Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha

increase your basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of calories you burn throughout the day. Studies have shown an increase of nearly 10 percent, and it’s hypothesized that an even more significant increase is possible.
    3. Increase in serum leptin levels
    This might be the most important perk of cheat days from a fat-loss standpoint. Leptin levels drop when you’re in a caloric deficit (lasting as little as seventy-two hours), and a periodic bump in leptin coming from a cheat day has several benefits, including increased thyroid output, increased energy expenditure and basal metabolic rate, and overall increased thermogenesis (aka fat burning).

    The benefits of the cheat day are twofold. On one hand, you have the physical and physiological benefits (see “Three Hormonal Benefits of Cheat Days”). But cheat days also provide a mental and emotional break from dieting so you don’t feel like you’re on a diet. Most people quit diets out of frustration that they can’t eat what they want. And while we’re confident that the intermittent fasting structure gives you much more freedom to eat great foods, the cheat day ensures that no stone is unturned. There is a certain psychological benefit when you are able to take days off from your diet, eat whatever you want, and be confident in the knowledge that it will not make you fat.
    And during the Adapt phase, you get a cheat day every single week. While there are a lot of diets that rely on cheat days to be successful, nearly any nutritional plan can, under the right set of circumstances, benefit from cheat days. So without bogging you down too much, here’s a primer—the cheater’s cheat sheet, if you will:

    1. Do not gorge; stop eating before you feel stuffed. You are allowed to eat what you want but not to gorge yourself until you feel like you want to throw up.
    2. Only buy your cheat foods on your cheat day. Then after the day is done, get rid of them. Remember: if it’s there, you’ll eat it. So throw your cheat day foods in the trash once the cheat day is over.
    3. Eat your meals and make them as cheat-y as possible. Leave no stone unturned. Eat what you want. You certainly don’t have to eat junk food; if you adhere to a gluten-free diet, you don’t need to eat cookies—or you can obviously just eat gluten-free cookies. The most important things for cheat days are carbs and overall calories, so as long as you’re consuming plenty of those, you can have foods that fall in line with your regular nutritional practices. Just eat more of them.
    4. Have fun with it. Eat what you want without any thought of guilt. It’s strategic, and it needs to be done so you can prime your body to burn more fat.

    FEAST/FAST MODEL
    The feast/fast model was originated by Roman in 2004, and he’s been using it with his clients and his own diet ever since. The feast/fast approach is his contribution to the fasting community, although its inception had nothing to do with the benefits of fasting.
    Roman noticed that while he was getting a ton of benefit from cheat days in terms of fat loss and mental reprieve, the digestive aftermath wasn’t pleasant. Many people report the same thing: if you cheat on Sunday, you may be paying for it on Monday in terms of intestinal distress. Not only are you likely to be in the bathroom more than you’d like, but also eating will feel like a chore.
    As you can imagine, after a night of eating pasta, ice cream, brownies, and steak (yes, all at once), the last thing anyone wants to do first thing in the morning is eat. Eventually, Roman discarded the bodybuilding rule to eat a big breakfast, and he started pushing his first meal of the day back by a few hours . . . then a few more. Ultimately, he stopped eating altogether on the day following his cheat.
    The results were impressive: Increased fat loss. More leanness. And better muscle definition. And, of course, a much happier tummy.

    WHY IT WORKS
    It almost seems too good to be true: trade one day of gluttony for one day without food and be better than where you started. Researching this concept has led us to stumble across a few different reasons why the feast/fast model works so well; some have to do with fasting, obviously, but some benefits are a direct result of cheating.
    Like any style of fasting, removing food for an extended period of time can lead to fat loss because it often leads to lower caloric intake. Pretty simple. However, the reason this works well is because