Why to NEVER call it a “Cheat Day"
This week is one of celebration! With Canada Day just passing in Canada and July 4th coming up for our neighbours in the US, many of us will be enjoying some whoopsies this weekend! Sometimes, while on your fitness journey, it is easy to get super caught up with the leanness and leave little room for what many of us call a ‘cheat day.’ Today I am going to talk about said cheat days and why you should NEVER call it a ‘cheat day.’ 
At LEANSQUAD, we believe in balance! When on your lean journey, in order to make it a sustainable one, you HAVE to create balance. Denying yourself a drink with your friends, your favourite dessert, or a not so lean homemade meal your grandma made will create a very strict and rigid environment for yourself. This leads to a bad relationship with the leanness, as you will often feel guilt or some type of negative feeling while or after consuming your whoopsies. When on your lean journey, you are working hard to better yourself everyday. You are pushing your body through tough workouts and refueling it with lean, healthy foods. You are improving your physical AND mental health. We believe that those whoopsies you choose to have are EARNED. After all your hard work and dedication, you deserve to enjoy your favourite foods and maybe an alcoholic beverage or 2!
So why can’t we call it a cheat day?
When calling it a ‘Cheat Day’, you are putting yourself in a position where you feel like you are cheating which does NOT in-still the balanced, sustainable routine mentioned above. Calling it a cheat day instead instills guilt, it makes us feel like we are doing sometime bad or wrong, when this in reality is not the case! All these negative feelings created around cheat days can actually have negative effects on your lean journey and can result in a bad relationship with food.
How can we avoid this?
We can avoid creating a bad relationship with food and avoid these negative feelings by changing our frame of mind surrounding cheat days, or as I like to call it: whoopsies! Don’t feel bad about your whoopsies! instead , enjoy them. Don;t look back and think “man, I really shouldn’t have eaten that!” Instead, look back and think about the great time you had while enjoying your whoopsies. Live your life to the fullest, enjoy yourself, and don’t look back and regret something that made you happy in the moment.
Getting back to LEANNESS!
Although it is super important to enjoy your whoopsies, it is equally as important to get back on the lean train once your day of whoopsies is over! If we continue to have whoopsies for more than a few days in a row, things may begin to snowball; it will be harder to get back on the lean train afterwards. Here are a few tips that will help you get back on track once your whoopsie day is over: 
HIIT workout - Starting the next day off with some HIIT cardio is a great way to kickstart your metabolism and get yourself back on track! You can find some leanmazing HIIT workouts on my youtube channel. Hydration - STAY HYDRATED! This is important to keep in mind throughout the whoopsies and afterwards. Drinking water can help flush out your body, keep the cravings down, and help you feel more energized and ready to take on the day of leanness! Healthy Foods - As mentioned above, if we continue to eat unhealthy foods this can turn into a snowball effect and it will be harder to get back on the lean train. Starting off the next day with some lean greens and healthy foods, you are setting yourself up for success! There you have it squadies! Stop calling it a “cheat day” and start enjoying your whoopsies! You deserve it!