Today I want to prove to you that you don’t need to eat “clean” every single day and be in a drastic calorie deficit 7 days per week to lose fat quickly.
In fact – I want to inspire you to get a little crazy on your fat loss diet! (Gummy Bears and Fro Yo anyone?!)
Not only will you enjoy your life a whole lot more by consuming your favorite desserts once per week, but it can actually speed up your fat loss.
This article is going to show you the crazy science behind eating high carb foods like gummy bears and ice cream – and how it has helped me over the years to maintain six pack abs and a shredded physique year-round.
There is actually a scientific reason why eating a very low calorie total each day and starving yourself of the foods you truly enjoy over a long period of time is bad for your metabolism. Let’s dive into that right now.
How Your Diet Could Back-Fire Against Your Fat Loss
A few weeks go by and you are eating super clean, avoiding all of your favorite foods, and the weight seems to be coming off the scale pretty quickly.
21 days into your diet and you have already lost 11 lbs. of fat! Thank god all those days of torture paid off.
Over the next two weeks you continue to torture yourself by eating a diet of egg whites, grilled chicken, vegetables, and other “clean foods” – but something weird happened.
You barely lose any weight! To make matters worse – you feel absolutely terrible and your workout intensity is starting to diminish.
You started your diet working out like a beast – but now you are sluggish and all of your hard work isn’t showing on the scale or in the mirror.
What’s up with that? A few things have happened and turned against you!
Let’s list all of the Negative Things you did to yourself in your pursuit of Extreme Dieting
Your body has adapted to your new diet and caloric deficit; thus your metabolism has slowed down majorly.
This means that the same weight loss effort and clean eating that you did during the first few weeks isn’t getting you even close to those same results.
Another major negative is your sluggish metabolism is affecting your energy levels as well. You spend your days dreaming of chocolate and ice cream, and the time you are in the gym your workout intensity suffers.
You are no longer squatting with intensity, doing compound exercises, or any type of hardcore exercise that has a huge impact on your fat loss and muscle building hormones.
Oh wait – I have MORE bad news.
If you were in a major caloric deficit for 3-4 weeks and lost strength/workout intensity you also likely lost muscle mass, causing more negative metabolism and weight loss issues.
Remember – muscle burns fat and the easiest way to increase your metabolism is to put on muscle!
Another fat loss hormone that can be negatively effected by long term calorie restriction is Leptin.
Once leptin is released from fat cells, it signals to the brain that the body has received adequate food.
You actually lower your Leptin in the process of extreme dieting – thus causing you to have intense cravings, which makes the process of long term calorie restriction a pain in the ass!
Solution? We have 1 day where we consume more carbohydrates than usual and bump up our total calories about 500-700 above where we were dieting at!
For anyone that’s reading this and currently on my 12-week shred plan, you’re probably thinking that this is a little different to the plan I have set for you.
I want to make it clear that this is one strategy for fat loss and the program I have created for you should be followed exactly how prescribed.
How to Structure Your “Cheat Day” to boost Leptin, and save yourself from fat loss insanity!
Now the fun begins! One of my favorite reasons to incorporate flexible dieting is the high carb cheat day or cheat meal.
Carbohydrates have the most positive impact on Leptin levels – and it's important to do a carbohydrate “refeed” day to replenish glycogen levels so you can train optimally.
So here is a quick recap of the benefits of increasing our carbs 1 day per week:
- We boost Leptin, an important fat loss hormone
- We replenish glycogen levels, which boosts training intensity
- Carbohydrates also preserve muscle mass, perfect for a “cutting diet”
- 1 High carb day per week helps reset a sluggish metabolism
The only rule that I want you to factor in on these high carb days are that you want to keep your total fat low – as High carbohydrate days spike insulin, and combining this with a lot of dietary fat can cause you to store body fat – the opposite of what we want!
Here is a quick rule of thumb to follow:
- Keep your fat intake as low as possible on a refeed day
- Don’t go over 500 calories than what you were eating on your fat loss diet
So for example, if you were eating 1,800 calories during your diet – you will consume no more than 2,300 calories on the high carbohydrate leptin boosting days!
I recommend the following Macronutrient breakdown:
30% Protein
65% Carbohydrates
5% Dietary Fat
As you can see – you will be eating A LOT of carbohydrates on these days – and that is the point.
How do I eat all these Carbs and still keep my fat low?
If you have a sweet tooth I want to give you some of my favorite options that are “low fat” and high sugar options.
My two personal favorites are gummy bears and fat free frozen yoghurt. Feel free to load up on the sprinkles, caramel, toppings, and the works if you are craving “Fro-Yo”
Gummy bears are almost always “fat free” – and are a perfect way to boost Leptin, curb that sweet tooth, and replenish those glucose levels.
A bag of gummy bears sometimes contains well over 100 grams of carbs so if you find yourself getting full on these high carb days that is my favorite way to do it easily.
Other than the sweet stuff – I recommend things like Rice, sweet potatoes, and red skin potatoes. They are almost 100% carbohydrate – and very low in fat and protein.
A few other fun options include fruit snacks, fruit with honey on top (pineapple with honey on top is amazing!), Cereals, Bagels, Raisins, and of course the liquid beverages – pretty much anything on the Starbucks menu!
The #1 rule of thumb is to have fun with it and knock those cravings to the curb so you can get right back on your diet for the 6 days after your high carb day.
This can be a whole lot of fun, and is a perfect way to reward yourself after 6 days of working hard and dieting.
One thing I notice is that I have my best workouts the day after high carb days.
That’s it for today! If you are interested in a 100% custom 12-week shred plan where I create you a fully customised nutrition and workout plan I still have a few spots left.
I provide a full 30-day ‘get shredded’ guarantee. If you don’t lose any weight I’ll refund your money no questions asked.
I warn you though, only apply if you’re seriously interested in transforming your body.
Click here to check out some of the amazing transformations!