Cheater’s proof

If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to remember that perfection should never be the goal, say nutritionists and dietitians. With any sensible eating plan or diet, incorporating a cheat meal every so often is not only the sanest way to approach weight loss, it may be the most effective.

First things first—experts recommend throwing out the word “cheat” entirely and replacing it with “treat,” “fun” or “free.” “Cheat” has a negative connotation, and thinking of food in black-and-white, goodor-bad terms is counterproductive when you’re trying to maintain a more reasonable approach to weight loss. Food—and our behavior toward it—should never have a moral classification.

There is some evidence that a treat meal can help recharge or reset the metabolism, though the findings are not precise. Some experts say the occasional indulgence can prevent the body from thinking it’s entering starvation mode.

“Our bodies tend to adjust our metabolism based on how many calories we are eating, so consuming more calories periodically can actually boost metabolism,” says Erin Brown, a Vancouver-based registered dietitian.

There is no exact method for incorporating treat meals into your plan, though nutritionists and dietitians usually say to limit yourself to one or two treat meals per week. Still, certain diets that are more restrictive toward entire food groups, such as the Keto diet, Whole30 or low-carb diets, generally will not allow for a cheat meal.

Many experts also describe the 80-20 principle, meaning aiming for adherence to your diet 80 percent of the time and loosening the rules 20 percent of the time. Or perhaps you might allow yourself smaller treats throughout the week if that’s more important to you—for example, a daily piece of dark chocolate or two or three glasses of red wine each week.

Maintain control

However you choose to do it, remember that the key is to “cheat, not binge,” says Philip Goglia, who has his Ph.D. in nutritional science and is the chief medical officer and co-founder of San Diego-based G-Plans, a health technology company that creates meal plans based on a user’s metabolic body type.

“The No. 1 tip in making the most of your cheat meal is to do it smartly,” Goglia says. “Do not turn your cheat meal into an all-day binge.”

Goglia also recommends having your treat meal for dinner because eating rich foods for breakfast or lunch might prompt you to continue overeating throughout the rest of the day.

“Who wants a salad after a brunch of French toast and mimosas?” Goglia says.

Accounting for a treat meal can also teach you to better budget your food intake throughout the week, a habit that is essential to weight loss. For example, if you know you’ll be attending a birthday dinner over the weekend, you can plan to eat more carefully in the days leading up to the event.

“Planning a cheat meal well in advance can be a useful tool to break up long periods of dieting into more manageable blocks of time,” says Elliott Upton, a personal trainer with Ultimate Performance, a personal-training business based in Brighton, England. “It essentially gives you something to look forward to, and it is planned into your program.”

Give yourself a break

There are major mental-health benefits that come with allowing yourself a treat meal every now and then, and a more positive attitude will keep fueling you throughout your weight-loss journey.

“The greatest benefit [of the treat meal] is in our minds,” says Dr. Rupali Chadha, chief of medical staff at

Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California. “Knowing we can eat healthy six days a week and have one or two meals outside the nutritional goals we’ve set for ourselves can sometimes be the carrot, pun intended, that gets us through. Feeling deprived fully can lead to binge eating and obsessive thoughts of food, and a cheat meal can help prevent this.”