
. . . which was once required on Maintenance was designed to give you pleasure once a week so that you would not feel as though you were being denied your favorite foods as a "once a week Pleasure Day on the Maintenance Program.
But that may not work for you.
And if it doesn't, you have the option to keep with your regular Maintenance Schedule. Of course, you can still enjoy that Special Occasion without restriction as long as you go onto a strict Phase 1 the following day to prevent weight and fat gain.
Melanie Rogers, RD, a nutritionist and eating disorder specialist says, "We can thank our biology for cheat days turning into these all-out food fests. We’re wired to chase down food when we’re caught in the feast-and-famine cycle. “People will eat beyond satiety when they’re coming from a fear of scarcity,”
Binging on a cheat day also makes it challenging to confine cheat-day foods only to that designated 24-hour window. “It’s very hard for people to compartmentalize their diets,” Rogers says. “‘I’m only going to have those cookies on Saturday’ can easily spill over into ‘I’ll only have a few cookies Sunday too.'”
EAT / FOOD FOR THOUGHT / WEIGHT LOSS / APRIL 19, 2015