There are many cutting-edge tips and tricks and “biohacks” that reportedly help you lose fat faster.
Most of them will provide you with little other than something cool to talk about with your friends if or when the subject turns to your diet.
But there are also lame, boring things that nobody wants to discuss (much less do) that can make a diet much easier to stick to—and, as a result, more successful.
And number one on that boring list of tips is to structure your weekends (in terms of sleep/wake times, meals and meal times) like your weekdays, or at least as much as possible.
It’s not always practical or even possible due to life circumstances but the results you’ll experience are irrefutable.
Those who just keep on rolling like every day is Monday (okay, maybe Wednesday) settle in much faster and almost forget they’re even on a diet.
The more your new diet becomes just how you eat, the easier it is to follow. You stop thinking of every meal as part of “the diet” and it simply becomes a habit. You start to think about other things.
This also affects how you might think about some of those flashier tips or ideas like cheat meals, cheat days, and refeeds.
The thing about them is that, sure, they can be very effective in the proper context (like during an extended calorie deficit) but most of the time cheat meals cause fat loss to grind to a halt. This especially true if you’re fresh off the holiday season: I can almost guarantee you don’t need a calorie splurge. Heck, for a lot of people all of December was a giant calorie splurge.
Your brain will try to trick you and tell you that you “need” them.
Guess who’s more susceptible to that kind of thing? The people focusing on the fact that they’re always having to be on “the diet,” or the people who’ve seamlessly made their new diet just how they eat (and don’t really thinking about it any more)?
So, you’re far better off to get used to eating simply and responsibly, not counting down the days ’til you can stuff yourself silly. Boring, but effective.
Here’s another way to look at cheat meals: life happens. Meals that are slightly off from your regular target also happen.
So when they occur, rather than beating yourself up — or going endlessly back ‘n forth in your head trying to figure out if they helped or hindered you — just call them your “cheat meal for the week” or even your “off meal for the week” and get back to your everyday, normal plan.
You know, your normal plan that’s not “the diet” but is just how you eat (and is also a way of eating that’ll get you real results.)
It might not be as fun but for most folks it’s a lot more effective. And actually getting real results is the most fun of all.
– Coach Bryan