Science Is All About a Diet Cheat Day Too
Excellent news: A study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology reports that cheat days, or “planned hedonic deviations” in science-speak, may actually help motivate you to stick to your diet plan. CAKE!
Researchers conducted three experiments to see if subjects were more likely to follow through with goals if allowed cheat days. First, participants were instructed to imagine being either on a 1,500-calorie diet or 1,300-calorie diet with a 2,700-calorie cheat day at the end of each week. Those given a cheat day predicted they would resist temptation better despite the stricter diet. Researchers then asked 36 people to actually follow the diets for two weeks and, lo and behold, those with a cheat day reported being able to maintain more self control than those on a steady 1,500-calorie daily diet. Both groups lost similar amounts of weight over the time period, however.
Authors of the study concluded that having a zero-tolerance approach to “cheat” food wears down motivation. Cheat days, or “intermittent striving,” are not only proven to put people in a better mood but can help you avoid the “failure cascade,” or that moment when you eat one cookie and consequently derail your entire diet plan by eating the whole box. Thus, eating whatever the heck you want one day of the week > sneakily, guiltily taking little bites of dessert every day.
It’s almost the weekend, guys. Go crazy.
