Meal Prep...Your Cheat Meals!
Sounds a little bit weird doesn't it?
The truth is, meal prepping your cheat meals will dramatically help you control the binging behaviour associated with such occasions. And trust me, I know we all do it, I am guilty of it as well! I eat healthy until I can't any more and what the hell anyways, treat yo self! So I order a full size Panago pizza with extra cheese, demolish a full pint of Ben and Jerry's and then dream of creamy chocolate cake.
As delicious as that sounds, it does hinder slightly my goals of getting shredded AF. Fortunately, since I started meal prepping my cheat meals, I've been able to enjoy them a lot more. And get this, I eat them more often, just the portions are more reasonable. Result? I freaking love the way I eat right now because I can still see the results in the gym and I get to enjoy all the foods I love!
So what's the trick? To put it simply, meal prepping cheat meals is all about controlling their size. I find that when I eat super clean for a while, I just binge like hell on unscheduled occasions. But when there's already a Tupperware with a scoop of ice cream in the freezer for a certain day, it's so much easier to stop eating that ice cream with the container is empty. The fact that the whole pint isn't in front of me allows me to just put it down and not inhale the whole thing. I also know there's another sweet scheduled in a few more days, which helps in controlling my cravings.
What about cheat meals that your order out? If your cheat meals involve food being delivered to your house, I would recommend making that delivery a once a week reoccurring occurrence. This is for two reasons:
1. You know that day is cheat day! You know it's coming, so you can prep for it, it may motivate you to be healthier the days prior.
2. Instead of eating the full meal over one sitting, split it half and enjoy the rest the next day. This allows you to still eat something healthy along with the naughty stuff.
When it comes to carbs you can make such as pasta, you can prep the amount of dry pasta you will cook on a certain day. Again, this helps portion control. I just put the amount of dry pasta un a Tupperware and cook the thing the day of.
Conclusion
You have to find the eating strategies that work for you. Maybe meal prepping your cheat meals doesn't sound like a good idea to you. For me, it allowed to take out the binging aspect of cheats by making them more planned. I've been able to eat all the foods I love and believe it or not, I end up eating less of them now that it's more structured.
Enjoy the cheats,
Clem