Friday is Cheat Day!

Cheat day? What the?

My Friday cheat day is how I make life work for me. I eat pretty darn "clean" all week long, and then I look forward to Friday when I "cheat" by eating what I want. Does this mean I'm eating tofu and kale all week long? No. Although I did eat tofu last night.

I don't follow any specific eating plan. I've tried that and it doesn't work for me. I need to eat normal Natalie food--stuff I like--but I eat it in moderation and I like pretty healthy stuff. You'll get a feel for what I eat as I keep posting it.

Although don't ever use Friday as a gauge. Fridays, as I said, are my cheat days. Usually. If there is another day that I know I'll be eating out or going to a party (because I'm such a popular party invitee. Not really.) I might make that day my cheat day. It just depends.

When I first adopted this style of eating--clean 6 days a week and one cheat day--when Friday rolled around, I went nuts, trying to chow down everything I loved.

And then I realized I felt horrible on Saturday and my Saturday morning workout was practically unbearable.

so what started as a full on cheat day pretty quickly turned into just a cheat meal or a very scaled back cheat day. The bingeing just wasn't worth the bloated gross feelings I got from overeating.

So now on Fridays, I enjoy eating what I like, but I don't go nuts anymore (except when I have PMS and then all bets are off). The biggest thing I look forward to is a big bowl of popcorn while watching a movie on Friday night. Sometimes I have two small weekend cheats versus one big cheat. Again, it just depends. Interestingly, I've been reading "This is Why You're Fat," by Jackie Warner. I really like her and her philosphy, especially since she recommends having two cheat meals a week. No need to tell me twice! I'm adopting that aspect of her plan right away!

Something I have to remind myself of is that I'm a grown up and can make my own decisions about food--that instead of stuffing myself now, I'd feel a lot better if I stopped now. Afterall, I could eat more later if I wanted to. I know that may sound kind of bizarre, but it works for me.

For humor purposes, below is what I ate today. I don't count calories on a cheat day. I didn't get to have my popcorn tonight, so I'll plan tomorrow carefully so I can have it tomorrow night. I'll also be interested to see what happens with workouts tomorrow because my son has a 6 a.m., yes, that's AM, hockey game and as dedicated as I am, I don't foresee myself getting up at 4 a.m. to exercise.

Today's workout: Day 68/90 of P90X: Legs and Back

Food:Breakfast--almond milk, chocolate Shakeology
Snack--1/2 banana, 2 Tbs. maple almond butter
Lunch--leftover tofu stirfry, carrots
Snack--1 pretend Oreo
Dinner--hot dog!, 3 cookies!, 1/4 of a taco roll up thingy the boys were eating, 1 piece of cornbread

BodyBugg stats as of 9:21 p.m.:Calories burned = 2148
Steps = 8554
Activity = 2 hours, 7 minutes

And by the way, Jo, I saw your comment and I promise a post about the BodyBugg very soon!