I am not a big fan of cheat meals. Actually, maybe I'm too big a fan of cheat meals. Basically, every meal I had when I was 320 plus pounds was a cheat meal. I ate what I wanted when I wanted. I guess that's why I shy away from cheat meals now. I have to fight the addict mentality.

That said, sometimes cheat meals are unavoidable. Yeah, like when you are visiting Jim Wendler and Matt Rhodes. I have very good self-confidence, but hearing those two asshats breaking my balls over eating clean is more than my constitution can handle.

While out there for long weekends I know the feedings will usually consist of things like fried chicken, barbeque, burritos, and pizza. Listen, I'm not going to complain. Fried chicken is one of my favorite foods in the entire world. I just regularly fight off the urge to eat it, like every time I am driving past a Popeye's.

So when I'm traveling out there I make sure to pack up a little whey protein and Fiber One cereal. The whey obviously so I can hit my minimum protein requirement for the day which I set at .08 grams per pound of bodyweight. As for the Fiber One, I have found that because I don't eat the foods mentioned above often, my body doesn't always react well to them. The Fiber One helps keep everything move along nicely if you get what I'm saying.

Because I'm not counting calories, I keep all eating other than dinner to a minimum. Most of the time we go to Bob Evans for breakfast so I stick to protein with steak and eggs. I'm not going to sit there and not eat anything. Then I have a few shakes sporadically throughout the day and around training with the Fiber One. When it's time for dinner, I'll just eat whatever I feel. Then that's it. I'm done eating.

After surviving a couple of trips to Casa De Muerte (Wendler's house) and doing this without gaining weight or falling apart, I learned I could do it on occasion at home. It's almost not like a cheat meal at all considering I usually don't even gain any weight. On top of squashing a craving, it's a nice mental break to not count calories once in a while.

Like I have said here and for years now, I am still not a big fan of the cheat meal. And no, I have not turned into some kind of hypocrite, well, at least regarding this topic. I still don't love them and certainly don't have them once a week or even once a month for that matter. If circumstances dictate it, or if I really feel the need, I have a solid cheat meal plan to fall back on.

It took me eight years to feel this comfortable with a cheat. In the past, they have just turned out to be setbacks. I'd diet for weeks just to lose a few pounds, then I'd gain that back after just one BIG cheat and have to start the whole process over again. What's even worse is how cheat meals have a tendency to turn into a cheat day or cheat weekend. Sound familiar to any of you?

Contrary to pics you see on social media, nobody's getting lean cheating on their diet. So keep your cheats to a minimum and try the plan I mentioned above to help you out.