You don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying your Christmas
dinner, by eating a big Christmas meal you could actually increase fat-burning.
Cheat days are days that you “cheat” on your diet with all
your favourite foods (turkey, stuffing, gravy, dessert etc).
It all relates to our leptin levels. Leptin levels are
highly correlated to your calorie intake, and after only one week following a
clean eating diet (restricted calories), levels can drop by as much as half,
putting you at a dismal 50% of your fat burning potential. Research shows that
periodically going off your diet and indulging in your favourite foods can give
suffering leptin levels a much needed bump in the right direction. Getting
your leptin level back up quickly is responsible for boosting metabolism after
overeating.
So you should try incorporate a cheat day each week in which you add an
additional 1000 calories or more in one day.
So what else can I do to ensure I enjoy my Christmas Day without gaining
weight?
On Christmas day try get in a good high intensity workout early in the day
to really deplete muscle glycogen. An hour or two before your big meal is best.
Going into a big feast with empty muscle glycogen means that your body will
utilise the carbs for filling up muscle glycogen stores before it starts
depositing extra calories as fat. Your body will be in repair mode after the
workout and will use the calories to help rebuild and repaid the muscles that
you used in the workout earlier that day. So try do a FULL body workout rather
than isolating muscle groups.
Next day:
Mike Geary recommends doing a super high intensity resistance workout the
next day. Training hard with weights the day after Christmas Day will give you
the best pump you will feel all year long from the super saturated muscle
glycogen in your muscle cells.
Stephens Night/Boxing Day:
Feel and look amazing!
