Intermittent fasting cheat day: What is it, what impact does it have, and how do you do it right?

In a nutshell

Intermittent fasting cheat day is basically a day off your diet when you can step back from fasting and enjoy the meals you love. This approach can potentially help you get an emotional break, boost your motivation, improve your metabolism, and restore your glycogen levels for better workout performance. On the other hand, taking a day off can lead to the alleviation of fasting benefits, such as insulin regulation, overeating, and feelings of guilt.

In order to avoid the negative effects of a cheat day, it’s important to follow these simple tips:

• Plan cheat days in advance
• Schedule them wisely according to your lifestyle
• Control portions
• Opt for healthier foods
• Stay hydrated
• Get back to fasting the next day

When engaging in intermittent fasting, many women naturally face plenty of questions down the road. From what they can drink during fasting windows to what meals they should choose for their eating windows–answering these and other related questions can help you make your journey simpler and more effective. In this guide, we’ll address one of such questions and explore the concept and benefits of an intermittent fasting cheat day.

{{button}}

Understanding Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a form of diet that implies breaking your days into fasting and eating windows. The schedule can vary dramatically depending on your body type and goals. For example, it can be 12:12, 16:8, or any other protocol that suits you.

The core idea of this dietary approach is that you don’t consume any calories during your fasting windows in order to launch fat-burning, insulin regulation, and cell restoration processes in your body. Typically, you’re only allowed to drink plain water, dark coffee, or tea during the hours when you have to fast.

The remaining time of the day makes your eating window, during which you can eat as many times as you wish. Although there are no strict rules, it’s typically recommended to opt for healthy and nutrient-dense foods during this time to get the most benefits.

What Is a Cheat Day?

Before we explore if cheat days intermittent fasting is okay, let’s get clear on the concept of a cheat day, in the first place.

As you can easily guess, a cheat day is a break from your diet. Typically, it’s one day in a week that you schedule in advance when you are allowed not to follow your diet and can relax and eat whatever you want instead.

A Cheat Day vs. a Cheat Meal

Inexperienced dieters often confuse cheat days and cheat meals since both terms are commonly used and have a similar meaning. In contrast to a cheat day, a cheat meal has the same concept but is limited to a single meal per day. Simply put, it implies scheduling one meal during which you can have whatever you want.

The Possible Impact of an Intermittent Fasting Cheat Day

Now that you have a better idea of the concepts of intermittent fasting and cheat days, the big question that is still to be answered is–can you take a day off from intermittent fasting? In order to find the right answer, it’s important to consider all possible impacts of a cheat day on your intermittent fasting journey.

Potential Pros of Cheat Days Intermittent Fasting

Emotional Break

If weight loss is the core goal of your intermittent fasting, chances are that you don’t just fast for a certain amount of hours per day but also create a calorie deficit to stimulate fat burn. This likely means that your daily menu is rather restricted. Needless to say, it can be hard to maintain motivation and a positive attitude when you have to use all your willpower to stay away from unhealthy foods that you love.

The psychology behind cheat days claims that having them can reduce the tension by taking off limitations for one day. From this point of view, it can be a helpful practice that will support your mental well-being and motivation.

Glycogen Restoration

According to studies, fasting has a massive effect on your glycogen level. Namely, a 24-hour fast makes the stores of this substance fully depleted, forcing your body to take energy from protein stores and adipose tissue.

In intermittent fasting, often, you won’t fast for 24 hours in a row. Still, even in shorter fasting windows, such as 12 or 16 hours, your body will still lose a lot of glycogen. Given the fact that glycogen is considered the primary energy substrate in your body when its stores deplete, it can have a significant effect on your physical performance, especially during intense workouts.

A cheat day can help you replenish glycogen stores and thus, boost your workout performance.

Metabolism Improvement

Metabolic reset is among the primary goals of fasting. This dietary approach has been shown to increase metabolic rate and thus, help you lose weight easier.

Nevertheless, when you follow the same eating patterns for a long time, your body gets used to it and metabolic function may slow down a little. When you have cheat days (or meals) after a long time of dieting, it can increase the levels of the “anti-starvation” hormone leptin. Basically, cheat days trick your brain signaling to it that food is plentiful and thus, urging it to speed up metabolism and burn fat stores.

Motivation Boost

A cheat day is like a day off from work. It allows you to relax and forget about restrictions for an entire day. This can feel rather rewarding and thus, help you maintain motivation to stay committed to intermittent fasting in the long run. This can help you make your journey more sustained and reach better results in the end.

Potential Cons of Cheat Days Intermittent Fasting

Fasting Benefits Alleviation

While one-off cheating on intermittent fasting may not hinder your weight loss progress, it’s important to consider other fasting-related benefits and the impact of cheat days on them.

For example, if you are fasting to regulate insulin levels, this effect of fasting might be hindered by a cheat day depending on the products you choose. Studies show that even a day of excessive fat intake can reduce insulin sensitivity. 

Overeating

While cheat days intermittent fasting can be a good way to reward yourself for hard work with a bit of food that you love, sometimes, it can grow into overeating and binge eating. If that’s the case, you may experience bloating, gut discomfort, and worsened progress caused by overeating.

Feeling of Guilt

Earlier we mentioned the positive psychological effect of giving yourself a day off your diet. Indeed, in many cases, having a single cheat day per week can help you feel better and maintain motivation.

However, sometimes, cheat days may backfire on you. It’s quite common to get a sense of guilt and shame the next day after you take a day off. This feeling can potentially lead to the development of eating disorders. Or worsen it if you already have a disorder.

Tips for Implementing an Intermittent Fasting Cheat Day With Maximum Benefits

So can you have a cheat day while intermittent fasting? The answer is definitely “yes.” A cheat day or cheat meal is a common practice used to reinforce weight loss and bodybuilding efforts, while also providing you an emotional release. You can use this approach to maximize the benefits of intermittent fasting, especially if you are following this dietary approach for a prolonged time.

Yet, given the potential drawbacks, it’s important to approach cheating on intermittent fasting thoughtfully. Here are a few basic tips that will help:

• Plan your cheat days in advance instead of having them spontaneously. Spontaneous days off often lead to overeating.
• Schedule the day off strategically, considering your workout schedule. Ideally, you should have a cheat day after a workout and let yourself at least one day before the next one.
• Keep your meals controlled. It can be easy to overeat on your favorite products so you have to control portions.
• Opt for healthier indulgences. For example, eating sushi, steak, cheese platters, homemade burgers, and pasta might be much more beneficial to you than choosing donuts, pastries, or fast food burgers.
• Remember about proper hydration. Unusual foods can cause dehydration, so it’s important to consume plenty of water.
• Resume your fasting schedule right after your cheat day to prevent binge eating.

FAQ

What is an intermittent fasting cheat day?

It’s a scheduled day in a week when you give up on your eating patterns and can eat at any time, without fasting, while also picking foods that you love.

What are the benefits of cheat days intermittent fasting?

Having cheat days (or meals) once a week is a common dietary approach used in weight loss and bodybuilding. It’s believed to have a number of positive effects on your body, such as glycogen restoration, emotional relaxation, and motivation boost.

Can I have a cheat day on 16/8 intermittent fasting?

Absolutely. Basically, you can have occasional cheat days regardless of the intermittent fasting protocol that you use. In most cases, a scheduled cheat day will not hinder your weight loss progress. On the contrary, it can offer you quite a few benefits. However, it’s important to watch out for overeating or breaking other fasting-related benefits, such as insulin regulation, by choosing overly unhealthy foods.

Conclusion

Can you have a cheat day on intermittent fasting? As you now know, the answer is “yes.” Cheating on intermittent fasting is not just possible (especially in prolonged diets) but can also have plenty of benefits.

In particular, cheat days can help you:

• Reduce the emotional load
• Boost motivation to continue fasting
• Restore glycogen levels
• Improve metabolic function

Nevertheless, despite these perks, cheat days intermittent fasting can also have some downsides. In order to avoid the cons, it’s important to approach your cheat days thoughtfully, making them controlled and planned. Use the knowledge and tips we shared with you in this guide to implement cheat days with maximum benefits.

{{pink-banner}}