The single biggest determining factor in your fitness outcomes will be how you effectively manage the choices you'll make surrounding what you eat.
The more I work with others on their goals, and the more I learn what works for me, the more certain I am that it is truly a balancing act.
By this I mean if you overdo anything either in the direction of what is conventionally thought of as "good" or "bad", you will ultimately fail to reach and sustain your goals.
We judge good or bad based mostly on what we are told works, and (hopefully) what we have experienced to actually work.
However, what works really well in eating for fitness, also can be very traumatic to our lives by making us change too much too soon.
It also can serve to deny us pleasure.
I am every bit as big of an advocate of avoiding this trauma as I am about avoiding gorging on bad food every day.
We need balance and we need to be realistic about what we like to eat.
To Fully Abjure From Eating What We Truly Love Is The Essence of Poor Judgment The reason I believe this to be the case is because outright denial is traumatic and isn't sustainable.
My number 1 rule for creating a health and fitness regimen is that it has to be sustainable through the years in helping us maintain and strive for future goals.
The reality is no one wants to fully give up what they have always enjoyed.
Thankfully many fitness gurus agree.
It is from this realization we have seen the emergence of the so-called "cheat" day.
The cheat day is just like it sounds.
You have the day to eat whatever you want.
My thinking is you can have a cheat week-end every week-end and come out better still.
I advise clients to take the week-end and eat what they want, but to also inject some balance and reason into it.
Instead of gorging around the clock (like what often happens on a cheat day), try the following for the week-end.
First, maintain a normal schedule of working out or moving around.
Even make a point of staying on your feet more and being more active in practical ways throughout the day.
Many times a cheat day devolves into a "loaf around" day.
We need to be more, not less active to eat for the week-end.
Second, focus on eating the things you like in moderation just like you would anything else.
Don't stuff yourself.
Graze throughout the day on a variety of foods that you love.
Third, is make sure you adhere to normal rules about shutting down the eating at a decent hour.
If you have a rule that says no eating past 7 p.
m.
on a normal day, then don't keep eating until 10 or 11 or later on the looser days.
When you do this, you are upsetting proper balance.