Study says cheat days help dieters keep on track

Whether you are on a Mediterranean, Japanese or Nordic diet, having a cheat day is helpful in keeping track of your diet, a new study says. Published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the research explains the benefits of behaving badly on occasions.

Among the benefits of having a cheat day, cited by the authors, are it helps regain self-regulatory resources, maintains motivation and provides a more positive overall experience, reports AJC.com. It also helps avoid counter-regulatory eating which has a “what-the-hell” effect in which after breaking one small dietary rule, a person gives up dieting altogether.

The study sought to answer the questions such as is it smart to have a slice of your favourite cake when you are on a diet and want to lose weight or should you buy an item on your “wish list” even if you need to save money because there is a larger purchase in the weeks to come?

The authors – Rita Coelho do Vale, Rik Pieters and Marcel Zeelenberg - want to understand the extent planned hedonistic deviation is helpful for consumers to persist in their personal quests in life. They particularly point to quests that involve repeated inhibition of behaviours such as dieting, saving and exercising.

The researchers, who believe that planned deviation could be beneficial for long-term goal attainment, made two controlled experiments on weight loss. Having a cheat day reveals the importance of flexibility in pursuing a goal and “it can be good in the long-run to behave badly in the short-run, when this is part of the plan.”

The add that consumers and public policy makers would be interested in the study’s results because it highlights that instead of “engaging in straight, persistent goal-striving … consumers are better off when they plan for moments of indulgence.”