First, a cheat meal is something you crave but should only have once a week. Normally you might think of Pizza, Burgers or Pancakes.
The problem people have with a cheat meal is it turns into a cheat day. People start eating tasty foods and can’t stop.
If you are going to have a cheat meal, know exactly what you are going to eat. This way it won’t turn into a food “free for all”. It’s very easy to forgot what you just ate before downing 5,000 calories. Watching your diet usually means limiting yourself of carbohydrate intake. So, cheat meals tend to be carbohydrate heavy, most of the time.
A cheat meal usually helps a clean eater cure their carvings and guilts them into training hard for the next few days.
Also waiting to have a cheat meal makes you appreciate some great tasting food. It also teaches you discipline between cheat meals.
Having treats throughout the week lowers your exceptions of a real cheat meal. So, if you find yourself snacking throughout the week, cut out the snacking and have two cheat meals a week. Maybe one on Wednesday and the other on Saturday.
A cheat meal will work if you look at it as a reward for training all week long, while staying on point with your clean diet.