Fit Tip - Stop Calling it a Cheat Meal

In this Fit Tip, Tom talks about the trouble with using terms that have negative connotations as motivation to live a healthy lifestyle.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is Fitness Disrupted. I
was talking to someone the other day, actually it was

(00:21):
on a podcast, and this person alluded to the fact
that they had lost a significant amount of weight and
kept it off. So I wasn't familiar with this person
before the podcast, and whenever I meet someone like that,
I need to know the story. And I have brought

(00:42):
you a handful of those people like David Garcia who
lost over a hundred pounds and kept it off for
over ten years, because that is part of the puzzle
hearing those stories. How did they do that? Because we
learned from that. When I wanted to be successful in

(01:02):
this industry, I started to look into people who had
been successful in this industry that I admired, that I believed,
you know, was aligned with their philosophy. Jack Lolaine one
of the well the top person and so the same
holds true with people who have been successful at weight

(01:25):
loss and kept it off in a healthy way. Really important.
We need to look at evolution, We need to look
at the empirical evidence. We need to look at everyday life,
what we can do and everyday people, not celebrities, not
people like that, but your next door neighbor who made

(01:45):
significant change and kept it off and is healthy and happy,
all of those things. So I kind of turned the
podcast around at that point and just started interviewing this person,
and one thing popped out of me. And this has
for years. This person said that they had, you know, lost,

(02:08):
I think it was over sixty pounds. I think that
was to start. But they used the term cheat day,
cheat day, and cheap meal. Now, for those of you
don't know many diet plans, maybe eating plans will give
you cheat day and cheap meal. And I have used
those terms in the past, but I stopped. I have stopped,

(02:30):
at least using it in the way that this person did.
And the current meaning, the connotation that people have with
cheat day, we need to stop using it. And I
said this to him. I said, listen, you're not cheating,
and I went into why. And that's today's podcast. Perfect
for a fit tip, Perfect for a fit tip. Let's

(02:51):
look at what the Dictionary definition of cheat is. Right
as a verb, it's to act dishonestly or unfairly in
order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination.
It can also be to avoid something undesirable by luck
or by skill. An example of that would be like

(03:12):
she cheated death in a car crash. Right. And then
one of the definitions when it is used as a
noun is a person who behaves dishonestly in order to
gain an advantage. What what is the common theme in
all of these definitions. There's negative connotation. It's a negative

(03:39):
just jumps out of you, right, And so this is
one of the main reasons we need to get rid
of that term. In my opinion, Listen again, as I
say that you could do whatever works for you, I'm
just as always putting my take on it. I don't
like it. I think it's it is a negative for

(04:02):
the reasons I just said. And words matter, words matter
a lot. It goes to eight people, how many times
am I going to bring that up until I die?
And it goes for intensity of exercise, it goes for uh,

(04:22):
you know, nutrition, how I approach my day and how
I approach a week. And I don't call it cheat.
I mean I've called it cheat in referring to how
it is used in the common vernacular. But when people
ask me how I eat, I say I eat five
to six medium sized meals a day, where one or

(04:46):
two but generally one is less than perfect. That's the
of the day. And then when it comes to a week,
I eat generally what I eat that way right, where
one meal a day Monday through Friday generally is less
than perfect, usually dinner when I'm less strict. And then

(05:09):
on the weekends is where I do the vast majority
of my less strictness, And that makes sense, makes sense
for me, makes sense for many of you. But I
don't call it cheating. I don't say a cheat on
the weekends. That's a negative. That means I'm not doing
something I should be doing. And there is no perfect

(05:30):
no matter what these social media fitness guru tell you.
I watched another the other day talking about cheat meals
as well, and the person was eating as they were
talking about cheat meals, and suffice it to say, I've
been in this industry long enough, I would argue, study
enough psychology, body language, all that kind of stuff to

(05:54):
make an educated guess that this person was struggling this
for and had not figured out how to eat and
was feeling guilty about those cheap days. And that's one
of the huge problems with the term cheat and the
connection to guilt. And then where do you stop funny

(06:17):
story at my brother's expense. I have many brothers, so
I can throw this out there without outing this person.
But he did the Body for Life many years ago
where they called it a cheat day. That's probably one
of the places that came from Bill Phillips Body for
a Life. You have a cheat day. I think that's
what it used. I'm almost positive it's long time ago.

(06:37):
But anyway, my brother tried this program and what he
would do, I can laugh again, it's family, uh is.
On that day he would go off the rails. And
that's another issue with the term cheat and being what
so restrictive all of the other days, so he would

(07:02):
literally eat himself sick. He didn't feel good. Can you
see the problem with that. You're restrictive six days of
the week. You go off the rails to the point
where you're well, since I can have whatever I want,
I'm gonna have everything. Is that a way to live?
It didn't work for him. Words matter. Words are really important,

(07:27):
especially when it comes to exercise and nutrition. So it's
not a cheat day, it's how you eat. It's a reality, right,
it's real world. There is no perfect there's enjoyment, and yes,
it's a healthy lifestyle. I don't want to use the
word cheat in anything. I don't cheat in in the
events I compete in. I don't cheat in school. I

(07:51):
don't cheat, and I don't cheat on my diet. It
is part of my diet. It's a healthy diet, all right.
And this goes to social gatherings. We are social people.
I talked about the blue zones to put that into context,
and a lot of people have a connection with that
or starting to just places in the world where people

(08:11):
live long, healthy, you know, vibrant lives and social connections
are huge part of that. So this is a big
issue with food. I don't want to get into too
deep because this is a fit tip, but I'm Irish
and Italian, and my Italian grandmother I used to tell
me and everyone you need to finish everything that is

(08:32):
on your plate or it's a sin. So she would
bring in not it's not just cheating their religious implications.
That's a problem. I joke, but it's it's it's not funny.
This is part of the issues with eating and culture
and family gathering. So to keep this a fit tip.

(08:53):
When I am less than perfect, are times when I
have less control? Does that not make sense? So in
other words, Monday through Friday, when I'm making my breakfast
pretty much, i'm making launch, I'm in the office, the studio,
I'm controlling my dinner. On the weekends is when I
will tend to go out with friends and family social gatherings.

(09:15):
That's when it makes sense for most of us to
be less than perfect. So weekends, family gatherings, when you're
at a restaurant, when you're with friends, when we have
less control, and that's okay, you still make great choices,

(09:36):
but you can have dessert and you can have that
appetizer because when it comes to the calories in calories
out over the course of twenty four hours or the
course of seven days, this works. And let's go back
to the definition. As I wrap this all up, you're
not avoiding as was in one of the definitions. You're

(09:56):
not acting dishonestly or un fairly. You are living. And
let me end with this. The same person said in
their journey that took years to get to that sixty

(10:17):
pounds down, and it's very smart, like had has had
done his homework. He used the term failure and mistakes,
made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I
I challenged him one more time, and I said, you
didn't make mistakes. It's all part of the journey. That

(10:37):
was the journey. That is the journey learning what so
much about your personal likes and dislikes. With exercise and
with food, that takes time. It's not a failure to
try form of exercise, ago, I don't like that. Try
ten forms of exercise, different classes and go. That's not

(10:59):
for me. Food is even harder, more challenging to learn
what is healthy and what you like and what your
body responds to, in other words, your levels of hunger
and satiety. That takes time. People, there's that's not failure.

(11:20):
Failure is doing the same thing or making mistakes, is
doing the same thing over and over again, right, insanity.
But that's just the process. So don't beat yourself up
that way either. It takes time. Took this person certain
amount of time. It will take you a certain amount
of time taking in the information. That's the final thing.
There's many others, but one the final points is this

(11:43):
person was learning what was bs and what was science,
And that's really hard. It's a lot of bad information
out there. Okay, so when we do the when you
don't call it a cheap meal, but it's when you're
less strict, when you're enjoying life, when you have less control,
and hey, when you go off the reservation, when you

(12:03):
go you know what, I want to go to that
fast food restaurant. When you are healthier, when you are
on that journey and learning and your body and mind
are changing in a way that is really hard to
describe and put out there, but it gets easier. You
crave the fast food less, you do it less, you

(12:26):
enjoy it less, and when you do do it, it
reminds you of how good healthy food makes you feel.
Last story, then I promise it's over. Iron Man South
Africa actually came up in my memories, my Facebook memories
recently a couple of years ago. Brutal, so many things

(12:49):
went wrong before the race and and during the race
as a result, and just brutal race. But during the run,
which was the hardest run and i've it was one
of the top three. I passed. There was out and
back three times, so three loops essentially for the marathon,

(13:11):
and I passed to McDonald's three times the next morning,
and anyone who's done endurance races or races like that,
no that you oftentimes wake up and you just crave garbage.
You want salt, and you want fat, even though like again,
I go very infrequented fast food restaurants, but I was like,

(13:32):
I need that, and I remembered it as being close
to my hotel. I started out on foot, which was
hard because it was the morning after the race. It
was a lot farther than I had remembered, but I
walked the whole way and when I walked inside, it
was filled with what fit iron man triathletes, men and women,
all eating McDonald's. But you looked at these people and

(13:55):
what do you what do you know? Everything I just said,
they crave it less, they do it less, they enjoy
it lest, but we do it. There is no perfect
and we're not cheating. It's a weird reward that is
like you enjoy for about eight seconds and then yes,
you get the mc gurgels and you're remind yourself of

(14:18):
why you're probably you know, yeah, you know what I
was gonna say. You probably didn't want to know you
wanted it because those people myself included. We eat a
lot of egg whites, We eat a lot of you know,
oatmeal every now and again. You do it and it's
not cheating, it's living. Stop feeling guilty and stop calling

(14:46):
it cheating. All right, Thank you for listening. Love this
topic as I do them. All you can reach out
to me. Tom h Fit is Instagram and Twitter. Tom
h Fit messages, comments, questions, Love to hear from you.
Rate the show, follow the show, whatever way you can
connect to the show. I greatly appreciate it. What else
Fitness disrupted dot com You can email me through the site.

(15:09):
All this stuff matters people. All this stuff adds up.
All this stuff will make it easier and make you
happier and make you healthier when you figure out your plan.
Thank you for listening, and remember there are three things
we all control. How much we move, what we put
into our mouths, and our attitudes or choices, and those

(15:32):
choices also go to what we call things, how we
frame things. That's up to us nobody else. I am
Tom Holland this is Fitness Disrupted, Believe in yourself. Fitness
Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
podcasts from my Heart radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

(15:56):
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.