Fell off the wagon...

[mqgeek]

With a resounding THUD! Had about 3/4 of a large New York style pizza last night... How far does a cheat meal like this set you back while on a low carb diet (Adam's Diet)?

[Robbyrh10]

It was your cheat meal for the week. Eat clean the rest of the week and you will be fine. Oh, and it sets you back 1 day of clean eating and exercise. (:

[I. Kay]

Yeah, one cheat meal is no biggie.

And you know what they say, when you fall off your horse, there's just one thing to do: get back on! (This coming from someone who's fallen off many a horse! )

[mqgeek]

It was a planned cheat meal, except it went a little overboard!

I'll be more specific with my question, should I skip the carb meal today or tomorrow since my glycogen levels should be higher now?

[Lost Dog]

Don't count yesterday against today. Each day stands alone.

As to the carb meal: You don't ever NEED to have that carb meal. It's just allowed, if you want it. That way it doesn't feel too restrictive.

[DKing]

No don't change the diet. Its not based on ketosis so a day with more carbs won't change the overall plan. Glycogen levels won't change much because the concept of the diet doesn't change glycogen much.

Danny

[massive member]

yea, your body doesnt run a 24 hour cycle. shoot, we hit the buffet at popeyes today. just let it loose.

start kickin' butt again tomorrow

[Adam Campbell]

I agree with these guys. Life happens. Move on.

Ultimately, it's what you do 90 percent of the time that matters.

Everytime you "cheat", you'll technically slow the speed at which you achieve your goal. However, think of it this way: If you cheat one day in a month, that's probably very insignicant given that you ate right the other 29 days, or 96.66 percent of the time. If you "cheat" four days, that's only about once a week, and it means you ate right 86.66 percent of the time over a month. So it's no biggie, especially if those "cheat" days are just ONE meal each time. That would mean out of 150 meals (five "meals" a day for 30 days) you ate "right" 97.3 percent of the time.

So keeping in mind the 90 percent rule (which I just made up), you'd eat "right" 135 out of 150 meals a month. That means life could get in the way for one meal every couple of days, and I'm guessing you would still see great results.

Would they be the best results POSSIBLE? Probably not. But that doesn't mean they still couldn't be very good. (Obviously, some of this depends on the extent of the "cheating", but I think it's a decent rule.)

Alwyn Cosgrove has a saying that I like, "At any one time, you're either burning fat or storing fat." To me, that's a good way to stay motivated.

[Johnka]

>>Alwyn Cosgrove has a saying that I like, "At any one time, you're either burning fat or storing fat." To me, that's a good way to stay motivated.

That's a great quote Adam! You could also say the same about anabolism and catabolism. I'm pretty sure I can feel it when I'm in an anabolic state...about 2 hours after a workout when you get that sort of tingly feeling as your PWO meals are digesting.

[Lost Dog]

The biggest problem with "blowing it" is that very often people just blow the rest of the day, too.

If you recognize that the body doesn't work on a 24 hour cycle, then you can accept that you haven't blown the whole day, but just the last meal. The quality and quantity of your next meal is just as important.

You could compensate for a bad meal by altering the next meal, but only to a point. At some point, the excess cals, carbs, fat, etc. are no longer actively causing their "damage."

While eating a slightly smaller meal after the bad one might help a bit, the 2nd or 3rd meal after that probably won't do anything to compensate, as your system has processes most of the nutrients of that bad meal by then.

[jc228]

Originally posted by Lost_Dog:
The biggest problem with "blowing it" is that very often people just blow the rest of the day, too.

Maybe it's just me, but if I blow a meal, I find it SO MUCH more difficult to get back on track that same day, and I usually end up blowing the rest of the day. The next day, I wake up, work out, and feel more motivated to get "today" right.

Since I tend to have a hard time with my cheat meal, I try to make it as late in the day as possible. My wife is a great cook, so I'll try to eat clean all day, and then cheat for dinner.

~jc228

[NoMoYoYo]

Actually, Berardi uses the 90% rule for himself, too. He'll eat ice cream or other crap from time to time.

I hit 90% of workouts (usually skipping an aerobic one when I do miss), but foodwise - well, I'm NOT wise. Maybe 75%. And that's not good enough (judging by my fat ass).