“I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage.”                         – Erma Bombeck

That is what I call what I did last week. I had some great meals last week and I enjoyed every single bite! So yesterday I did an intermittent fast and only ate two large bowls of salad and had some great red curry soup. Plus coffee, I did have a few cups of coffee. But that was it. Today will be much the same and so will the rest of the week. Salads and soups. I might have a couple eggs along the way, but after the amount of roast beef sandwiches, turkey, and ham, well let’s just say there was no shortage of “protein” last week.  This week will be lots of broccoli.

Since google makes it so easy to follow up on the nitty gritty details of the science behind this concept, I’m simply going lay out the basic premise and finish with “The research does support this.”

So why is an occasional couple days of indulgence, or in my case, a week not such a bad thing. Well if you are dieting and have reduced your calorie intake, your metabolism will slow down.  Remember our bodies do work like thermostats, so it does love balance and the maintaining of the status quo.  When increasing your calories, you will briefly speed it up again, thereby being able to ‘trick’ your body a little when you return to the reduced, but nutrient dense, calorie intake.

Another aspect of overeating is that you do create a surge/spike in insulin production, as well as our other anabolic hormones. Insulin is an anabolic hormone and the one that we have the most control over due to diet and exercise. So I’ll add it must be respected and not abused. When strategically over eating we still need some discipline in our food choices so that it helps build muscle tissue rather than belly fat.

My ultimate point here with this post is to lessen the guilt if you enjoyed your holiday last week. In fact if you have been working hard and eating well the last few months, you earned some R & R and pumpkin pie. But Thanksgiving is over now, so for the next 2-3 weeks I would suggest being back in the saddle with your routine, then you can enjoy Christmas. Also now you are aware that when done in moderation. Overeating can provide tremendous benefit to the body and not the harm that repeated, daily overeating has.