Cheating on your diet to maximize results

August 14, 1:15 PMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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Controlled cheating can enhance your fat loss results.

Several diet programs have emerged telling you that cheating on your diet is good. Why? Simply put, your metabolism slows down the longer you restrict calories. Your leptin levels decrease and your hunger increases. Your body thinks you're starving and it does everything it can do to hold on to body fat and get you to eat more.

If you've dieted strictly for any amount of time, you've faced this dilemna. So what's the answer? Cheat on your diet. Joel Marion, author of 'The Cheat To Lose Diet' suggests planning your first cheat day after your first three weeks of dieting followed by weekly cheat days. Jon Benson suggests a form of cheating in his 'Evey Other Day Diet' of alternate days of low calorie intake followed b higher calorie intake.

This approach to dieting may run counter to everything you've been told for years, but there's science behind it. People who learn to balance caloric deficit days with higher caloric days achieve hormone balance that promotes fat loss. The key is to control cheating and time your cheat days. This isn't an invitation to unleashed pigging out. It's an invitation to improved fat loss.