I have something to confess...

I have something to confess...

Last night I had a "cheat" meal, in other words I
basically pigged out and enjoyed myself :-)

And this wasn't just a little baby cheat meal,
oh no, this was a full blown loosen the belt
buckle a couple notches type of cheat meal!

You see yesterday was my girlfriend Patricia's birthday,
so I took her out to a local restaurant to celebrate.
The birthday meal consisted of a tasty high fat appetizer,
an even tastier and higher calorie main course, then we
finished up with b-day cake for dessert, and the meal
was enjoyed along with a few adult beverages.

Yikes! From the sounds of all that months of hard
training and clean eating just went out the door.

But guess what...
This morning when I got up there wasn't a single pound
gained, my pants still fit me, and both Patricia and myself
went right back to our regular routine. We started the day
by taking our dog for a walk outside and then had a solid
breakfast of high protein oatmeal and egg whites.

When it comes to working out and proper eating a lot of
people fall into the ALL or NOTHING trap.

They might be super strict with their planned routine for
several weeks, and then if they do have a little slip up,
they get discouraged and say: "Well I blew it now, so I
might as well just scrap the whole thing". And then they
go on to eat like crap until they get so disgusted with
themselves that they start the whole process over again.

The best approach when it comes to sticking with an eating
and training plan for the long term is to purposely allow
room for cheat meals, social events, or whatever.

A great nutrition tip that I learned from Dr. John Berardi,
is to plan to break the rules about 10% of the time.

From a practical standpoint there is virtually no
difference in results from following a nutrition
program 100% of the time, and following a nutrition
program 90% of the time.

Now of course this wouldn't apply for an elite level
athlete who is preparing for a major competition, where
the difference between winning and losing could be a
fraction of a second or a single judges opinion.
In that extreme case every little bit counts.

But for most of us "regular folks" who are plugging away
in the gym day in and day out to just look better, feel
better, and improve our overall health and fitness then
we don't need to go to extremes.

In fact when I'm designing customized training and
nutrition programs for my personal coaching students
I purposely plan for a few cheat meals each week
within the program structure.

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Note: you can get more info about this at:
http://www.leehayward.com/dietplan.htm
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By allowing for a bit of leeway with your eating plan,
you can stick to it for the long term and actually get
the fat loss and muscle building results you want.
And you won't have to be anti-social and alienate
your friends and family in the process.