One of the biggest concerns many people who have switched up their diet and adopted a meal prep plan have is cheating. As the old saying goes, in the end, winners never cheat and cheaters never win.
Except that’s not true. Whilst cheaters never prosper in sports, business and in some cases fitness, having a cheat meal is far from the end of the world, and if it is a true aberration it might not even cause you a setback.
Quitting is far worse for your health than cheating, but at the same time, if you notice cheat meals become the norm rather than the exception, here are some top tips to take control of your diet again.
Make Sure Your Meal Plan Keeps You Full And Satisfied
Cheating feeds on hunger, feeds on food boredom and feeds on dissatisfaction, and so instead of trying to put up barriers that are unfair to yourself, make sure that your meal prep is actually working for you in terms of meals, taste and variety.
Whilst no realistic meal prep plan is at the same level of extreme as the Butterfield Diet Plan and its rather infamous “treat day” Saturdays, the more you feel satisfied the less likely you are to want to cheat on your diet regularly.
A consistent diet is better than a more optimal inconsistent one.
Do Not Prepare To Fail
On the subject of old sayings, failing to prepare is preparing to prepare. The entire point of a meal prep routine or service is to make it as easy as possible to have healthy meals when you do not otherwise have the time.
Having meals and snacks prepared and ready to go does so much to help avoid the temptation to have bit cheat meals more than occasionally.
If it is more convenient to eat healthily, then the path of least resistance will be the best one for your body.
Make Your Environment Work For You
The reason why people like unhealthy foods in the first place is because they are convenient, not just in being readily accessible but by cramming a lot of energy into a tiny bite.
However, making it less convenient to make unhealthy choices and making it much easier to eat healthily will help you go way further.
Keep healthy foods in your eyeline in your kitchen, and if you are going to have snacks in your house (because you have housemates, partners or family members not on your routine), keep snack foods out of sight and largely out of reach.
It will not work every time, but it will work enough times to make cheating far rarer, and that is enough to help get you through.
Do Not Overreact Or Punish Yourself
Whilst we often talk about meal planning as a regime or a diet, this is really not the right mindset in most cases unless you have a strict fitness goal in mind such as a weight cut for a professional contest.
A single overindulgence is not a cue to punish yourself by skipping a meal, as this will simply make everything worse. Instead, give yourself a little room to treat yourself and avoid cutting out foods entirely.