On Mother’s Day, I went to Cracker Barrel. I had three pancakes, two servings of eggs and bacon. I also went to Chipotle and had what I usually get there, and then I had Cold Stone ice cream for dessert. I ate what I wanted and I enjoyed it.
For a long time, I would have denied myself these things, then binged or overate on other things that maybe I really didn’t want, then deprived myself extremely the next day. I have given that up.
Now I actually plan for these indulgences. I say OK, I want to indulge in this. I allow myself to have it, no guilt. The next day, I just eat like I normally do. If I’m in a fat-loss phase, I take a 500-calorie deficit off my maintenance calories. If I am maintaining my weight, I just eat at my maintenance calories.
I don’t beat myself up for that anymore, and I’m going to urge you to do the same. If you have a treat or a day where you eat off what you normally would, don’t beat yourself up for it. Don’t deprive yourself of food the next day for two reasons.
One, your body wants to get back to its normal state, its homeostasis. Two, what happens mentally if you go into the day knowing you were “bad” the day before and feeling like you have to cut way back on what you’re eating and over-exercise to make up for it?
First, you’re not going to enjoy the food that you had the previous day as much because you feel like there’s a punishment attached to it. And second, chances are it’s going to be hard for you the next day, right? You’re not going to feel as good as you would.
I’m sharing this with you because I was in that cycle for a long, long time. I’m telling you, you don’t have to extremely restrict the day after having an off day where maybe you ate way above what you would normally eat or you ate things you wouldn’t normally eat.
Your body will readjust down as soon as you get back to your normal way of eating. I’m going to urge you to do that. Enjoy food. Enjoy the day that you’re in when you’re having it. The next day, just get back to what you normally do. You don’t have to extremely restrict. I’ll tell you now, if you do eat a lot of carbs and sugar, holy mackerel will it bring about an improvement on your workout! After my Mother’s Day meals, I deadlifted 205 pounds, five sets of five. I have not been able to do that. That’s all carbs, baby.
You have a great day. Pick up where you were and just keep moving forward. Don’t deprive yourself today.