In the age of Instagram and youtube, broadcasting one’s cheat meals has become a regular practice for many fitness influencers. Naturally, the more extreme these cheat meals, the more reach these videos get. This has led to increasingly extreme food challenge videos that would likely perplex those uninitiated to the dieting world. In theory, cheat meals and cheat days are a great idea: you up your calories significantly for a short period, thus increasing leptin, boosting your metabolism, and giving you a break from fighting food cravings. The verdict is still out, however, on how effective cheat meals really are at bringing these benefits to fruition. 

An Industry Divided…Dun Dun Dunnn

There’s ongoing discord in the fitness and nutrition community regarding the degree to which cheat meals increase one’s metabolism. Some say that cheat meals are a must have diet hack, while others claim they are ineffective and only stall progress. As far as I’m concerned these disagreements are akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic when you consider the impact that cheat meals can have on your eating behavior in the long-run.

The far more important question is whether cheat meals really do give one a mental break from hunger, or are cheat meals a slippery slope that lead to the very disordered eating that they are purported to prevent? While this is obviously an important question if your main goal is mental health, I would also argue that this is an equally important question to ask if weight loss is your primary goal. We will certainly explore this psychological side, but first let’s explore if cheat meals are truly the magical fat loss tool as many seem to believe.

Physical Effects of Cheat Meals

So, do cheat meals really increase one’s metabolic rate? In short, yes, but to what degree? One study testing the effects demonstrated that three days of eating 40% over maintenance of a high carb diet resulted in increased plasma leptin concentrations of 28%, and an increase in 24 hour energy expenditure by 7% (Dirlewanger). While this increase in metabolism may seem impressive, it most certainly does not live up to the hype that often surrounds cheat meals. The idea that cheat meals can protect your metabolism from slowdown while dieting just doesn’t hold true for several reasons. 

For one, while many see cheat meals as a way to boost their metabolism for the week until their next cheat meal, in reality, these increases in metabolic function do not linger for much longer than 24 hours. To test the effects of cheat meals, the popular YouTuber Stephanie Buttermore performed an N=1 experiment where she took a variety of metabolic measurements before and after a 10,000 calorie cheat day. In order to see how her metabolism changed following the cheat day, she measured her basal metabolic rate the morning of the cheat day to get her baseline and then took the same tests both the morning following the cheat day and the morning after that.

How Long Does the Metabolic Boost from a Cheat Meal Last?

Her results were rather interesting. In fact, her basal metabolic rate went from around 1300 kcal on her first test, all the way up to around 2,100 kcal the following morning. While this was a rather shocking result, 24 hours later her basal metabolic rate had already dropped back down to around 1400 kcal. Despite this still being 100 kcal above her initial metabolic rate, this is most likely explained by the two pounds of fat that she gained as a result of the cheat day. There is this idea on the internet that cheat meals mystically increases your metabolic rate without adding fat. Unfortunately this isn’t the case, as any permanent increase in metabolic rate that you get from a cheat meal is simply the result of weight gain and thus an increase in leptin. This brings me to my second point.

Positive Energy Balance

If weight loss is your goal, these increases in metabolic function are underwhelming to the point that any extra calories consumed during the cheat meal will in many cases negate the extra caloric burn. According to the second study mentioned above, a high carb meal is expected to raise one’s 24 hour energy expenditure by 7%, thus someone my size who’s daily energy expenditure is normally around 2,500 calories, will burn around 175 extra calories over the next 24 hours. Yea, I’m sure you can relate when I say that the chances that my cheat meal would be under 175 calories is approximately 0. Ok, I’m not being completely fair here because the larger the cheat meal, the higher the increase in your 24 energy expenditure will be; however, no matter how large the increase in energy expenditure, it will likely always trail behind the increase in energy consumption from the cheat meal itself. (i.e. It results in a positive energy balance.)

For Instance, if we look at the increase in Staphanie’s metabolic rate after her 10,000 calories cheat day, while the increase of her metabolic rate of 800 kcal for 24 hours is impressive, it’s far less than the extra 10,000 kcal that she consumed on her cheat day. Of course her body likely didn’t absorb all 10,000 kcal due to the inefficiency of the body to process and store so many calories in a short period of time. This results in one gaining less weight than if they ate the same amount of extra calories over a period of a week. 

Should We Take Advantage of This Inefficiency?

I would say no, for several reasons. For one, the inefficiency of our body to utilize all of these calories also results in a smaller increase in metabolic rate in proportion to the inefficiency of the body. In short, your metabolic rate increases based on the amount of calories your body processes, not simply how many you consume. Secondly, If you’re thinking this would be a good way to eat whatever you want and trick your body into absorbing less calories, that is the exact mentality that leads to disordered eating. More on that later, but lets more to my final point.    

Optimism Bias

As is often with many dieting hacks, by overestimating the effectiveness of cheat meals, many likely over consume calories because they feel like we have “earned” them. This is similar to the common phenomenon in which one gains weight upon beginning an exercise program because they vastly overestimate how many calories that exercise burns. The tendency for us to overestimate the benefits of cheat meals is the reasoning used by many of the experts who discourage cheat meals. However, I believe there are more concerning reasons as to why cheat meals might not be the best idea for everyone, especially when combined with a “starved” brain.

Psychological Effects of Cheat Meals

So why is the effect of cheat meals on hunger and eating behavior so important even if your primary goal is weight loss? When we compare the caloric consumption and the caloric expenditure (metabolic rate) sides of your energy equation, the calories you eat can vary much faster and to a greater extent than a change to your metabolic rate. Just to help illustrate this, I’m sure you’ve heard the commonly stated fact that to burn off the calories of a single M&M the average person would need to walk the distance of a football field. Does walking a football field or eating an M&M sound harder? I’ll leave it to you to decide. 

Following this argument, the extra calories that one may burn for 24 hours following a cheat meal is relatively menial compared to the effect on your caloric intake that cheat meals can have in the medium and long-term by altering your hunger, eating behavior, and your relationship toward food. I certainly experienced these negative, not often discussed, effects of cheat meals.

Discovering Cheat Meals

As with many who have embarked on a diet with a physique goal in mind, when I first began dieting I was curious to try all of the tricks and tips to assist dieting that I could. This led to the Google & Youtube duo and down the rabbit hole of fitness and health information that naturally ensues. 

The common advice that I came across regarding cheat meals was pretty straight forward: one meal a week you are “allowed” to go all out eating all of the foods you’ve avoided during the week and consume as much of them as you want.

Referencing back to my 18 years of normal eating up to that point this seemed rather straight forward; that’s basically how I had eaten all my life. I’ll just eat a burger and a few cookies and I’ll be good. However, anyone who has undergone a period of strict caloric restriction knows that it is almost impossible to feel full even after giant meals. This is due to elevated long-term hunger relative to short-term hunger, which I’ve written about quite extensively. 

If you search the internet there are also many sources that advise more structured forms of cheat meals, however, a brain in a restricted state is inclined to ignore these structured suggestions that promise lower potential reward and instead opt for the anything goes style of cheat meal; this, for the most part, is a subconscious choice made by your animal brain. Unfortunately, the same those individuals who are attracted to these all-out cheat meals due to restriction are also the ones most primed to get caught in a binge/purge cycle.

Eating whatever and as much as you want means two completely things to a starving and fed brain

After researching the expert medical opinion on cheat meals it became clear to me that many of these “experts” have never dealt with the type of hunger that is common in a severe caloric deficit. To them eating whatever you want meant what it did to my 18 year old self: eat a piece of cake or two and you’re good to go. This mindset is best illustrated by this one registered dietician: 

“Kate Patton, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD, is OK with cheat meals as a positive reward — as long as you offset the extra calories somewhere else in the day. ‘You can exercise for a longer period of time or at greater intensity, for example,’ she says.” (Cleveland Clinic)

I’m not trying to pick on Kate; in fact, her advice may be perfect for a normal eater whose survival instincts haven’t been activated by dieting. The problem is that as a result of professionals not understanding this insatiability brought on by dieting, they never imagined that they should probably add the caveat that cheat meals shouldn’t mean eat until you’re in pain and want to throw up. Now, I have to admit that I did see some experts that I came across totally what a ravenous dieter is feeling, which I suspect is because they have had a history with dieting. I think it’s one of those things you have to experience first hand to fully appreciate.  

Primed for Maximum Reward

Along with this, elevated long-term or mental hunger, a starved state primes our brain to be more sensitive to food reward. Pairing these physiological and psychological effects of caloric restriction with “anything goes” style cheat meals is a recipe of developing a reward loop not unlike what we see in addiction. Many dieters in this restricted state have gotten into the cycle of having a giant cheat meal on the weekend, only to spend the rest of the week planning their next cheat meal. This anticipation results in a week’s worth of elevated dopamine culminating in a cheat meal that is simply unable to satisfy one’s cravings due to elevated long-term hunger. This results in you attempting week after week to scratch a metaphorical itch, only for it to grow stronger. The elevated dopamine manifests in your brain pondering ways to satisfy your cravings. This is why it is so common for dieters who engage in cheat meals to search recipes or even think up odd combinations of food, as seen in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. This is your attempt to scratch the itch.

Do Cheat Meals Lead to Food Addiction?

While this behaves very similar to an addiction, the only reason this addiction was able to take hold is the fact that your brain is in this primed state. Without being in a restricted state, there would be no “scratch” to inch and thus no elevated dopamine from anticipation. Think back to a time before dieting. Would a cheat meal be nearly as exciting if you already gave yourself permission to however much you wanted? Not nearly so. If you are interested in why binging is not a traditional addiction, I go in depth about this in my book. So to recap real quick this reward cycle requires two components: a primed brain and a reward. Let’s look at the former of these. 

What Factors Prime Your Brain for Food Reward?

The degree to which your brain is primed for adopting this reward cycle comes down to various variables. I like lists because they make things simple, so let’s take a look at these:

  • The deeper in restriction you are, the more primed your brain will be for food reward.
  • There are two aspects to restriction: calories and food groups or types (ie avoiding “unhealthy” food). Restricting both calories and food groups will naturally create a more “primed” brain then if you just restricted one or the other. 
  • However, of these two, restricting calories primes your brain more than the “healthy” eating approach for reasons I will write about soon.

Putting your brain in a primed state is an important component to developing an addiction, but remember a primed brian itself is not enough to create the feedback loop associated with addiction. Enter the reward aspect.

Food as a Reward?

In this case the reward is simply the cheat meal. There are, however, various factors that increase the intensity of the reward and thus increase the potential that a reward loop forms:

  • A single cheat meal provides much more reward then the same amount of calories spread out over the entire day.
  • Secondly, the more novel the reward, the higher tendency that it will form an addiction.
    • Novelty can come in the form of increasingly larger cheat meals or
    • Novelty can come in new foods or combinations or foods in an attempt to find the “Bliss point”

Bliss Point

The Bliss Point is a concept relating to food marketing coined by researcher Howard Moskowitz that describes the point where the main drivers of palatability, namely, salt, sugar, and fat, are all at their optimal levels, which thus maximizes tastiness. Many times while binging, I was unintentionally attempting to find this bliss point. For instance, I would often add increasingly more stevia, butter, or salt, to try and maximize the food reward of my pancakes, oatmeal, or other binge food. However, you eventually surpass the bliss point where there is nothing more you can add to make your food any more palatable, and it becomes that scratch that you can’t itch. At that point, you have effectively run out of ways to spike your dopamine levels any further.

Are Cheat Meals Bad?

Now before we move on I want to say that I am not as against cheat meals as it may seem. Used correctly, as I will elaborate on soon, I believe cheat meals can be a good tool for those trying to make their diet sustainable. The issues occur when someone begins practicing cheat meals without knowing that it can be like playing with fire as far as their reward circuitry goes. My hope is that by being aware of what you are likely to experience, you will have the power to avoid developing a binge purge cycle disguised as cheat meals, while reasoning to yourself that you are doing it only to “boost” their metabolism. 

Cheat Meal Tips

With all this being said, I know many of you will still be tempted to experiment with cheat meals, thus I’ll share my best tips to avoid letting cheat meals turn into an addictive cycle. Considering both the factors that affect the priming of our brain and the aspects that increase reward, I can make several recommendations if you decide to practice cheat meals:

  • A cheat day with the extra calories spread out throughout the day, is a safer route than going all out for a single meal.
  • A short diet break would be an even better alternative than a cheat day, in this regard.
  • Avoid letting cheat meals turn into a compulsive experiment to find the elusive bliss point. The “perfect” cheat meal will always be one slab of butter or one dash of stevia away.
  • To avoid the anticipation that accompanies a scheduled cheat meal, a good option is to wait until a good time for a cheat meal naturally arrives, like a night when you and your friends decide to order pizza.

References

Cleveland Clinic. (2019, November 22). Do ‘Cheat Meals’ Help or Hurt Your Diet? Retrieved from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/do-cheat-meals-help-or-hurt-your-diet/

Dirlewanger, M., & Vetta, V. di. (2000, November 17). Effects of short-term carbohydrate or fat overfeeding on energy expenditure and plasma leptin concentrations in healthy female subjects. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/0801395

Cover Image By: @sebastiaanstam