If you’re on the road to losing that spare tire or discovering that elusive eight pack it makes sense to eat sensibly. However there are times when it is best to take that belt loop to the next notch and sneak in a few extra scrumptious spoonfuls. Here are the six best occasions for you to overindulge – homer


Breakfast - The majority of people skip breakfast or have a sorry excuse for one. Eating a healthy breakfast was listed as number six on a list for actions that increase longevity. The term literally means ‘break the fast’ since your body has not had any nutrients for the hours spent sleeping plus the time before bed. Eating a larger, healthy breakfast prevents weight gain by putting your fat hormones in check. It also tends to make the rest of your meals smaller which is great since the later you eat the higher the chance that those calories will not be burned off but stored as body fat.

Post workout - While lifting weights you are actually making micro tears in your muscles so during the hour after working out your body is extra receptive to nutrients. It is when you have some food afterwards that these micro tears get filled up with protein to make your muscles come back bigger and stronger and faster. Your muscle growth and recovery process are shunted if you do not have enough protein during this time period. A pound increase in lean muscle mass will increase your daily caloric need by thirty to fifty calories. A ten pound muscle gain could potentially burn off an extra pound of fat a week by just being on your body. That’s pretty amazing and definitely a good reason not to skimp on your scoop of post workout protein.

Christmas & Thanksgiving - Instead of giving yourself the right to binge on holiday snacks throughout the entire winter, take these two days to eat whatever you want. It would be impressive if you could manage to tack on the average two pound holiday season weight gain in just two days. Missing the most delicious days of the year is plain silly and increases the chances of your diet crumbling over the rest of the holiday season. It would be more beneficial for your body to indulge intelligently on these two days. Just try to go easy on the eggnog.

Weekly Cheat Meal - After a few days of healthy eating your body catches on to your routine and your metabolism starts to slow. Surprising your system with a cheat meal once a week helps to rev it back into overdrive. A decent cheat meal would be an avocado bacon cheeseburger which would contain plenty of protein and healthy fats. Where as having a jar of nutella before bed, as deliciously hazelnutty as that may be, will be causing more harm then good. Sunday brunch would be the most beneficial cheat meal as it is earlier in the day and will most likely have a good amount of protein from eggs and meats. Some people go as far as having a cheat day to really kick their metabolism in the pants. This may be helpful if your body fat was a rather low percentage and your eating habits were near perfect for the other six days. Unfortunately, that is not the case for most and the cheat day would end up turning into a cheat week, then a cheat month, heaven forbid a cheat decade, et cetera.

Vacationing in Italy – ‘Sensible eating’ and ‘Italian vacation’ usually do not belong in the same sentence. But it wouldn’t hurt to add a few runs around the coliseum or hike up the Alps while you’re there. For great health it all comes down to matching your nutritional habits to your activity level and discovering what works for you as an individual.