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Hey everybody! So today I want to talk to you about a concept you may have heard in the weight loss industry called a cheat meal or a cheat day. And so today, I want to talk to you about what the heck it is? Why would you do it? Does it even work? What are some of the risks in implementing this and how to use it if you’d like to experiment with this tool? So the first thing, what is a cheat meal or cheat day? Well, it just means that you are eating differently than you normally do for a specific amount of time, whether it’s a day or a meal. I like to not use the word cheat meal or cheat day. I like to use the concept of expanding my boundaries, expanding your boundaries for a meal or a day. So why do people do it? For two reasons: number one, people usually do it on the rationale that it helps you adhere to your plan at the other times. And then also just add some fun and flexibility to your weight loss efforts, so does it work? Well, we always have to say, well, what the heck do you mean by the word work? If you find that it keeps you motivated and committed at other times and that’s what you want, then absolutely it works. If you define work, as it adds variety and funds your food and that’s what you want then it works.
But listen, why not just do that every day? Every day, you can have fun and flexibility in your food because in the weight loss with the holy spirit way of living, we only have two food rules and they are that you eat food that you love in a way that you feel good about. So you can literally have fun and flexibility every single day that you wake up and you make your plan. So does it help you lose weight? well, you’ll have to see. You will have to see an experiment with what does expanding your boundaries mean? How often do you want to do it? And are you getting the results that you want? And you can use this to expand your boundaries out to one meal a week, three meals a week or maybe you don’t use this tool at all because you just have fun and flexibility all the time. But the risks are this, the risks are that it can get you in a restrictive or diet mentality the rest of the days. And so if you are feeling like you’re white, knuckling it, or having to use willpower the rest of the days then this tool is not helpful for you, because what we’re trying to do with the weight loss with the holy spirit way of eating and way of living is that you’re reordering your relationship with food so that you eat food that you love, that you feel good about, and that food does not feel controlling that it feels light and it feels flexible.
And so if you find that it feels burdensome or restrictive on the other days by implementing this concept or this tool then it’s probably not good for you. And then the other thing that it can lead to is that you might say, oh, it keeps me really committed all week but then during that meal or that day, all of the boundaries come off. And you find that you’re eating emotionally, that you’re eating in a way that you don’t feel good about. You’re not savoring the food and it leads to binge eating. And that again is absolutely counter to creating peace and enjoyment of your food, which is what we’re trying to do with the weight loss with the holy spirit way of eating and living. It may keep you in that mentality of having should foods or some foods are good. Some foods are not so good and so we’re going to the not so good ones on the days that we’re expanding our boundaries. It can really create this concept that some foods are off limits and the truth is that some foods will cause you chaos. And my next podcast is on chaos foods. So some foods are not helpful for you but that doesn’t mean that there’s any food that’s off limits. You still get to decide if there’s food that causes you chaos. If you want to include those in your plan.
And just know that this concept of a cheat meal or a cheat day can really ignite what I call chaos behaviors and chaos behaviors are behaviors that just aren’t safe.
And in our program, we create a safe eating plan and that lays out how you will eat food to stay in the Lord’s will no matter what food that you’re eating. And for me specifically, it’s eating seated, it’s eating slowly, it’s not eating food while I’m preparing it, it’s not eating off of other people’s plates. And so, if you’re on a cheat day, or cheat meal, you still want to stay connected to your safe eating behaviors even if you’re expanding your boundaries. And so you just run the risk of setting down your safe eating behaviors during those days or meals as well. So it’s just being mindful about that. So those are just some of the risks. So, if you do want to experiment with this, how do you use it? And this is something I use with my one-on-one clients all the time, especially people who have a big social life or they have a lot of social commitments or at least one or two a week, we just decide how they’re going to handle it.
So the first thing that you want to do is plan it. So you’ll look at your schedule and you will look at the situations that you want to expand your boundaries? I have one client who was talking to me this week about her son’s birthday party and then on Sunday, they get to get together with their neighbors and they drink wine. And so we just put on some boundaries of what she would be doing during those times so that she would feel good about it. So the first thing you do is just plan it. Look at your calendar, decide when you want to do it. The second thing you do is just set what your boundaries will be. If anything, just decide what your boundaries will be. So maybe you want to show up and just say, I’m going to savor this food and I’m going to eat slowly. So I’ll just give you an example. I’m going to dinner with my husband tonight. We’re going to have an awesome steak dinner and I haven’t looked at the menu, but I do know I’m anticipating having a bit of an appetizer, a salad; some sort of meat, or vegetables. I’m going to bring my bread. I’m going to have one piece of bread with butter. But, my boundaries really are that I’m not going to get overstuffed. My boundaries are that I eat slowly, and then I’m going to save her that food.
And do we go out for steak dinners all the time? Absolutely not. But tonight is one of those times I’ll be expanding my boundaries. So again, we’re planning it, we’re setting the boundaries. And then number three, you want to just focus on expanding your boundaries with the food but not with your safe eating plan. You want to keep your safe eating plan. My safe eating plan is slow, savored, seated. And you also want to avoid any trigger or chaos foods. And if you don’t know what your trigger chaos foods are, you can listen to my next podcast next week. And you want to avoid them because you don’t want to cause more chaos in your life. You just want to expand your boundaries and enjoy your meal. To truly, this is really just a mindset. The most balanced way to reorder your relationship with food. To get to your healthy weight is to plan your food daily and to look at your entire week and plan the times that you will expand your boundaries and then just use the method that I just laid out. Plan it, set your boundaries and still stay committed to your safe eating plan and avoid your chaos foods. It can be that simple friend. So I hope this has been helpful and you understand what the heck a cheat meal is or expanding your boundaries. And if you want to implement that now if you want some more tools on how to get to a healthy weight.
I will be doing a free workshop at the end of this week, called wheels over 40. Well, what’s really holding you up and I promise you guys it is not willpower, it’s not a diet, and it’s not that you need to exercise more. But there are three things holding up your weight loss, and you deserve to know what those are. So go to weightlosswiththeholyspirit.com and get your spot today.