Do Cheat Meals Help or Hurt Your Progress? 5 Experts Weigh In

Are they a strategic way to stay sane and fuel progress—or a gateway to guilt, binges, and setbacks? 

We asked health and fitness experts for their take on when (and if) cheat meals belong in a long-term plan. Here’s what they had to say about using indulgences wisely—without sabotaging your goals.

As a lifelong natural lifter, cheat meals have played a strategic role in my cutting phases. 

I typically incorporate them during weight loss periods when I’ve been eating clean for a long stretch. 

For those on a natural transformation journey, it can take months to get truly shredded—so cheat meals offer two main benefits: they provide a much-needed mental break, and they may temporarily boost leptin and glycogen stores to support performance.

To make them work, I use one trick: in the days leading up to a cheat meal, I follow a zero- or low-carb diet for 3 to 7 days. 

That way, my glycogen stores are depleted going in, so the extra calories are more likely to refill that “empty tank” rather than be stored as fat.