But then I figured out that I don’t have to give up junk food completely to get fit! Yes, eating junk food all the time will get you fat, no matter how much you work out, no matter how much effort is put into the gym, you can’t outlift your fork. But there are actually two methods that will allow you some junk food while you get those gains!
Now, I’m a small guy by genetics, but whenever I would eat really junky, I would get an ugly kind of skinny fat – it’s not very attractive, I can tell you that. Once I started experimenting with these methods, I slowly figured out I could have the cake and eat it too! (sometimes)
Below is me about a year ago – I’ve grown since then, but it’s just for reference to show what the amazing cookie diet can achieve.
The first method is what is called the
80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is basically you doing 80% of healthy eating, and 20% of unhealthy eating. With this style of eating, you can have your occasional junk food throughout the day, as long as you’re making sure you eat 80% healthy, living foods – basically anything that comes from the earth, and 20% whatever the heck you want unhealthy foods! That’s always my favorite part, and I mostly eat COOKIES whenever I get the chance. Let’s say you are eating 5 meals a day (more meals a day is actually beneficial for your muscle gain and weight loss, suprisingly) – that would mean 4 of your meals should consist of healthy foods, and your other 1 meal can be as unhealthy as you gosh darn please! Or make your dishes 80% healthy with maybe one small unhealthy snack. The problem for me is once I get a taste of unhealthy delicious cookies, heaven itself cannot stop me from devouring the entire bag. That is why I go with the other method, known as a
Cheat Day
Cheat days are my jam. Cheat days allow me to eat like a gluttonous king for a day guilt free. Cheat days give me meaning – well, maybe I wouldn’t go that far but you get the point. How a cheat day works is for 6 days out of the week you eat entirely healthy. You get your proteins, vegetables, yada yada – you exercise your self-control and you scream “NO!” internally to the churro that is seductively tempting you, but it is oh so easy, because you have a secret weapon. The cheat day. Because on the 7th day of the week, you get an entire day to eat whatever the heck you want, whenever the heck you want. You can stockpile those dang churros and eat 20 in one sitting if you want (we all know we’re going to be eating 30, though), and wash it down with a liter of your favorite soda. You can eat whatever you want, guilt-free!
There are actually scientific reasons as to why a cheat day is actually beneficial for you! With all your dieting, your body may think you’re going into starvation mode, which will make it burn calories a lot slower to preserve you from dying. A cheat day pumps your glycogen and calorie intake in one day, putting your body back OUT of starvation mode, allowing you to burn those babies once again and maximum capacity.
So, yes, cookie lovers – you can still look sexy in your undies, even with those cookie crumbs all over you. You just have to show a little more self control. Whatever method you pick, be reassured that you can still reach your dreams while eating your dreams. And by dreams I mean cookies.