it.

Now, if you are sleeping like sh*t, your workouts suck, you are always tired, and you may even have lost your period or sex drive.

This is when I would usually make a jump straight to maintenance.

You need to get your metabolism increased as fast as possible to start feeling better. Waiting 6 weeks to get to maintenance is just going to be 6 more week you feel like poop.

Now you are probably thinking, “Okay, well the most important question.. Will I gain weight?!”.

Great question, let’s discuss.

Will you gain weight?

Here is the god’s honest truth.

Yes, you very well could gain scale weight along the way during a reverse diet.

But it is not because you are gaining fat.

You need to be very clear about this. There is a big difference in gaining weight vs gaining fat .

If you are eating 1400 calories of food compared to 2000 calories of food, there is simply going to be more food in your stomach!

That is going to lead to heavier weight on the scale.

As well as when you add calories back in via carbs, for every 1g of carb you eat you store 3-4g of water weight.

This isn’t a bad thing though because the water weight gets stored in your muscle cells, leading to have more kick ass workouts.

Yet again, this may lead to a little spike on the scale.

Both of these things are totally normal.

I actually wrote an entire article on why the scale fluctuating is normal, you can check it out HERE if you want.

It does not mean you are gaining fat. It is impossible to gain fat at maintenance calories.

It just means you have more food and water in your body, which is normal when you eat more calories.

Now, if you add calories back in slowly, you may delay this process of gaining scale weight week by week.

Let’s say over 6 weeks you gain 4lbs.

If you jump straight to maintenance you may gain 4lbs in one week, but then it levels out (because again, you aren’t gaining fat, just water and food weight).

So when it comes to the fast vs slow approach, I wouldn’t make a preference based upon how quickly or slowly you gain weight.

Rather I would make it upon your bio feedback like we touched on earlier.

What Is Reverse Dieting : Final Word

Welp, I hope this article answers the question of what is reverse dieting for you in depth.

It is a great secret weapon tool that I hope you can start to implement into your diet no matter what stage you are at.

Remember, all of these things are just tools. Like a hammer and a screwdriver.

You use a hammer for one moment in time, a screw driver for the other.

It all comes back to what is right at that moment in time.

I hope this guide helped.

If you are a visual learner, I also did a video on YouTube on this topic as well which I will link below.



Any questions or comments feel free to drop below, I would love to hear if this helped you out 🙂

Talk soon,

-E

How often should you have a cheat meal?

Every week on Sunday?

Once a month?

You have been dieting hard and eating clean. You are wondering when you can have some time where you can come off your diet and indulge a bit.

Maybe have some foods that aren’t allowed on your diet and relax a bit.

Well don’t you worry. We are going to cover the question of how often should you have a cheat meal and plenty more here in this short article.

Just so we are clear on the guidelines, make sure to not skip around and read the entire article.

I promise it will be worth it.

Let’s dive in.

How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal?

Consider This First…

You came here because you were wondering how often should you have a cheat meal, right?

Well, I want to challenge you first and foremost on this question.

Why do you need a “cheat” meal?

Oftentimes when people embark on their diet, it looks something like this.

Trying to eat only chicken, broccoli, oatmeal, and egg whites. Everyday, all day, forever.

Only eating “clean” foods. Not allowing themselves to have things like burgers, ice cream, or cookies.

This usually leads to the thought process of needing to “cheat” on your diet in order to have said food.

Sound familiar at all?

If so, I am going to shock you with something.

You can still eat burgers, ice cream, and cookies, and lose weight.

Yep, it is totally true.

This is because no one food inherently makes you gain body fat.

Not ice cream, not donuts, not French fries.

You see weight loss all comes down to an energy balance equation.

Energy for humans is calories.

Whether it is 100 calories from chicken and broccoli, or 100 calories from a donut.

They are both 100 calories.

Now of course chicken and broccoli and a donut have very different nutritional value to them.

Chicken and broccoli is going to be a bit higher in protein, fill you up more, and give you more food for the calories.

But that doesn’t mean a donut is “bad” or you have to “cheat” to have it. It also doesn’t mean that it isn’t 100 calories.

If you have less energy (calories) coming in than what you burn, you will lose body fat.

Simple and plain.

This is called being in a calorie deficit. You need to eat less calories than your body burns on a daily or weekly basis.

If you want to know how many calories that is for you, feel free to head to my free calorie calculator HERE .

This calorie deficit has been backed by scientific study after scientific study.

Like this one for example where people only ate rice, fruit, and juice yet lost an average of 141 lbs .

Only eating carbs yet still losing body fat!? Shocking right. But nope, because they were in a calorie deficit they lost weight.

Now should you go and do that? No. Yet it is proof you can still have foods you enjoy in moderation in your diet and still lose weight.

You do not have to cut out all of your favorite foods or make any foods off limits.

In fact, the more you try to label foods “Good and bad” or “off limits”, the less likely you are to succeed with your diet long term.

We as humans hate the idea that we can’t have something. As I am typing this the world is in a global pandemic and people can’t live their normal life.

Now, people want to go more than ever!

The minute you make something off limits is the minute you start to have trouble.

So, How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal?

Well judging based off of what we just learned above, I would now challenge you to the verbiage you are using.

Using the word “cheat” implies you are doing something wrong. It implies you are going off script and it is a negative thing.

Yet we just learned that you can have literally any food you want and still lose weight.

You are not doing anything wrong by having a certain food. Eating a donut or a burger isn’t a going “off plan” or “cheating”.

It is possible to enjoy these foods in moderation and still see weight loss progress.

So in terms of how often should you have a cheat meal, I would venture to say never.

You don’t need a “cheat meal” because you aren’t cheating on anything.

Rather, you are actually sticking directly to your plan.

You can simply work these foods you enjoy into your diet, still hit your calorie limit, and still see weight loss progress.

Every single one of my clients do that, including my online coaching client Mary who lost over 80lbs by having some kind of desert every single night.

Also, Food For Thought (Get It!?)

I would also argue that if you are here reading this right now, wondering when your next “cheat day” can be, your diet is entirely too restrictive to begin with.

You probably want / need a cheat day because like we touched on earlier, your diet is way too restrictive.

You are trying to eat incredibly low calories, restrict food choices, and never have any of your favorite foods.

That is why by the time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday roll around, you are searching for a cheat day.

Because the entire week you have just over restricted yourself.

That is not the way to achieve long term sustainable weight loss. Dieting does not have to be incredibly strict and rigid.

There can be some flexibility along the way. I would argue if you are wondering how often you should have a cheat meal, you need to re assess your diet from the beginning.

Stop over restricting your food and calorie limits, cutting out your favorite foods, and labeling foods as “good” and bad”.

You are probably doing that to try and lose weight very rapidly as well.

That is not going to work for a slew of reasons, some of which I talk about HERE in this video.

Realize that taking a slower, more flexible, more sustainable approach is going to be the best way to go about losing weight.

But Okay, How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal?

We have learned that you don’t need a cheat meal because you can enjoy your favorite foods in moderation. I do want to talk about taking dedicated time away from being on a diet.

I would believe that what we discussed above is going to help clear up a lot of you.

When you go less restrictive and start incorporating more foods you enjoy into your diet in moderation, your current desire for having cheat meals will subside.

With that being said, I do think there is a time and a place to not be on a diet or at least take a break from it.

Dieting is a mental, physical, and emotional stress on your body. That is why it is hard.

Let’s briefly cover each aspect of those stresses to set up the later information in this article.

Mental

It is no secret dieting comes with a mental stress.

You have to be sure you are planning out your day, entering your food into my my fitness pal app, staying under a certain calorie goal.

Your mentally in this state of mind of having to eat less food because the only way only way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit.

It requires you being conscious of your decisions when you go out to eat with friends or order out at dinner.

It is mentally taxing on you.

This is completely normal and most people who go on a diet feel this way. Especially if they think they have to eat like this forever with no end in sight.

Physical

Being in a calorie deficit, aka eating less calories than your body burns, is a physical stress on your body as well.

Your body likes to stay the same, it likes homeostasis.

It does not care if you want to lose body fat, you want to lose body fat, not your body. Your body would much rather stay exactly where it is because it is much easier that way.

When you go into this calorie deficit, you are automatically putting more stress on your body. Your body has less energy to go around.

Less energy to keep your hormones in check, to deal with your stress from workouts or at work, to put towards recovering and sleeping.

Essentially, it is going to slow down your metabolism.

Now, you shouldn’t be scared of this or fear this, this is totally normal.

A lot of people will try to scare you into fearing this, this is normal and a necessary part of losing weight.

We are going to touch a bit more on metabolism here below shortly.

I also did a whole video talking about this topic HERE if you want to check that out later.

Yet nonetheless, it is a stress you are putting on your body that adds up over time.

Emotional

I am sure you can relate to this.

Getting on the scale each day, tracking your weight, wanting it to go down so badly.

Feeling like you may have done something wrong or f*cked up somewhere along the way.

Getting incredibly wrapped up in the emotions that come along with losing weight can be a stressful thing as well.

Oh not to mention all of the other stress you have going on in your life with your kids, work, spouse, etc.

This can make it incredibly hard to continuously stick with your diet 24/7 365.

How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal To Keep Metabolism High

In the old school body building days people used to think that having a cheat day was going to speed up their metabolism.

This was based on when you decrease calories your metabolism slows down.

Well, when you increase calories your the opposite happens, your metabolism speeds up.

(Hint : This is why you should not be worried about damaging your metabolism. If and when you increase calories, your metabolism will increase as well).

Yet over time and through research we have found that just eating more calories in one meal or one day is not going to speed up your metabolism.

It takes time just like a calorie deficit takes time.

Unless you eat higher calories for at least one week, your metabolism is not going to have much increase to it.

Therefore if you are wondering how often should you have a cheat meal to increase your metabolism or stop it from slowing down, just know that unless it is going to be for more than a week straight, it will not have that much metabolism boosting effect.

How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal : 3 Options

I don’t think of it as a cheat meal. I think of it as having planned out times where you are not on a diet.

You are not eating in a calorie deficit.

This will give you a mental and physical break from the diet that you probably need every now and then.

Now this does not mean you are free for all binging and eating whatever the hell you want.

Remember, moderation.

This is simply periods of time where you are going to plan on eating higher calories, usually right around maintenance calories.

If you want to find out what your maintenance calories are, I have a free calculator HERE as well you can check out after reading this article.

There are 3 main things I want to cover here which are re feeds, diet breaks, and periods of maintenance.

Re-Feeds

A refeed is basically a period of 1-3 days where you are eating at around maintenance calories.

This can be beneficial if you have been in a calorie deficit for a little while, but maybe you have a birthday weekend coming up.

Or maybe you just want to take a day on a weekend and enjoy a meal with your spouse.

This can give you that option of taking a day where you simply increase calories a bit to maintenance giving you a bit more flexibility with your diet.

Diet Breaks

A dit break is a more extended period of time. Usually anywhere from 1-4 weeks is how long a diet break will last.

This is usually more beneficial if you have been on a deficit for a good while and just been putting your nose to the grind stone.

Taking this time period to mentally, physically, and emotionally recharge can be a huge advantage for you.

In fact, I am going to put here below a post from one of my Clubhouse Members who recently took a diet break and it helped her tremendously.

Periods Of Maintenance

Taking a period of maintenance where you are not focused on fat loss usually lasts anywhere from 4 weeks to 4-6 months.

It would truly just depend on the individual.

I have had multiple of my online coaching clients, like Nadia here below who have taken a good 4 months of maintaining their weight, not focusing on fat loss, and giving themselves a mental break from the diet.

So, What Is Right For You?

Well, unfortunately I can’t really tell you that unless I work with you one on one and know your entire situation.

But here are some things I will say.

Number one, remember that consistency is king.

These tools are great strategies to use, but unless you are at least 85% consistent overall with your diet, you will not see results.

That means in a 31 day month, if you have not hit your calorie deficit target goal at least 26/27 days, then you will not see fat loss progress.

Number two, just because you aren’t at your goal body weight yet doesn’t mean you can’t use any of these strategies above.

Often times I get people quite reluctant to this idea of taking periods of maintenance or simply not being in a calorie deficit because they have not hit their goal body weight yet.

They feel guilty not eating in a deficit. I am here to tell you that is a very short sided way of thinking about it.

Yes you need to be at least 85% consistent to see results, but that doesn’t mean you have to be 100% consistent.

In fact I don’t want you to be 100% consistent because that would be incredibly unsustainable.

Remember, you have to keep the bigger picture in mind.

If taking a one week diet break is going to allow you to have a bit more flexibility, de stress a bit, and then get back to killing it with 90% consistency.

You are going to see better results that way, as opposed to trying to continue to trudge on with only 72% consistency.

Personally, what I do with my online coaching clients is we map out their month each month and see what events they have coming up.

If we know that they have a weekend with two birthday parties on two back to back days, we are probably going to take refeed days those days.

Maybe they are going on vacation for a week, we are probably going to take a diet break.

Or maybe they are someone who has been killing it month after month, gotten to a decent body fat level, and just wants a break. We will take some time to maintain for a bit.

It really just depends. There is no one right answer, only a right answer for you.

How Often Should You Have A Cheat Meal : Final Word

Well, I told you at the beginning of this article you were going to get the answer to how often should you have a cheat meal and so much more.

I hope you got just that.

If there is one thing I want to make sure you leave here with is that remember, you don’t need to “cheat” to have any specific food or go a bit over in calories.

You aren’t doing anything wrong, rather you can work it right into your plan and actually do everything just right.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to drop them below.

Hope you enjoyed and talk soon,

-E.

You are here because you want to know what to do after binging.

Maybe you are feeling guilty, feeling like you ruined all of your progress.

You can’t help but feel bad about yourself because you did so good all week but then all in one night you “ruined” your progress.

Well don’t worry, in this short article you are going to learn exactly what to do after binging.

I just have one ask of you and that is to read the entire article from start to finish.

This can be an incredibly emotional topic and I want you to leave this article knowing exactly what you should do moving forward to start heading in the right direction.

Deal?

Awesome, let’s start then shall we.

What To Do After Binging

But First, What NOT To Do

I get it, you are feel down after a binge. No one particular feels great about themselves after they binge.

For this you are probably looking for ways to “make up” for it.

You believe you have to do something over the top or extra in order to reprimand what you just did.

Let me be very clear when I say this.

You don’t need to anything different or extra to “make up for it”, because you didn’t do anything wrong.

Often times people get this stigma that they “messed up” on their diet after they binge so they feel the need to compensate for it.

I am here to tell you that you did not do anything wrong.

Why?

Because you aren’t a robot, you are a human being.

You are not going to be perfect every single day of your life. I don’t care how disciplined or hard working you are, no one is perfect with their diet, ever.

Your life isn’t just eating, sleeping, and training.

You have a job, kids, a spouse, social life, to name a few.

If your sole purpose and sole job in life was to be a professional bodybuilder who makes their living off on winning bodybuilding shows, that would be one thing.

But that is not you (and if it is, all of this still applies).

You Aren’t Going To Be Perfect, And That Is Okay.

The sense of guilt and shame comes from a point of feeling like you f*cked up, for lack of better terms.

You didn’t mess anything up because you don’t have to be perfect in order to lose weight or be healthy.

You just have to be consistent. That’s it!

Think about it like this.

Just because there is one hot day in the dead of winter, that doesn’t mean summer has arrived does it?

If there was a 100 question test, just because you got 2 questions wrong but the other 98 were correct, that doesn’t mean you failed does it?

Then one “bad” day of overeating does not mean you ruined all of your progress.

To throw some more examples at you, I will use one a bit closer to the proximity of this topic.

I will ask a rhetorical question, what happens after you eat incredibly healthy for one day?

You have tons of protein, 3 salads that day, nothing but lean meat and vegetables.

Which btw, is not the only way you have to eat in order to lose weight, because all that you need in order to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit.

If you want to learn more about a calorie deficit or find out how many calories you need to be eating each day to lose weight, I will link my totally free calorie calculator HERE.

Back to the point at hand, what happens after one “perfect” day of eating?

Do you lose 50lbs in one day? Do you magically get skinny from eating one salad?

No, not much happens does it.

Why?

Because changing your body, in either direction, takes time.

The same thing if you have one night of over eating.

You didn’t ruin all of your progress and you didn’t do anything wrong.

One salad didn’t make you skinny, so one night of over eating won’t make you fat.

What To Do After Binging : What Not To Do

Now that you know one night of over eating doesn’t ruin all of your progress, when it comes to what to do after binging, let me stop you from doing any of these things below.

First, doing any sort of fasting or restricting calories the next day to make up for it.

You don’t have to eat less the next day to make up for it because again, you did not do anything wrong.

There is nothing to make up for.

Second, you don’t have to go and do hours and hours of cardio to punish yourself, burn calories, and make up for it.

Again, you don’t need to make up for anything because you didn’t do anything wrong.

Also the simple idea of punishing yourself for eating food is something I am not a fan of.

Third, you don’t need to only eat “clean foods” the next day to try and counter act what you did.

Like I talked about earlier, you can eat anything you want and still lose weight.

Now no you should not be eating cookies and donuts all day, that just isn’t smart.

But there are no “good” and “bad” foods so you don’t have to only eat broccoli and chicken the day after a binge.

Basically what I am saying is, when it comes to what to do after binging,

You don’t have to do anything extra or out of the ordinary to make up for it.

A sure fire way to have this cycle of binging happen over and over again is to try and restrict or punish yourself after over eating.

Why?

Because what will happen is you will over eat, punish yourself by doing tons of cardio or fasting the next day to try and make up for it.

Then from there two or three days will pass and you will be incredibly hungry and tired again because you’ve been eating 1000 calories and doing 2 hours of cardio per day.

This then leads you to binge once again because you over restricted so much.

This cycle happens in perpetuity.

Stop it.

Don’t do any of what I said above or anything out of the ordinary to make up for it.

Not fasting, not tons of cardio, not some detox cleanse.

You truthfully and simply need to do one thing.

One small, simple, basic thing.

That thing is to just get back on track.

What To Do After Binging : Get Back On Track

I want to really dive deep into this so like I talked about earlier, please take time to read until the end.

What to do after binging is actually incredible simple and that is you just need to get right back on track.

We know you don’t need to do anything extra or out of the ordinary because that would imply you are doing something wrong, which you aren’t.

Therefore what do you do? The next opportunity you have you get right back on track.

Now in theory this seems easy and simple right? Just get back on track, sweet Eric! Thanks!

Problem is often times just saying this isn’t enough for people. They want something tangible, they need something to hold onto.

I am going to give you something to hold onto in one second, but before I do, I have to be very clear on something.

Back On Track With Your Plan

I mentioned above that you just need to get right back on track with your plan and you do. It really is as simple as that.

Yet here is the caveat, this works if your plan is not over restrictive to begin with.

The amount of people who send me an email, private message me on tik tok or Instagram, or inquire to me about coaching on a daily basis who tell me something to the effect of,

“ I am trying to do keto but just keep falling off track!”

“ I am trying to get right back on track but trying to eat 1200 calories is hard!”

Is honestly a bit upsetting.

Let me be clear, if your plan is over restrictive and unsustainable to begin with, you don’t need to get back on track, you need to get a new plan.

Often times binging comes from a place of over restriction.

You try to cut out all your carbs or sugar, you label foods “good and bad”, you try to only eat 1200 calories.

I talk more about this in my article on how to stop binge eating, you can read that HERE if you want.

If you are doing anything of this above, you don’t need to stop doing that immediately.

That is not going to be what gets you to your goal and it certainly is not going to help your cycle of binge eating.

I would strongly encourage you to learn more about what losing weight actually requires which is being in a calorie deficit.

I linked my free calorie calculator here to figure out how many calories you should eat to lose weight, and I will link a quick video I did on what foods you should be eating in a calorie deficit (hint, there are no foods off limits).

Now, assuming that you are on a sustainable plan, what to do after binging becomes simple.

Get back on track.

Don’t Wait, Take Action Now

I talked about giving you something tangible you can take with you in order to help with what to do after binging.

Here is some of the most important advice I can give you.

Do. Not. Wait.

You need to get back on track right this very second, as in as you are reading this.

I used to coach my clients with the attitude of “the next meal just get back on track!”.

While I don’t think that is wrong, I think it can be improved upon.

The issue here is the longer you wait, the harder it is going to become.

The more you let things linger and build up, the harder it is going to be to take action towards where you want to be.

The guilt will build up, you will feel discouraged and upset, things just get heavier.

You are probably thinking “well Eric I just binged how am I going to get back on track any sooner than the next meal?”.

Well, so glad you asked.

We must remember that getting back on track doesn’t just have to apply to eating food, it applies to your entire lifestyle.

I often refer to being in a positive feedback loop versus a negative feedback loop.

For example when you are eating good, working out, getting good sleep, you are in a positive feedback loop!

Things are clicking, you are feeling motivated, life is good!

But for example after you binge, you feel like crap, you feel guilty, you don’t workout, you continue to eat poorly because you feel this negativity upon yourself.

That is a negative feedback loop.

So you need to get yourself back into the positive feedback loop as quickly as humanly possible.

How do you do that?

You take an action.

The beauty is this is any positive action. It does not have to be ground breaking or earth shattering.

Go drink one glass of water.

Do 10 bodyweight squats.

Perform 5 push ups.

Eat 1 piece of fruit.

Journal for 5 minutes and write down your thoughts.

Meal prep your lunch for the next day.

Literally, anything positive.

The secret to what to do after binging is finding anything positive you can do and do it as quickly as possible to get back into the positive feedback loop.

No one ever got done drinking a glass of water and felt worse about themselves.

I don’t know anyone who did 10 bodyweight squats and felt even worse.

I’m pretty sure if you eat 1 piece of fruit you will feel better about doing so.

When it comes to what to do, you just need to get right back on track. Right. Now.

Don’t wait.

Where people go wrong is they tell themselves “Well, I already f*cked up, so I might as well just keep going! I will get back on track Monday”.

And Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, they completely throw their hands up, say to hell with their diet, binge for 3 days, then finally Monday morning rolls around and they get back on track.

I am going to recall something we talked about earlier. One salad doesn’t make you skinny and one bad meal doesn’t make you fat.

Why is getting back on track as quickly as humanly possible so important?

Because it is not the binge that is causing you to not see progress or lose all of your progress. That one instance is irrelevant.

It is the fact you use that as an excuse to justify you staying off track for 1, 3, 7, 31 days.

That is what causes you to not see progress. Not the singular event, the fact you never got back on track.

What I would personally do is make a list of 4-8 things take take you 5 minutes or less that you know are positive actions you can take after a binge.

I labeled some above, but I would encourage you to make your own.

From there, I promise you, you will be able to get right back on track and continue making tremendous progress.

What To Do After Binging : Final Word

I truly hoped this article allowed you to see things from a different perspective as well as realize the importance of getting right back on track.

Remember, you did not do anything wrong. You don’t need to punish yourself or make up for what you did.

You simply just need to get back on track the second the thought comes into your head.

The quicker you act towards taking steps in the right direction, the better.

If you need any help, please feel free to drop a comment below. If you liked the article or think it helped, let me know below as well.

Talk soon,

-E