Take a Free Day. No-Track Day. Cheat Day…
Call it whatever you want but the point of tracking calories is to not over eat. Through this process I have learned to eat healthier just by making better decisions on what I’m putting into my body. I don’t forget all of this when I hit a Saturday (my no track day).
I want a little bit of breathing room for a time for my body to just relax and not worry so much about being diligent.
If it’s a holiday or special event like a family reunion or a party, go ahead and indulge. I’m sure your body will bounce back (and you’ll feel bad) so the next day you’ll go back to eating healthy and tracking calories.
Some diets severely limit the types of foods that you can eat and then they recommend a “free day” once a week to go back to carbs or go back to having sweets or processed foods. When it comes to tracking calories you can pretty much eat anything that you want, as long as you stay under your caloric intake number for the day.
The draining part is physically getting out your smart device and tracking every single thing that you’re eating. If you’re using a food journal and writing everything down, it’s even harder.
I suggest you keep tracking calories even after you hit your goal and you try to maintain that level for the rest of your life… It becomes imperative that you take a mental break from tracking and you take a day to just eat and not worry so much about number of calories.
So plan your week’s wisely and pick just one day a week to eat without tracking. Hopefully this will help you maintain your tracking the other days.
Caveat – If you’re still in weight-loss mode I recommend that you don’t stop tracking any day of the week and you just maintain and stick with it. It will be hard, but if you stick with it and you hit your goal the pressure will be off. AND you’ll feel really good that you made it to your goal.
This will help you to be able to plan the next step for the next phase of your healthy eating, healthy living plan and make it a permanent life change.
-Andrew
MORE?
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/cheat-your-diet-and-still-lose-weight
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1753
http://dailyburn.com/life/health/pros-and-cons-cheat-day-diet/
http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/weight-loss-plan-2-day-diet