The Science Behind Cheat Days: Do They Help or Hurt?

Many people adopt strict diets and rigorous workout routines in the quest for better health and fitness. Amid these disciplined efforts, the concept of cheat days is a super popular strategy for providing an occasional reprieve from dietary restrictions.

Still, it is the key to balance out your cheat meals for the best results. But the question is whether they help or hurt, so here is the science behind cheat days to help you decide!

Motivation and Adherence

Break from restriction can boost motivation with planned satisfaction. By planning and looking forward to cheat days, you may find more motivation to adhere to your diet during the rest of the week. Cheat days provide a mental break from the rigour of strict dieting, making it simpler to stick to a diet plan in the long run. 

They serve as a reward for aimed behaviour, reinforcing positive dietary habits during the rest of the week. Constant restriction can lead to diet fatigue, so you’ll feel overwhelmed by the continuous need to control your eating. Cheat days, in fact, provide psychological relief, making it easier to return to the diet. 

Allowing yourself an occasional indulgence blocks feelings of deprivation that lead to intense cravings and potential binge eating. Eating favourite foods, even if infrequently, boosts mood and reduces stress. This plays a big part in mental health and overall diet sustainability.

Scheduling them reduces the likelihood of spontaneous binge eating, as knowing there is a planned time for indulgence will stop the urge to overeat impulsively.

Metabolic Rate

Cheat days can temporarily increase levels of leptin, a hormone that modulates hunger and energy balance. Fat cells produce leptin, so its higher levels boost metabolic rate, assisting the body in burning more calories and maintaining a higher energy expenditure. It plays a key role in synchronizing energy balance by inhibiting hunger.

During a calorie-restricted diet, leptin levels typically decrease, slowing down the metabolism and increasing hunger. Cheat days, with their higher caloric and carbohydrate intake,  temporarily rocket leptin levels, helping to counteract these effects. 

On the other hand, ghrelin—the “hunger hormone”—stimulates appetite. Calorie restriction increases ghrelin levels, making it harder to stick to the diet due to heightened hunger. A cheat day actually helps reset ghrelin levels, reducing persistent appetite. 

While ghrelin levels might spike temporarily after a large meal, the overall effect will be a more balanced appetite. Cheat days can, in fact, enhance insulin sensitivity by providing a break from constant low insulin levels. Low insulin levels are specific and usually seen in prolonged calorie restriction, as they almost always ban sugary and highly processed foods. 

However, you can fall into a rabbit hole and overeat. Overeating and consuming large amounts of sugary foods during cheat days can result in insulin spikes, which, in turn, will reduce insulin sensitivity over time and increase the risk of metabolic syndrome. Repeated insulin fluctuations reduce the effectiveness, potentially magnifying the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. 

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It is important to mention cortisol levels, too. Cortisol is a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands that regulate various bodily functions, including metabolism, immune function, and stress response. Restrictive dieting elevates cortisol levels due to the stress of calorie counting and constant monitoring of food intake.

Cheat days reduce psychological stress, leading to lower cortisol levels, so it can definitely improve overall well-being. This aids in better fat metabolism, as chronically high cortisol levels go in pair with increased abdominal fat. By providing a mental break and a chance to relax dietary restrictions, a cheat day can help you maintain a healthier cortisol balance.

Last but not least, thyroid hormones, primarily triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) play a crucial role in regulating metabolism. They control how the body uses energy and responds to caloric intake. Prolonged calorie restriction may cause a reduction in thyroid hormone levels, slowing down metabolism.

Cheat days can even boost thyroid hormone levels, temporarily increasing the metabolic rate and preventing the slowdown associated with continuous dieting. A well-timed cheat day props up thyroid function and helps maintain a more stable and effective metabolic rate.

Periodic overfeeding can counteract the body’s tendency to lower the metabolic rate in response to prolonged calorie restriction. Cheat days can replenish glycogen stores in muscles, improving performance in high-intensity and endurance workouts. With replenished glycogen stores, you will experience increased energy and stamina, leading to better performance during workouts.

Higher calorie and protein intake on cheat days supports muscle repair and recovery, which is particularly useful after intense training sessions. Adequate caloric intake reduces overall fatigue, allowing quicker recovery and more frequent, intense training sessions.

Negative Effects on Physical Performance

Consuming large quantities of food, especially heavy and non-nutritious foods, will probably lead to digestive discomfort, bloating, and lethargy. All of this negatively affects physical performance, especially if you plan the training soon after the cheat day. Overeating can provoke sluggishness and decrease the desire to take part in physical activity, resulting in less effective training sessions.

Cheat days with high sugar intake cause significant insulin spikes, followed by rapid drops in blood sugar levels. This leads to energy crashes, affecting the ability to maintain intensity and focus during workout sessions. 

Also, relying too heavily on cheat days for motivation and energy leads to inconsistent training patterns and a less disciplined approach to overall diet and exercise routines. On the other hand, feeling guilty about overindulging can make you overcompensate with extreme exercise or strict dieting, which isn’t good at all.

How to Properly Use Cheat Meals to Lose Fat Faster (3 Science Based Tips)

Plan cheat meals around heavy training sessions or physical labour to maximize the benefits of increased glycogen and energy levels. For instance, having a cheat day the day before an intense workout will provide the necessary fuel for peak performance. The best advice is to avoid excessive eating by enjoying moderate portions of your favourite foods.

Incorporate nutrient-dense foods into cheat days to ensure sufficient intake of essential vitamins and minerals that keep up overall health and performance. Combine indulgent foods with healthy options to maintain a balance of macronutrients, aiding in sustained energy levels and recovery. 

Still, pay attention to hunger and fullness cues to skip overeating and ensure that cheat days contribute positively to physical and mental well-being. Focus on the enjoyment and satisfaction derived from cheat meals rather than viewing them as an opportunity to overindulge.

Social Flexibility

Cheat days make it easier to navigate social events, celebrations, and dining out without feeling left out or stressed about diet adherence. This flexibility can cause dieting to feel less isolating and more sustainable. By planning cheat days around social events, you will be able to enjoy any occasion without guilt, fostering a healthier relationship with food and social interactions.

Calorie Surplus

One of the main risks of cheat days is consuming extra calories to negate the calorie deficit achieved during the week. For example, if you maintain a 500-calorie deficit per day for six days but overeat by 3000 calories on a cheat day –  your net weekly deficit is zero.

Cheat days can sometimes lead to a loss of control, where you overindulge significantly, consuming far more calories than intended. Even on that day, it is vital to practice portion control to prevent excessive caloric intake. Limiting cheat days to once a week or less will mitigate potential negative effects on weight loss and health.

Opting for healthier versions of your favourite foods and eating in moderation will provide all the psychological benefits of a cheat day without significant negative impacts. For instance, choose air-fried fries and chicken nuggets, baked breaded chicken, or brownies with dark chocolate. 

Also, a good hack is strategically planning cheat meals around high-energy activities to utilize extra calories more effectively. 

Guilt and Shame

Feeling guilty or ashamed after consuming a lot can lead to a negative bond with food and dieting. These emotions can undermine the psychological perks of cheat days and lead to further unhealthy eating behaviours. 

These days may reinforce a binary view of foods as “good” or “bad,” which is counterproductive to developing a balanced and sustainable approach to eating. This mindset can make it harder to maintain healthy habits long-term. Thus, it is important to practice moderation and ditch the all-or-nothing mindset.

Health Risks

Devouring large amounts of food, especially rich or unhealthy foods, leads to digestive discomfort, bloating, and other gastrointestinal problems. High-carb, high-sugar cheat meals can trigger significant insulin spikes. This can deteriorate metabolic health if they occur frequently, reducing insulin sensitivity and increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes over time.

Inconsistency 

Regular cheat days may disrupt the consistency of a healthy eating plan, making it harder to develop and maintain steady, long-term habits. Days like this often involve foods that are low in nutritional value, so it can lead to nutrient deficiencies and negatively impact overall well-being. 

Keep in mind that, on the other side, prolonged restriction is likely to cause the body to adapt by lowering its metabolic rate to conserve energy. This process is called adaptive thermogenesis, and it can cause a plateau in weight loss. This can slow down your progress, complicating reaching and maintaining health and fitness goals. 

When cheat days lead to weight gain or slow progress, it can be demotivating and discourage continued efforts towards healthy eating and exercise.

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