Diet Compliance vs Cheating - How Strict Should You Be?
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Diet Compliance vs Cheating - How Strict Should You Be?
Diet Compliance vs Cheating - How Strict Should You Be? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS |
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Burn The Fat And Feed The Muscle Book
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Syndicated Q & A Column
(Ask Tom Venuto - The Fat Loss Guru)
QUESTION: Hello Tom, I've been doing BFL
for the past year, and did well at first, losing
3 dress sizes and 5% body fat, but then I
totally hit a plateau and have had no more
results since December. I'm wondering if I've
been strict enough with my eating
I bought your ebook, Burn The Fat, and I'm very
excited about the information I've read so far,
but I need some clarification about the eating
part.
I've been eating according to the BFL philosophy
with one "cheat" day per week. What I'm reading
in your Burn The Fat program is instead, to
allow myself a couple of "cheat" meals any time
during the week or on the weekend, but not to
take an entire day off the program.
However, in your list of foods that turn to fat,
you mention that certain foods should only be
eaten very rarely. Does that mean that they
shouldn't even be eaten at a weekly cheat meal?
I can live with that, but then, what constitutes
a "cheat" meal, (for example, if my favorite
hash browns aren't allowed? :)
I know you get a billion emails, but I would
really appreciate it if you have time to answer.
Kind regards,
Kathleen
ANSWER: It's not productive in the long
term to totally deprive yourself of foods you
enjoy. What you have to do is find a sensible
way to work even your most "sinful" favorite
foods into your diet, but do it in an amount and
frequency that doesn't set you back or sabotage
your progress. This can be done by allowing
yourself some "cheat meals" (some people call
them "free meals" or "reward meals.")
One really good way to look at the "cheat meals"
concept is in terms of "compliance," which
means, what percentage of your meals are
following the guidelines of the program and what
percentage are off the program.
Too many meals or days off the program and your
results are compromised. Too many days in a row
eating nothing but "rabbit food" and you go
crazy with cravings, right?
How much you need to comply (stick with) your
program varies from person to person. It depends
a lot on how ambitious your goals are and on how
responsive your body is to nutrition and
exercise.
When making your decision, keep in mind we all
have different genetics and body types, which is
something I discuss in great detail in chapter 5
of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (burn
the fat).
Are you a carb-tolerant mesomorph who gains
muscle easily and loses fat easily or are you a
carb-sensitive endomorph who gains fat easily?
Depending on the answer, your diet program may
need to be more or less strict than others.
Don't compare yourself to others - you have to
get to know your own body type. Some people can
"Get away with" more cheat meals and still make
progress (Yeah, I hate them too!)
Unless you're a competitor in physique sports
like bodybuilding, fitness or figure, or you're
getting ready for some type of transformation
challenge or photo shoot, I suggest at least 90%
compliance.
Whether you adjust your level of compliance
above 90% (get more "strict") or below 90% (get
more lenient), depends how far away or close you
are from achieving your goals, and most
importantly, on what kind of results you're
getting each week.
If you're complying 90% of the time, and you are
getting awesome results, you don't have to
change a thing, and you may be able to loosen up
your diet a little. I know some people who are
definitely only "on the program" 80% or 85% of
the time and they look great.
90% compliance means you are following healthy
nutritious, fat burning eating guidelines 9
meals out of 10. If you're eating small frequent
meals like the burn the fat program suggests,
that's 5 small meals a day X 7 days a week = 35
meals. 90% compliance means about 31-32 of those
meals are spot-on! The other 3 or 4 are for you
to enjoy special occasions, reward yourself, and
live a little.
If you're like most people, and you simply want
to drop a few pounds, trim a few inches off your
waistline and look better in shorts or in a
swimsuit for summer, then 100% compliance is
unrealistic AND unnecessary. 90% compliance is
more realistic as a lifesytle, while being
strict enough for most people to get results.
On the other hand, if you had a very ambitious
goal like preparing for a figure or fitness
competition and you thought you had to reach at
least 12 or 13% body fat (which is very low for
women), and you knew you would be onstage with
judges looking at every inch of your body in a
teeny bikini (paying very close attention to
whether anything on your butt and thighs was
"jiggling"), then you would want to be as strict
as possible during the pre contest diet period
(100% compliance or very close to it).
Keep in mind also, that this is a competitive
situation and every time you "cheat" and your
competitors don't cheat, you decrease your
probability of placing high in the contests.
Unless you have a competitive physique goal like
this, however, then total deprivation of
pleasure foods or cheat meals (100% compliance),
is not necessary because you always tend to
crave what you cannot have. That's a binge
waiting to happen.
I prefer this 90 or 95% compliance approach over
the "entire day of cheating" approach, because I
have seen people use the term "cheat day" pretty
darn loosely (basically making it the equivalent
of BINGE DAY), and they do a lot of damage in
terms of setting their progress back.
They end up frantically playing "catch up" for
the better half of the following week with
punishing extra exercise and dietary
deprivation. Slow and steady is better than
binge and punish don't you agree?
Allow yourself some leeway. Enjoy food. Enjoy
life. Have your pizza, or chocolate or your hash
browns or whatever makes your stomach happy. It
will help, not hurt in the long run. Just be
sure to be mindful of your calorie limits, and
when you say you are going to comply 90% of the
time, then keep your promise to yourself and
comply!
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide.
