However, I'm also an equally big advocate of having fun and living life from time to time. And my theory about 'cheating' (I hate that word but that's another story...) is pretty much the same as the poker players approach to bluffing: if you're going to do it, do it rarely, commit, enjoy and have no regrets.
The latter is what I chose. Why? Is it scientifically proven to lead to greater long term adherence? Does the short-term dip into naughty foods fuel greater fat metabolism? Can cycling short spikes in sugar and alcohol provide a performance enhancement in future weeks? Er, I don't think so. It's just more fun!
Of all the things I hate about traditional diets, it's the guilt that's been attached to 'cheating'. There's nothing worse than sitting with someone who's eating a dessert, telling you how naughty they're being, and that they'll start their diet again on Monday. They're not even enjoying the food any more. So, I chose to let go - for 2 or 3 days - not beat myself up, and even indulged in the stereotypical Scottish staple of the deep-fried Mars Bar! It looked dreadful and, if I'm honest, didn't taste much better, but it was a definite 'must do', like a glass of deep red in Bordeaux, paella in Spain, or a barbecued shrimp in Australia. But, y'know... chocolatey and deep fried.
1. I planned for this weekend to come during a recovery week from training and I did most my sessions earlier in the week to ensure that 2 days without proper training was just what the body needed.
2. When we played football on Friday evening, I did put a decent shift in, forcing myself to make lung-busting runs and then get back. I thought of it as 80 minutes of fartlek intervals.
3. Compared to normal, my diet was atrocious - however I didn't stuff my face for the sake of stuffing it (or fill it with extra sweets and puddings just coz I was on a guilt-free weekend) and, when eating in the pub on Saturday afternoon before watching Arsenal teach Villa a lesson in football, I opted for the steak and vegetables rather than pie, lasagna etc...
4. Finally, I made sure I drank quite a bit of water throughout and got a relatively decent amount of sleep for this sort of weekend.
These are small things. They don't mitigate everything, but they help to minimize some of the stress and inflammation I caused my body over the weekend.
There is a sort of other upside to this occasional blowout. For me, at least, they help to build months of motivation to stay on my healthy long-term path. On the way home to Amsterdam, I found myself grabbing sparkling water and a coffee at the airport, with just a nice ginger and lemon tea on the flight. The courgette noodles and pesto that The Wifey cooked on Sunday night tasted like children's smiles dipped in happiness. While nutrition doubters will, of course, claim that it's all in my mind, I can definitely feel my body and all its normal cycles, functions and rhythms are enormously disrupted by just a few days off my usual routine, as old aches, pains and sensations that I no longer usually experience at all (heartburn, stomach aches, colds, brain fog, hunger pains and cravings) return. It's a genuine relief to get back to my normal way of eating and drinking.
There's a great saying: it's what you eat between New Year and Christmas that counts, not Christmas and New Year. I think that's maybe a far better, smarter and shorter way of saying what I've taken several hundred words to explain.
So, your key takeaways (like a lesson, not a kebab):
- If you're going to have a few days of decadence, enjoy.
- Don't think that a few days of lording it up means you've buggered up and can't return immediately to healthier ways - it only takes one meal to get back on the horse.
- Use those occasional, planned slips to motivate you for months to come.
- It's always possible to make bad food worse - you can deep fry it!