Summer is right around the corner which means everywhere you look people are about to start major diets. It is obviously not easy to deprive yourself of all the foods you love so most people decide to incorporate “cheat” days into their diets. However, Australian trainer and Instagram celeb, Kayla Itsines doesn’t do cheat days.
Kayla instead aims to live a healthy lifestyle rather than just cutting out all the foods she enjoys and exercising like crazy for a month. You can also see this mindset on her Instagram where her captions are inspiring, motivating, and body-positive.
Kayla prefers to be healthy all the time and then if she wants to eat something unhealthy, she’ll do it without feeling guilty. She even told PopSugar, “Put it this way: I eat really healthy all the time. I’d always choose the healthy option, and if I want to have a piece of cake, I’ll have it. I won’t be like, I can only have one piece of cake for the whole week.”
Otherwise, she says if she deprives herself, she just ends up craving that food even more. This is is also why she says “I never say to cut out anything, I never cut out anything from my diet.”
Photo courtesy of cosmopolitan.com
According to DailyBurn.com, even doctors claim it is much more effective to find what works for you in the long run and what you will be able to maintain. If the only thing that is getting you through each week is a day full of indulgences then your diet is not going to be easy to maintain.
Cheat days can also be dangerous in that they can quickly turn in to a binge rather than a small treat from a diet. Once some people get a taste of sweets, they can’t control themselves and end up binging. This results in the entire diet being set-back.
So, get that summer bod by trying to eat healthy as much as you can. Then have that cookie whenever you want, without feeling guilty. That will be much more effective than going on a diet for a month and cutting out all of the unhealthy foods you enjoy.
If you don’t allow yourself to indulge every once in a while, you will only crave those foods more which can possibly lead to binges during cheat days. Unfortunately, this can throw off all the progress you have made. You will be so much happier in the long run if you maintain a healthy diet and have a few treats mixed in.