Most people look at diets as if they’re all or nothing. Either I’m 100% dieting to the max or I’m off the rails binge eating everything in sight.

This mindset of being either on or off the diet can be pretty toxic and detrimental. For example, when you’re eating a “high protein keto diet” with strict adherence. But one day you slip up and lick an apple.

Since you made that one tiny little error, you enter “fuck it mode” and begin to eat everything within arm’s reach for the next 24hrs.

The next day you step on the scale and see that you gained 8lbs, now you enter “ultimate fuck it mode” and go even more off the rails.

Does that sound like you? If so definitely let me know in the comments cause that definitely used to be me. I remember not cheating on my diet for 3 months, having one slip up, and then eating 4,000 calories that day.

It was a rough time, but what if I told you that diet slip ups aren’t actually that bad? That they actually play little to no affect on your diet progress at all. If you’d be shocked, awed, or hyped to learn that let me know in the comments cause I’m probably gonna blow your mind in a second.

The Secret Sauce

“The clean eating, no cheating, food should only be consumed nutrients” diet zealots will guilt trip the hell out of you for having even an ounce of dietary freedom. From someone who used to be in that camp and mindset know that’s not a life worth living. 

Having cheat foods or snacks has little to no effect on your progress at all. Especially If you stay in the caloric balance that aligns with your goal. Which is a surplus for those looking to gain and build muscle or a deficit for those wanting to lose weight and emphasize fat loss. 

Guess what else? Even if you do go outside of your caloric alignment, you can usually fix that within the few couple days. 

“You can fix your caloric balance after a slip up?!” Yes not trying to blow your mind too much but it can definitely be fixed.  If you go over calories by 500 on day 1, then go under your caloric requirement by 250 on days 2 and 3. Guess what you’re right back on track to getting results. The same rules apply for caloric surplus.

So what really happens when you mess up on your diet? Well if you fix it…. Absolutely nothing. So no more binge eating cause you had one little slip up. In the grand scheme of things the “mess ups” don’t even matter. 

Personally I comes across a lot diet zealots when doing research online which makes me sad. Strict guidelines with little to no flexibility is one of the main reasons why people fail to achieve their goals.

I definitely want to hear from you guys if you’ve ever heard of dieting  from a view point like this, let me know in the comments. 

I’m curious, if other people approach dieting or nutrition from this perspective.

Well until next time everyone, see ya ✌🏽