Today, I am declaring war on the term “Cheat Meal!” 

From here on out…let’s call it “CELEBRATION MEAL!” 

I see it all the time when working with EvolutionEat clients and students….Overcoming old habits means building new routines. And that’s really hard. It’s really stressful to run up against your challenges and triggers, and to make mistakes. 

That’s why I make sure they don’t treat themselves and this process so seriously. 

(Don’t get me wrong: it is serious…if you approach your lifestyle transformation from a new perspective, you will quite literally transform your life. Duh.)

But that doesn’t mean you have to be so tightly wound.

Think of healthy living like skill development. No one would continue practicing guitar if they felt so much pressure at every moment, if they didn’t have fun with it, make a few (or many) mistakes and let the groove take over from time to time.

So how do we do take this principle and transfer it to the domain of weight loss and lifestyle transformation?

…BY CELEBRATING! THat’s why I want to do away with the idea of “Cheat Meal.” WHo are you cheating? Yourself? That seems dumb.

Let’s instead CELEBRATE our accomplishments. 

Look, here’s the deal: Everyone overeats eventually, whether on or off a diet, whether living an EvolutionEat lifestyle or not. It’s better to take control and schedule it ahead of time to limit the damage than delude yourself into thinking it’ll never happen.

Celebration Meals are moments of what I called “planned imperfection”, a form of “letting go of control in order to take control” that offers mental relief, an outlet to satisfy cravings, and an opportunity to let your guard down, be more social in the traditional sense, and motivate UP.

  (You always want to get back on track the very next day…so use this to your advantage.)

Physiologically speaking, a planned Celebration Meal can actually HELP you lose weight.

After you’ve gone low-carb for some time (which is easy to do when you eat an “Evolution Diet”), you’ll need to jumpstart your metabolism every so often, especially after operating at a slight caloric deficit for extended periods of time.

For God’s sake, please enjoy your Celebration Meal! These can serve as your weekly anchors when sticking to the program seems too difficult.

A direct quote from one of my clients, Angie: “Sometimes for me it came down to focusing on when I would be able to have my next cheat meal. That’s what got me through the bouts of feeling unmotivated.” 

There are 2 more points I want to make about “Celebrating”:

(#1) Don’t worry about the “what ifs” 

There are so many what ifs that you could start to worry about. What if I eat too much? What if the scale goes up the next day? What if I lose momentum?

EvolutionEat is a system. The beauty of a system is that all you have to focus on is what’s in front of you right now. You don’t have to worry about what’s coming down the road three weeks from now, or six weeks from now, because when we’re there, you’ll have solved all of those problems. 

(#2) Have fun! 

This is actually fun. It’s fun to master a part of your life that’s forever been an issue. It’s even more fun to give yourself a pat on the back sometimes and remind yourself that you’re kicking ass. 

And it’s even more fun to set up a system where you can shed body fat, transform your body, fall in love with yourself, and still eat some delicious foods that we all know aren’t good for us but tend to get the best of us from time to time – and do it on YOUR terms. 

It’s a Win-Win-Win. Yes please, more of that. 

So – please – remember that this is fun. You’re not going to break anything by having a Celebration Meal. 

I’m not telling you to be crazy or disgusting. I’m not suggesting you drink a keg by yourself in your living room and invite the pizza guy over to hang out. 

I’m not suggesting that you eat fast food until you vomit over innocent children in the McDonald’s play pin (do they still have those?).

But I am saying, “Let’s have fun.” 

<3 Daniel