The Word on Weightloss

If you’ve been working hard toward your weight loss plan for several months, several weeks or even just several days – give yourself a pat on the back! It’s hard work to keep up with your weight loss plan for even a few days consistently. Realizing you’ve climbed a long and steep hill is one thing, rewarding yourself with a diet cheat day for that accomplishment is quite another.

In order to stick with your weight loss program and keep your weight loss goals moving forward for the long haul you absolutely must reward yourself from time to time; some people call this cheating. I call it a well-deserved diet cheat day reward.

The next question is – how do you know when you should give yourself a diet cheat day meal?

• You have to set a goal first in order to understand when you deserve a reward.
• Rewards shouldn’t be easy to get, they should be earned – that’s the whole idea!

Start by setting several goals, some should be more challenging than others, and then their reward should be bigger. For example, a small goal might be going to the gym every day of the week. Once you accomplish this give yourself a diet cheat day over the weekend. An example of a long term goal might be losing a specific number of pounds in a month. If you accomplish this goal your reward should be bigger!

Long time fitness champions reward themselves with cheat days. Jessica Biel gives herself a cheat day
over the weekend, only so long as she eats well and works out every day of the week. She also says that she is not perfect: "I'm not a perfect person who doesn't mess up, eat bad, not work out — I do all those things." Realizing that your human and that you need a break from your weight loss program from time to time is natural!

Cheat days or rewards should be reasonable and not over the top. Keep in mind that you’re still sticking to your weight loss plan. This means that you shouldn’t allow yourself to over-indulge all day long with every conceivable junk food you can find. Eating potato chips, ice cream sundaes and candy bars or several cheeseburgers is not a healthy dieting reward! Keep your rewards diet-smart!