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Cycling Your Way To Fitness
Stationary Bikes - Still A Top Choice For Overall Fitness
In all the craze over new fangled fitness equipment, the exercise bike often gets overlooked. Stationary bikes have been around for many years, which can lead some people to think they...
Exercise Bikes - Reviews and Advice
Two types of exercise bikes are available. The design of the upright bike resembles that of a typical road bike but they are stationary. The pedals are positioned below the rider and puts added stress on the joints. The seat on the recumbent...
Finding Time To Exercise
Something most of us want and need to do, exercise. One of our biggest obstacles is finding the time. Whether you are a stay at home mom, or a career person, there are ways to fit in exercising, without having to take up a lot of time out of your...
Get Out And Play: Top 7 Outdoor Exercises
Do you remember when our parents used to yell at us to go outside and play? They would get so tired of us running around the house munching junk food and fighting with our siblings that they would practically kick us out of the house!
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Top 5 Benefits Of Using An Elliptical Trainer
Considering an elliptical trainer? Wondering how an elliptical trainer can benefit you? If you're trying to decide between an elliptical trainer and another piece of exercise equipment, here are the top 5 unique elliptical trainer benefits to...
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The Miracle of a Cheat Meal
One of the greatest tricks that I use to stick to my diet is to allow myself a cheat meal once a week. For that one glorious meal I can have whatever my heart desires. I can eat pizza, cake, and ice cream, anything I want for that one meal. I believe that anyone who plans to diet for long periods of time should follow this principle. There are several reasons why I feel cheat meals are the key to dieting success.
First of all, we are all human. No matter who you are, you are going to have cravings for foods that you are not suppose to eat. The longer and stricter the diet, the more temptations you will have. It is human nature to want something that we are not aloud to have. Dieting is no exception to this.
The cheat meal approach to dieting allows us to break down and control our temptations. If we are craving pizza on Wednesday and our cheat meal is on Sunday, we know that within four days we will be able to satisfy our craving. We tackle our temptations with the approach that we can hold off the additional four days before we eat what we have been craving four. Under the traditional diet programs, we would not be aloud to cheat at all. From my experience with dieting over the years, the temptations for foods we want do not go away. In my case they become stronger over time. Having a cheat meal once a week allows me to stick to my diet by controlling the beastly temptations before me.
Another advantage to a cheat meal is that it is an award for us. Dieting is not an easy task and we should never expect people who are changing their eating habits to all of a sudden loose the desire to eat unhealthy food again. Dieting is a goal that should be rewarded not only physically, by the way your appearance will change, or mentally, the increase in self-esteem, but also should be a reward for the taste buds as well. Each week should be like
a little goal to try and make it to the next cheat meal without breaking your diet. If you succeed, you eat whatever you want without any feelings of guilt whatsoever. You earned the right to that sixteen-ounce bowl of ice cream and you should not be ashamed to eat it either.
There is another benefit to the cheat meal approach in dieting. After time, you body will adjust to the current caloric intake that you are on. If you eat the same thing everyday, or the same amount of fats, proteins, etc., your bodies metabolism will eventually slow down to adjust to the current caloric intake levels. Cheat meals along with some other changes I make to my diet in the week allow me to shock my system. I keep my body guessing throughout the dieting process. I constantly adjust my carbohydrate, protein, and fat levels to keep my metabolism from slowing down. The cheat meal, if done once a week, is another way to effectively shock your body into maintaining a high metabolism.
In conclusion, if a cheat meal is to work effectively it has to be done once a week not once a day. The main objective of the cheat meal is to allow an individual a process or tool to use to defeat temptations that may arise during a diet. The second advantage to a cheat meal is that it is a weekly reward for all the hard work you put into your diet. The final advantage is the cheat meal is another way to shock your body. You keep your body guessing as to what your daily caloric intake is, therefore allowing yourself to maintain a higher metabolism.
About the Author
Gerald Gore is the owner of the online fitness review site One4Fitness. For more health and fitness related tips and reviews on workout equipment visit Gerald’s site at http://www.one4fitness.com. One4Fitness also offers a FREE Newsletter at http://www.one4fitness.com/modules/evennews/index.php?action=subscribe
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