No-holds-barred day. Is it possible to have a cheatmeal and how to do it right?

Those who have ever restricted their diet, know how difficult it can be to resist previously habitual products, which now can not be eaten. Because of the strong craving for the forbidden sometimes occur breakdowns, they also multiply all former efforts to zero. To keep the balance in following a strict plan, invented the so-called “cheatmil” – a legal violation of the diet. Whether it is worth it and how to do it safely, explains the specialist in proper nutrition and weight correction, the expert of “Championship” Andrey Semeshov.

How to conduct cheatmilas correctly?

Let me answer the question put in the title in one paragraph. Step-by-step instructions:

1. Fall in love with the gym, get involved in regular workouts.
2. In about five years, realize that you’re pretty good at it and think about the fact that you could look at the calendar of competitions in fitness bikini or, let’s say, classic bodybuilding.
3. Spend a couple more years to improve and bring yourself to the right proportions, then three or four months before the first start to start drying. And that includes resorting to cheatmilks as needed.

That’s how it would be right and probably justified.

Cheatmil and cheatday in the professional fitness community

The word “chitmil” (“cheat meal” in English) comes to us from the world of the English-speaking fitness community. The special technique helps professional athletes who drive themselves to a completely unphysiologic, critically low body fat percentage in preparation for the podium. They need to hold on just a little longer and stay on track. That is, seven days a week they exhaust themselves with rigid diets, dreaming of a chocolate bar, and it is not allowed. But to tie themselves in such a super-motivated knot is an impossible task even for super pros. That’s why they have one cheatmeal once a week. This is lunch or dinner, when athletes break all possible taboos and choose dishes that are strictly forbidden on other days. Pasta, for example, or the same candy bar.

The whole point is just not to go crazy. Or off the diet. To go on stage as a living anatomy manual and, if the stars align, make it to the prize.

In addition to cheatmil, there’s cheatday. The meaning is about the same, only the “cheat” is not stretched over one lunch or dinner, but over an entire day. Including breakfast, second breakfast and afternoon snack.

But even among professionals who make huge sacrifices and deprivations for the sake of career, in recent years, more and more of those who are moving away from such a strict regime. They try to choose more gentle ways to achieve competitive form, keeping some culinary frivolities in the diet. Let it be in strictly controlled quantities, but on a regular basis, without waiting for the cherished Saturday dinner.

Chitmil for amateurs: is it necessary?

I believe that there are not many professional athletes among the readers of the Lifestyle section. We are ordinary people who have other priorities besides the dream of a beautiful body: studies, work, family. The desire not to harm your health, after all.

So what is the point of making a diet to dream about such a cheatmeal all week long? It is more reasonable to initially choose such a diet to gradually get rid of the fat layer, without depriving yourself of food joys.

I adhere to the opinion that the only effective way to the goal is a competent calculation of individual calories, in which 10-15% of daily 10-15% can be allocated to everything that is “tasty, but not useful”. This approach will allow you to keep your nervous system in a normal state. Otherwise, there is a high probability that after reading the guides “How to spend a cheatmil?” will have to switch to “How to cure eating disorders?”.

It’s embarrassing to even discuss cheatmilks in relation to regular fitness enthusiasts. I’ve often encountered situations where a small calorie deficit is created for six days. Let’s say 300 kcal per day, totaling 1800 kcal. And on the seventh day, hurrah, a legal cheat meal. – all that energy deficit is more than overeaten. The result? Treading water at best. Sometimes weight gain, including fat gain. Worst case scenario, you’re back to looking for eating disorder manuals. Or, if you prefer, you can google eating disorders.