Flex Meals

One of the great things about the Fast Fat Loss Blueprint is that on occasion you are allowed to eat a "normal" meal during the rapid weight loss phase; meaning you can eat any of the food normally disallowed. We call this a Flex Meal.

Starting at the beginning of the third week, people in diet groups B and C get a Flex Meal once or twice a week. People in dieting group A are only doing the Core Phase for two weeks at most and won't have time for a Flex Meal.

The diet calculator will tell you how many Flex Meals you get, or you can look up your dieting group in this chart:

What Do I Eat?

During a Flex Meal, you can eat any of the foods that are forbidden on the rest of the diet. You can eat all those starchy vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and avocados. You can eat any fruit you like -- apples, raspberries, mango, kiwi -- whatever. Bread, pasta, and rice are free game. You get to use butter, ketchup, gravy, and whatever salad dressing you want. You can have milk and nuts. Pizza, french fries, etc. You can even have whatever dessert you want!

CAUTION: You must follow the One Rule and the Useful Guidelines section below.

The awesome thing about Flex Meals is that it provides you with built-in breaks for family gatherings, work events, or whatever goes on in your life that might disrupt your dieting plans. You have the flexibility to eat freely every now and then, keep your sanity, and not worry about feeling guilty for so-called "cheating." So you'll have several days of fast weight loss followed by a break for one meal.

These breaks are a core component of the plan. We don't recommend skipping them, as they provide a much-needed psychological break and will help rev up your metabolism for the next few days. Even the most hard-core dieter will benefit from Flex Meals.

Only One Rule: No Gorging

Even though you are free to eat whatever you want for one meal until you are full -- and should not feel any guilt about it whatsoever -- if you are deliberately attempting to eat as much as you possibly can in one meal, or if you eat yourself sick, you're abusing the purpose and reducing the results you achieved during the week. The meal should also be done in one sitting and not consumed over several hours. If you find yourself attempting to eat as much as you can because you've been starving or thinking and dreaming constantly about food during the week, then something's wrong (you're probably not eating enough during the week).

Useful Guidelines

Although there's only one rule, there are several guidelines you can follow to help keep yourself from going overboard. Implementing these tips will help keep you on track while you enjoy your Flex Meals to the fullest.

• It's ideal - and less likely to backfire on you - if you add 'forbidden' food choices to a healthy base meal (a source of protein and a salad for instance). In other words, don't toss out all your nutritional sense for this meal.
• Space out your Flex Meals as far as possible. If you get one Flex Meal a week, try to space them seven days apart. If you get two Flex Meals a week, try to space them at least three days apart.
• Eat your Flex Meal as dinner. If you eat it for breakfast or lunch, it can be psychologically difficult to go back to the diet the rest of the day.
• Eat your Flex Meal out of the house. It feels more like a reward and it's less likely to turn into a long binge session. The Flex Meal ends when you leave the restaurant -- leave uneaten food at the restaurant, or package up shareable items for someone else not on the diet. If you eat your Flex Meal at home, eat it all in one sitting, then clean up and get busy with something other than food.
• Eat your Flex Meal on an exercise day, if possible. Not only does this help reduce any hunger caused by exercise, it also provides your body extra energy to fuel your workout.
• Savor your Flex Meals. Take your time. Eat slowly and relish the flavors of all these foods you can't eat during the rest of the diet.

One word of warning: your weight will probably spike briefly after a Flex Meal, especially if you consume lots of carbohydrates. This is normal. It's mostly water weight and it'll come off rapidly over the next couple of days.